The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutThe Huron Expositor, 1988-09-14, Page 1INDEX Weddings - A6 Births - A6 Walton - A7 Hensall - A8 Dublin - A9 Sports - A10-12 Obituaries - A18 Serving the communities and areas of Seafooth, Brussels, Dublin, Hensall and Walton Choice steers barely steady. See page A4. Huron xpositor Seatorth, Ontario Wednesday® Sepf�tmber 14, 9 988 sa cents copy I Study shows Seaforth how to stop here The results of the Retail Opportunities Study which was conducted in Seaforth dur- ing the summer have been tabulated, and are available to businessmen and the public in presentable form. The Business Improvement Association's summer student June Rivers, with assistance from Mainstreet Coordinator Tom Lemon, has used the survey to find out from Seaforth'consumers what retail oppor- tunites exist in Seaforth for either new en- trepreneurs or that existing business expan- sion can capitalize on. The study looked at 12 specific consumer products or areas: clothing, financial ser- vices, entertainment, dining, beer, automobiles, medical services, Christmas shopping; music, books, sporting goods and shoes. For each of these consumer items 25 peo- ple were surveyed and asked a variety of questions such as where they buy the item, what brand name, how often, etc. The primary objective of the survey was. to have information available to fill the ex- isting gaps in the retail market through either expansion or recruiting of new businesses to keep consumer dollars in the Seaforth trade area. Now that information is available, and there is some idea of how big those gaps are. Books were one consumer item which were looked at. According to the survey only four per cent of the books bought by Seaforth area residents were bought in town -Bob and Betty's actually accounted for this Owner four per cent. The other 96 per cent were purchased elsewhere, and 36 per cent of this was in London. In the entertainment category, the number one form of entertainment iden- tified was Kinner out. $590 per year is what the average person spends on dinner out, and 56 per cent of the people questionned said going out for dinner is the trigger for an out of town shopping trip. Working from the basis that Seaforth's trade area consists of 5,500 people, this means that roughly $2.8 million dollars are spent on dining in one year in our trade area. The survey revealed that 34 per cent of the people in the Seaforth trade area buy their beer out of Seaforth. The reasons given are: they can buy it cold and they can take their empties back. It was also found that the ma- jority of these people were buying from the Brewers Retail in Clinton. Mr. Lemon said this information was used to make a presentation to Brewer's Retail to see if an outlet could be opened in Seaforth. The response was that it was one of the most professional presentations the people at Brewers said they had seen a town make, and it made them take a look at Seaforth. Previously Seaforth was not even in their five year forecast as a place where an outlet could be established. It was further found that $2.5 million dollars is spent on new cars by Seaforth con- sumers outside of the trade area. This leaves approximately $1.1 million to be Turn to page ISA • upset by delay at Manor Progression on the Seaforth Manor ex- pansion is once again behind schedule, and home owner Ed Ozimek is not pleased about it. "We promised people we'd have accom- modation available to them by now, and it really concerns me that we're not able to open up on time," he said. "There are a lot of good people in Seaforth community, and they're being put on hold." As of last week work on the Manor addi- tion was about four weeks behind schedule. The "new and improved" Manor, with an additional 14,000 square feet of space which would allow it to be developed into a 63 -bed nursing home with retirement home facilities on the second and third floor- had been expected to be open by August. To Mr. Ozimek's chagrin, that was not the case. The reason for the delay? According to ,c. Mr. Ozimek a great deal of the respon- sibility must be shouldered by one subcon- tractor, who he said, has "unnecessarily taken his time about things". "Some people have performed marvelously, but 'others - haven't," he said. Mr. Ozimek indicated frustration over the fact this subcontractor had been telling him he couldn't get material, and yet the suppliers were insisting material was not the problem. He said he has presented the contractor with new deadlines, and if they aren't met, said he'll have to take action. "If they can't perform then we'll have to do something. Unfortunately, either way we'll be delayed further. It's frustrating working with people who think we have no control over them - and then wanting to give them a a second chance," he said. "We're at that stage where you can't go on to the next stage until someone else does their job. But hopefully on Monday they'll get back and finish things up as quickly as possible." Just how quickly that will be he was unsure. "It's hard to make up time. It creates more pressure on everybody, because it compresses the length of time they have to complete their job. It's not fair," he said. Despite being disappointed about the length of time it is taking to complete work at the Manor, Mr. Ozimek did indicate pleasure at the general appearance of the project. "We're really pleased with the way it came up. The rooms have come out really nice, the windows are just as beautiful as we thought they'd be and the suites are just super. They're as nice as any I've seen in North America," he said. "Sometimes it's difficult to create a thing of beauty for everyone, but the thing that does keep me going is the knowledge that it (the Seaforth Manor renovation) will really be something the community can be proud of." THE LIONS ELIMINATION DRAW saw a lot of winners taking home prize money Saturday night, but the biggest winner was the staff at the Toronto Dominion Bank who pooled their money to buy the winning ticket worth $3,000. Each of the staff members will get $200 each. Here TD Manager Larry Parker accepts the cheque from Bill Scott of the Lions. Other winners were: $450 Ross and Louise Smale, $250Bob Eckert 200 Melinda Beuerman, $125 Terry and Marianne Elligsen, $100 Grace Broadfoot, $75 Arn and Kay Harris, $50 each to Sandra Johnson, Paul Storey, Thomas Ciuff, Judy Nuhn, Valma Miller, Alma Hugill, Jane Rimmer, Stan Alkemade, Jack Salter, Marie Kelly, Rowe Fuels, Bernice McPherson, and $30 to Joyce Hugill and Dominic Murray. Corbett photo. Subdivision still in works Despite appearances to the contrary a subdivision planned by Royal Orchard Homes for the former Middegaal property is still going ahead. According to Joe McTeague, project coor- dinator, work will start in October when the roads are put in. • "It's been a slow summer. We had to negotiate the subdivision with the town, but we will be there I assure you," he said. "This is a lag stage. Everybody has a job to do in government and it has to be done properly." Mr. McTeague admitted there was not a lot of response to the proposed subdivision over the sumrner, but said that should change once the roads are in, and people start seeing results. The advertising cam- paign launched in June was intended solely to proviue surae feel of Use housing market in Seaforth. "Now we have to rekindle the fire with ac- tivity. Once we put the trucks and diggers in, people will liven up to it," he said. And he doesn't see that as a problem. Mr. McTeague said his company's decision to build in Seaforth was made after extensive research of the area. "There's a lot of preparation on the draw- ing board, and we know the market will always be there," he said. "We're going to see an awful growth in Huron County - in industry and population. Exeter is already blowing up, Goderich is blowing up...but, Huron and Perth counties have yet to even feel the explosion in popula- tion growth." "Two, three years will make a tremen- dous difference. We're not dead, I tell you." HPRCSSB wants program BY LOURDES RICHARD The Huron -Perth Roman Catholic separate school board voted 10-1 in favor last night of making application to the ministry of education for a board review of Grade 6 reading and mathematics during the 1988-89 year. The estimated cost of par- ticipation is $5,000. The ministry of education will be carrying out reviews of the Grade 6 subjects by a ran- dom selection of 100 English speaking schools and 100 French speaking schools across Ontario to provide a province -wide sampling of how schools are meeting educa- tion objectives. The Huron -Perth board did not have any off its schools selected for the random sampl- ing but want to participate in the review review "for a more extensive sampling in our own system," said director of education Bill Eckert. He added that the review will give the government "a reading of how well Huron - Perth is doing in this part of the province." Basically, Mr. Eckert explained to trustees, the review is an evaluation of how well the ministry is meeting objectives at the Grade six level and how well we're meeting the objectives in our own system. Trustee Ron Marcy, the only trustee op- posed to the review, asked what would hap- pen should the Huron -Perth board fail to meet the objectives. Mr. Eckert said it would then be incum- bent upon the board to make improvements Turn to page 17