The new Quarks store has opened in Orchard Park Shopping Centre, managed by Liz Younger, who was formerly with Ingeldew’s Shoes.
A Canadian owned and operated company, Quarks was first opened in 1977 selling ladies’ and men’s footwear and apparel in Winnipeg and has since grown to more than 30 locations across Canada. Some of the brand names featured in Quarks include Alegria, Blondo, Clark’s, Cushe, Ecco, Johnston & Murphy, Josef Seibel, Merrel, Uggs, and Manitobah Mukluks. Call 250-869-8000 or shop online at www.quarks.ca.
Congratulations to the following 2013 local graduates who received their Certified Management Accountant designations: Genelle Davidson (City of Kelowna); Sharhabeel Arif Sajjad (FortisBC); Ryan Carachelo (B.C. Wine Institute); Jamie Cockerill (Mark Anthony Brands); Sarah Dixon (College Pro Painting); Leah Oakes (Argus Properties); Karlene Sewell (Central Okanagan YMCA); Corey Wein (Interior Health) and Michael Shakespeare (UBC Okanagan). Shakespeare also was also honoured as a silver medal for his combined grades on the CMA National Entrance Exam and in the CMA Strategic Leadership Program. Yvonne Pinder also received her CMA Life Membership, as a member for more than 20 years and someone who has substantially contributing to the CMA designation.
Way to go Kelowna! After eight hard-fought weeks, Kelowna has been named the blood collection champion of the 16th annual Interior Drive for Life, beating out Prince George. Kelowna collected 1,698 blood donations which was 91.5 per cent of its 1,856 donation target. It also generated 152 new donors. Prince George collected 1,085 donations which is 89 per cent of its 1,216 donation target.
CA Dustin Joslin has been promoted to manager of BDO Kelowna. CPA and CA Sinead Scanlon has also received a promotion to senior manager in the Kelowna office.
MJM Furniture Showcase has opened at 101-1912 Spall Rd. in Kelowna. Owned and operated by the father and son team of Jag and Gurp Jaswal, MJM started in 1987. The Jaswals have stores in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Langley. Their showroom offers a huge selection of complete home furnishing items, including accessories and mattresses in brand names such as Stylus, Aspen Home, Restonic, Spring Air and Elite. Along with the large selection in the showroom, they also offer custom Canadian made pieces. Last year, Jag Jaswal won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the retail category from the Ethno Business Council of B.C. Their grand opening is Saturday. Doug Janzen is the store manager.
After much anxiety with the delay of their provincial liquor license, micro bar • bits has officially opened at 1500 Water St. (couple of doors down from RauDZ Regional Table). The 900-square-foot restaurant is owned and operated by local chef Rod Butters and Audrey Surrao, who also own RauDZ Regional Table. The restaurant boasts a casual-upscale atmosphere with creatively simple food. They are open from 3 p.m. until late. Call 778-484-3500; www.microkelowna.com.
The Rutland Park Society has a new 2013-2014 board of directors: Todd Sanderson (president); Al Horning (vice-president); Danita Lischka (secretary); Wendy Nelson (treasurer); and Richard Michel (executive director). Serving as directors will be Marianne Belland, Garry Benson, Laurel D’Andrea, Cathy Gunderson, Joe Iafrancesco, Verna Michel, Tracy Paenteau, Walter Richards and Gary Zarr. Alf Roshinky is the Centennial Hall manager.
Went into the new Bulk Barn at 1475 Harvey Ave. in Kelowna to check it out. Owned by franchisee John Pyziak and managed by Sherri Adams, this is Pyziak’s fourth Bulk Barn, the others located in Vernon, Kamloops and West Kelowna. The store has hundreds of bulk items such as nuts, condiments, baking goods, spices, vitamins, loose leaf tea and coffee and pie fillings. Bulk Barn also has a huge gluten free section, organic cereals, honey, molasses, syrups and a large pet section with grain free items for your pets. Something new is their oils and balsamic vinegars section and another section in which you can grind your own peanuts for peanut butter. There is a refrigerated area with Saputo cheese and other dairy products and beverages. There is also glassware and kitchen items. Bulk Barn will be offering custom cake decorating classes in January, with everything that you would need to bake and decorate cakes available in the store. Their products also change with the seasons and holidays—something new all the time. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday,and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Call 250-762-2295.
Nancy Ling has joined the team of FH&P Lawyers LLP at 400-275 Lawrence Ave. She practices in the area of wills, trusts, estate and incapacity planning, estate administration, residential and commercial real estate, property matters, corporate transactions and business law. Call 250-762-4244.
Csek Creative is hosting the second annual Business Conference on Nov. 20 at the Mary Irwin Theatre in the Rotary Centre for the Arts, focusing on how to communicate your message in today’s ever-changing world. It is valuable for business, big and small, public and private and not for profit as it is focused on defining, delivering and perfecting the message to the marketplace. You can come for the morning, the afternoon or the full day. Tickets available online by visiting OMS2013.co—$29 morning, and $69 full day. Call 250-862-8010; www.csekcreative.com.
Have you completed your Okanagan Travel Survey? John Holland is the early bird prize winner of a $1,000 shopping spree provided by Acuere Consulting, the company commissioned by the regional government partners to conduct the Okanagan Travel Survey on transportation. All Okanagan residents were invited to complete their travel survey and there is still time to do so. Go to www.OKTravelSurvey.ca for details, complete the survey and you will be entered to win a number of great prizes.
Not sure if you have tried or even seen the new Nestle “Skinny Cow” mike chocolate dreamy clusters. They are crunchy crisps and creamy caramel drenched in milk chocolate and taste so wonderful they can become addictive. That’s not so bad, as they are only 120 calories per pack, so eat on. Nestle is a sponsor of our annual drive-thru breakfast in support of the United Way. You might have noticed a Skinny Cow in your breakfast bag this year. Nestle brought a big variety of all their chocolate brands in support of the drive-thru.
Moneca and Assas Melnick have opened Vine Vera in Orchard Park Shopping Centre, next to the administration office. The store sells a revolutionary skin care line that’s based on resveratrol, which is only found in the skin of red wine grapes, certainly suited to the Okanagan Valley. For years geneticists have been looking for the cure to aging and what we can do to delay it. Harvard University has found that everyone has the gene for aging, which is called the SIRT1 gene. So how does this link to resveratrol? After testing all compounds from nuts to coffee, it was found that the skin of the red grape contains an extreme amount of resveratrol which chemically mimics calorie restriction. There are now supplements made of resveratrol which benefit overall health. This is a skin care that has no side effects, allows you to not only rejuvenate the cells on the skin, but leaves the result more permanent.
The second annual 2013 Valley-Wide Entrepreneurship Conference “Unleashing Ideas: Building the Entrepreneurship Culture in the Okanagan” on Nov. 21 and 22 at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Centre. The keynote speaker will be Dan Zaleski. Other presenters will be Jason Neale (Conquering Fear in Business); David MacCoubrey (Navigating Marketing); Antony Edwards (Who Owns the Idea/Financing Innovation); Marilyn Strong (Managing Business in a Busy Life); Andrew Gregson (Price for Profit); Karen Luniw (Unleashing Ideas); Pamela Thompson (Staying Healthy While Living Your Passion); Andrea Lindal (Social Marketing), Charlie Peet (Today’s Credit System) and Alexandra Krieger (Stop Wasting Time). Tickets at www.okanganentrepreneurs.ca.
Congratulations to the following eight students from the Okanagan College School of Business who won two gold medals at the Link BC 2013 Student Case Competition, the premier tourism case competition in the province. Congratulations to David Spigelman, Maik Uhlmann, Danielle Lister, Adrian Lemiski, Amanda Cormier, Stephen Jung, Jordan Lacroix and Nathan Milligan.
Shannon Hickey has started Dollar Dame Coaching Co. which provides guidance to people making financial decisions. Services provided range from budget and retirement planning to debt management and asset allocation. Hickey started her business through the support of Community Futures Self Employment Program preparing for the launch of her new business. Contact her at www.dollardame.ca; 250-899-4541.
The B.C. Cancer Foundation’s 2013 Discovery Luncheon raised an amazing $82,000 to support the Breast Seed Brachytherapy Pilot Research Project at the BC Cancer Agency Sindi Ahluwalia Hawkins Centre for the Southern Interior. This project offers patients an effective, more convenient option than traditional radiation therapy by delivering treatment precisely to the site of the cancer. The Thomas Alan Budd Foundation contributed a generous matching gift of $15,000. Partners in Discovery were BMO Bank of Montreal and Sentes Automotive Group and the Friend of the Discovery Luncheon was Kelso Technologies.
Birthdays of the week: Happy 70th John Weisbeck (Nov. 9); Paul Cleland (Nov. 11); Marg Craig (Nov. 8); Bernice Sebastian (Nov. 9); Ron White (Nov. 11); George Solomonides (Nov. 12); Gord Hunting (Nov. 12); Michael Wynne, Holiday Inn (Nov. 12); Gordon Funnell (Nov. 13).
