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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-07-25, Page 3a /4. • t r ammo— STORE'S POPULARITY BLOWING UP - Balloon Busters part-owner, Diane Bennett, and her daughter Tracey, explain differences of balloon accessories. The store has almost every balloon imaginable and can even put giftware into balloons. Party stationary is the store's other big product line. Oxford photo. THE HURON EXPOSITOR JULY 25. 1990 3 Everything's busting up balloons Another new more has opened on Seaforth' s Main Street and already the dere dais become popular with PcoIge of al!sges- Balloon Busters yells balloons and the concept is new and unique in this town. Almost every sayer imaginable is panted on foil bal- loons, and the balloons coarse in vacuous sizes. DUMAS lunch hour on a weekday there is a lineup of people at the counter wanting to buy balloons or ask fox help in making a selection. Another line u important as the balloons is paper party supplies, decorating and recitals. There is a selection of giftware and numerous mins to choose from. Diane Bennett and her sister Shirley Wheeler are partners in the store and Diane's daughter Tracey is their full time employee for the summer. Shirley has made silk flower arrangements and party decorations for events and brings this ex- perience with her to Balloon Busters. Both partners have taken courses in crafts and use the knowledge in decorating with por- celain flowers they make or fabric Stories, photos by Susan Oxford Three local businesses look backwards Three local businesses have improved their surroundings and increased business potential by enlarging their facilities. All three businesses had been planning on improving their facilities for quite some time before doing the actual work. HILDEBRAND FLOWERS AND GIFTS Steve Hildebrand improved his store by making an extra room at the back. The room became available when it stopped being rented to a business that used it for extra storage. Steve, who has operated the florist shop for 10 years, bought the building in April with his wife Ruth. They have increased the volume of their gifts to fill the extra space. The new room is divided into two, one part being extra work space for Steve and his flower arranging work. The other part being more space for giftware display. Steve has an eye for display and has made various displays in the new room that are eye catching and easy to touch. -There are porcelain dolls- sitting on a table surrounded with ribbons and wreaths of peacock feathers. The store now sells giftware for babies, music boxes, brass, ceramic decoys, mugs and an assortment of sheep. Party supplies such as in- vitations, paper linens, candles and paper dinnerware is now available. New is a line of giftware for men. A customer can buy a beer stein, tabletop or wall decoration for a man. "In the last two or three years I've seen an increase in women buying flowers for men," said Steve as an explanation for the line of men's giftware. "Flowers look great when presented in a beer stein." Before Steve opened his flower shop ten years ago he studied retail floriculture at the University of Guelph. He ran the flower shop as a shop specializing in flowers and arrangements with a small line of giftware. Now he points out that "I'm still running a flower shop first, although the gift line is increasing." HILDEBRAND PAINT AND PAPER In the same building as Steve is Hildebrand Paint and Paper, owned and operated by Hazel and George Hildebrand. They too had limited space because of the back room being rented to a business for storage. When the room became available to them they opened the back area. At the far back is more room for Hazel to put displays of paint colours. Most of the wallpaper is at the front of the store now and the line has been increased. "It was fairly crowded in here before," said Hazel. "Everything is more open now and there's room to move. "We've added more wallcoverings to our stock. Today many people don't like to order and wait for their paper to come in. They want to get at it right away." To help people choose their wallcovenngs the store has VCR tapes that show different styles of decorating and how to achieve the look. Some of the titles are Vic- torian Romance, Country Kitchen, Sante Fe and French Affairs. Styles change and the Hildebrands keep abreast of them by having a large assortment of wallpaper and fabric books. There are books on gem colours, textures, masculine choices, flowers and more flowers. "Just after everyone got rid of their browns, said Hazel "browns have come back into style. We've got some new browns in the books, too. Also new for the Hildebrands is the use of the garage at the back of the building. Now all deliveries will be made to the back, which is more convenient for everyone. GINETTE'S RESTAURANT In keeping with the trend to improve back 1 rooms, Gineue's restaurant back room has gone through some renovations. By opening the back room, owner Dave deVries has made room and privacy for private parties or meetings. He has put 15 chairs in the room, with a potential for more depending on the party size. A sliding double French pine door will give the party privacy from the distractions of the middle room. A separate entrance was built so ser- ving staff could serve the room directly. The middle room is undergoing decorating and Dave has plans to put another French door between it and the front room in September. A separate entrance for serving staff is also in the middle room. Dave has set up 25 chairs in the room. The middle room French doors will be custom made as there isn't enough room to slide the doors straight; they may have to be rolled or folded. "Two sets of doors is a great idea because you can serve a larger party," said Dave. "Just open the back French doors and close the middle ones and you've got a really big private party room." The back and middle rooms have pine wainscotting around them and the floor in the back room is new. After removing 10 layers of wallpaper Dave found the plaster to be in good shape and he was able to paint it. Eventually Dave would like redecorate the front room. He wants to put in a new floor, carpeting, and paper or paint. He would like to replace some of the furniture. "But's that's all time and money," sighed Dave. "Someday I'll have it all done." IOW PARTY TIME AT GINETTE'S - New sliding French doors in the back room of Ginette's restaurant allows for private parties Dave deVries. owner, chats up Patty Johnston, head cook Oxford photo. 1 ALL THE RAINBOW - There's more to choose from in the addition at Hildebrand Paint and Paper store The walloovering selections have been increased Oxford photo 1 and lace decorated boxes. The last count they look was working with deed flowers. They happened on the balloon idea by accident. A niece of theins had a balloon business in Bolton for four years that was successful, but she is getting mimed and wanted to close the business. Dian and Shirley decided they wanted a bal- loon business in Seatonh and bought her inventory. More balloons and party supplies had to be purchased from outlets in Toronto and soon they had enough stock to open the store. The store location became available to them in June and they spent the month setting up the store. The store was in good shape when they rented it and the only major work they did was to create a display case of tiers in the front window. Diane has been especially busy as she works full time at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Seaforth as a discount clerk working with loans. She plans to continue to work at the bank. Shirley and Diane have big plans for themselves and it looks like they're going to be very busy. They sell balloon bouquets for any oc- casion. All the helium we tilled with helium to give them be ter buoyancy. Most of the balloons are made in the USA and some in Canada. The balloon store conc.:pt has been popular in the USA for some time and recxntly it has become popular in Canada. Not only are there foil balloons but there are ones made of latex in almost every size, shape and colour. A wedding cake, bridal mail box, wishing well and name plague banners can be rented. Ducie and Shirley can be hired to do the decorating for a wedding, anniver- sary or any other kind of party . For weddings they also have supplies to make bon-bonaires and flower baskets. The store opened July 16 and already they are booked for some parties. Balloon Busters has paper party supplies of dinnerware and linens. There is giftware such as wedding cake knives, anniversary plates and glasses to celebrate these special occasions. Balloon Busters will be open five days a week and closed on Wednes- days. DOLLS AND EVERYTHING NICE - The new addition at Hildebrand Flowers and Gifts store has displays of beautiful gifts for all oc- casions. A selection of gifts for men was added. Oxford photo. COMMUNITY CALENDAR 1 If you're organising a non-profit event o1 interest to other Seaforth area residents, phone the recreation of/be 527-0892 or the Expositor at 527-0240, or mall the inforntatlon to Community Calendar, The Huron Expositor, Box 49, Ssaforth, Ontario, NOK 1 WO well in advance of the scheduled date. Free listing Includes date, time, name o1 event and location only. Space for the Community Calendar is donated by The Huron Expositor. Wed., July 25 1 30-4:00 p.m. — Senior Shuffleboard at the Arena 1:00-4:00 p.m. — Skateboarding at the Arena 6:30-7:30 p.m. — Minor Soccer at the Optimist Park 7:00 p.m. — St. Columban Soccer Mosquito vs. Grand Bend at St. Columban Field Thurs. , July 26 7 00 p.m. — St. Columban Squirt 2 Soccer vs. Exeter 3 et Dublin Field 8:00-10:00 p.m. — Men's Ball Hockey at SOCC 8:00 p.m. -- Topnotch vs. Boilersmith 9:00 p.m. — Beachwood vs. Hogs Fri., July 27 1 00 p.m. — story Hour at Seaforth Library 4-00 p.m. -12 Midnight — BSA Moonlight Madness and Street Dance Sun., July 29 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. -- Van Egmond Country Breakfast 7 00 p m — Huron County Men's Football! Allstar Gane at Lions Park Mon., July 30 7:00 p.m. — St. Columby Atom Soccer vs. Coldstream at Dublin Field 7:00 p.m. — St. Columban 17 and Under Soccer vs. Lucan at St Columban Field Tues., July 31 7:00 p.m Soccer - St. Columban Pee Wee 1 vs. Lucan at St. Columban Wed., Aug. 1 1:00-4:00 p.m. — Skateboarding at the Arena 1:30-4:00 p.m. — Shuffleboard at SDCC 6:30-7:30 p.m. — Minor Soccer at the Optimist Perk 7:30 p m — Huron Branch of O.E.S meet in Board Room. Goderich Assessment Bldg Guest Speaker Mrs- Phyllis Thompson 7 30 p.m. — Huron County Genea- logical Society meets at the Assessment Board Room, Goderlch (behind the Jail). Phyllis Thompson will talc on "researching her famil.es in Scotland' Visitors most welcome