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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-11-02, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2017. PAGE 11. 'Win This Space' victor to open business on Saturday Won her space Jackie DeWit, right, was named the winner at the Win This Space gala hosted in Brussels on Friday. DeWit beat out Grace Scutella, left, and Penny Mulligan for the honour. (Denny Scott photo) By Denny Scott The Citizen With the Win This Space title now under her belt, Jackie DeWit is fully prepared to open her business JD and Company on Brussels main street this weekend. DeWit entered this Win This Space competition with a goal of running not only her own business, but also offering a space for other entrepreneurs to host events to sell their wares and said she is very happy to be able to provide both those opportunities. She will be opening JD and Company at 422 Turnberry Street with a special ribbon -cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday and hosting a grand opening at the site until 4 p.m. Her first line of products, an all - natural group of more than 80 products she designed herself called No Nonsense Natural Products will be offered at the store. DeWit explained that, upon discovering the amount of chemicals within every day items, she decided she needed to replace them with simpler items. Unfortunately, she found that even items labelled as organic or environmentally friendly didn't always live up to their monikers so she decided to formulate her own products. She said she developed the products for her own family, but soon discovered that people were interested in being able to purchase the products. To fund producing the items, however, she needed to find a revenue source because she didn't feel that a loan was the way to go. DeWit then started refinishing furniture out of her home as a way to provide the funding for her all - natural products. The result is numerous collections of all -natural products including beauty products, household and cleaning products, men's and women's products, infant products, pet products and tattoo products. She said she is also working with aromatherapy and health products and might look at food and preservatives in the near future. The all -natural products will be a cornerstone for her business, she said, and will be available to try on- site. "There are going to be tables set up so you can try items before you buy them," she said. "I find people are willing to buy items if they know how they smell and work beforehand" She said selling the products will give her a chance to show off her refinishing skills as well. "Each piece of furniture in the store will be something I've worked on," she said. "I have a China cabinet that I've painted and distressed to make it look masculine and that's where the men's products will be displayed. "People will see that and know that I can do that and hopefully ask for me to work for them," she said. "I'm also going to teach a 'Drab to Fab' class where I teach people how to do the restoration." On the furniture -restoration side of the business, DeWit said she will do custom orders and personal shopping. Offering the space to other small businesses has always been an important aspect of her business plan, DeWit said, because she wants to empower other small businesses. "I want the moms [who] work out of their home [and] sell things like Avon or Thirty -One products to have a place to host events," she said. "I want people to be able to move things out of their home and have a little more of a professional space to show off what they have" She said she will be offering the space for $50 per rental and take no commission from products sold. She wants to see other businesses thrive not only because it would be good for future rentals, but also because she recognizes the opportunities in having different groups enter her shop. "It brings another avenue of marketing to my business," she said. "These are groups of people I might not otherwise hit and they are spending time in my store. Not only will it drive economic development to the Brussels downtown core, but it will put what I have right in front of people." That kind of cross -marketing will be prevalent in her business plan, DeWit said. "I have a multi -functional and diverse set of offerings, and having people host things at the event will let people advertise for me," she said. "I'll also post events for them Custom truck business opens By Denny Scott The Citizen After inspiring more than a few questions locally, OCD Custom Designs Inc. is officially opening in Brussels this weekend. The company, which is located at the former McCutcheon Motors site, manufactures and outfits custom transport truck parts and will be hosting a grand opening on Saturday followed by several days of special offers. Ryan Ayre, owner of OCD with his business partner Travis McKeegan, have been working out of the former automotive business for awhile, but weren't ready to go public just yet. "We have been taking our time to get up and running," Ayre said. "We did two full builds for marketing and one will be on site on Saturday." Ayre said the company is in a pretty large market with just a few other businesses in Canada. He said custom truck parts and manufacturing is a larger business in the United States and is starting to catch on here. "We do one-off projects as well as some modifications that we do over and over," he said, explaining that visors, step covers, mirror arms and tail -light panels are some of the more popular modifications the company works on. "We work mostly with Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks, but we can work on anything." The owners of the start-up company chose Brussels because of the truck traffic that travels through the village every day. Ayre said when the company was considering using the former McCutcheon building, he noticed there was a truck driving down main street every 10 to 15 minutes. "That made our decision," he said. Primarily, the company works with owner -operators of trucks because they are most interested in investing in their trucks. "We've had a couple major companies interested and we're building our way up to being able to handle large orders, but the guys that own their trucks are the ones who want to put money into their trucks," he said. The celebration on Saturday will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and feature draws and giveaways as well as multiple trucks coming in featuring work the company has completed. "Most of the customization we can do will be displayed," Ayre said. "We have trucks coming from Montreal and out west" For more information, find OCD Custom Designs Inc. on Facebook or call 226-889-4623. to get people in and everyone wins." DeWit says she hopes that she will be able to expand to other locations in the future because she is offering a kind of business and service that no one else is. She said that she has already had space offered to her to open in other communities, but she wanted to start in Brussels because that's where she calls home. ran I Listowel Hearing is moving to a new location at: 135 Argyle Ave. North in Listowel DO YOU HEAR BUT NOT UNDERSTAND? Why miss a word if you don't have to. Call today to schedule your Hearing Screening and Consultation Maryanne Perrie 519-291-4554 135 Argyle Ave N., Listowel, ON N4W 1M7 Nominate a Junior Citizen. Nadine Carter Stouffville, ON 2016 Ontario Junior Citizen Nadine's efforts to lobby for a forgotten WW1 hero resulted in a weekend - long celebration, historic plaques being placed in his honour, and a new marker being placed on Captain Brown's previously unmarked grave. Law The Ontario Junior Citizen Awards celebrate incredible youth. Do you know someone who is involved in worthwhile community service, is contributing while living with a limitation, has performed a heroic act, demonstrates individual excellence, or is going above and beyond to help others? If so, nominate them today! Nominations are open until November 30, 2017. Forms and information are available from this newspaper, and from the Ontario Community Newspapers Association at ocna.org/juniorcitizen. Sponsored by: Aocna Newspapers AssaiaVon ONTARIO JUNIOR CITIZEN AWARDS Celebrate what makes your community great.