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The Huron Expositor, 1998-11-25, Page 7TIM HURON 'EXPOSITOR NOMMEN IS 1•110 7 Business .community strengthening BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF Expositor Editor The business community has grown stronger over the past year say many local business owners after a year that has seen many developments in the business community. "If you walk down the street, virtually every spot is taken." said Jim Niesen, business and loans manager at the Huron Business and Development Corporation, an organization that has helped several of the new businesses in town get started. "That's a bit of a change from three or four years ago when there were any number . of vacancies." he said. He thinks this is a positive sign of the strength of Seaforth's economy. "People don't take the work and risk of opening if they don't think the economy is good." he said. While the outlook is good. right now. he said people can expect to see a slow -down in the amount of changes in the community for a few months. Th'at's because business development is cyclical in- Seaforth due to agriculture and growth of tourism in Huron County. For the past five years. he said once the crops are off, development slows down. People take the Christmas season off. The same also happens in the summer. Most people open their businesses in the winter or spring when they have time to get ready for peak sales in summer and Christmas. At the same time, there is still a steady flow of people coming to the centre and there has been an increase in the number of inquiries from people looking .for information about how to get started. He said the majority Of their work has been with helping businesses expand, start exporting or helping with business plans and how to better promote themselves. Susan Halfpenny, chair of the business improvement association. said the town has been in a cycle where a wave of new businesses came to town drawing more people. As more people came. the current wave of new businesses opened. She said now the. Main Street is almost full. Halfpenny has heard many comments from people about how much they like the stores Seaforth has, many of them from outside the community. As the business community has evolved. so has the BIA, helping to improve communication between the businesses. Halfpenny said block captains visit each store personally to deliver minutes of BIA meetings so stores are aware of plans and can ask questions or give comments that go hack to the executive. And she said the stores have been responsive to the A Main Street has few empty stores compared to a few years ago as the business community continues to grow. ideas developed by the BIA from having planters of their own choice in front of stores to the current Christmas lighting projects. She said customers can see that the business people care about the downtown which makes going there a better experience. Now, the BIA is getting ready to have murals painted in two downtown locations. "Everybody's working together on that," she said. In the past year, she has noticed more and more stores putting out sandwich board signs and finds business owners get excited about projects that attract more business. The past year has seen a number of changes in the downtown and businesses opening around the community. The Hobby Shop "I'm finding more and more people stay in town to shop." said Kim Russell who took over The Hobby Shop in January from, Ron and Bessie Broome. She had been a customer of theirs and when she heard they were retiring, told them she would hate to see the business go. Ron suggested she take it over and by the time she got home that day, she decided she would. Her mother had operated a hobby shop in the Brucefield area. Russell had experience of her own in retail management so it wasn't a hard decision. Since taking over the store she has brought in bulk food, expanded the birthday supplies and children's gifts and adds new lines when customers take up new interests. In September, she invited Child Find to set up its base of operation at the store and Susan Halfpenny brought Susan's Sewing into the store. Halfpenny offers craft classes for adults and children from the store. They sel) popcorn for the daycare program and are a spot where people can pick up Mothers Against Drunk Driving ribbons from the store. Diva Graphics and Embroidery The staff at Diva Graphics and Embroidery have just had a chance to catch their breath this fall since they started operations in April. The graphics and embroidery company started this spring with a group of people who wanted to open a business and pool their combined skills together. Charlene Somerville is the administrator for the bunch. Gail Pretty provides computer expertise with her artistic skills for creating` designs. Jacquie Reaume is an artist and graphic designer. Adrian Taylor is the embroidery technician. When they first opened, Diva Graphics was doing work for Kincardine's reunion held this summer which kept their attention until August. Since then, they've been building contacts and reaching into the Seaforth community and surrounding areas. Somerville said they've been pleased with the support they've received from the community. Bluewater Interiors Support from the community has also been seen by Ruth Mair who opened Bluewater Interiors on Main Street after six years in Hensall. The business offers in- house needs including paint and wallpaper. They moved the business to town after,buying a home in Seaforth and said their Hensall clientele has been faithful to them while developing a new customer base in Seaforth. "It's been a good move," said Mair. "1 rind it a very pleasatii;'tiide16Wtf-to be in:" Decorative Ventures Heather Deiong opened Decorative Ventures on July 1 offering design consultant services from her location in Bluewater Interiors. She specializes in custom draperies, window treatments and cabinets and has extensive background in the field from other jobs. She saw a need for the service in this area and decided to venture into self- employment. She is finding people are recognizing her name and skills and said having her own business has been a positive experience. She enjoys being part of the Main Street and said, "It looks good to see a main street full. For a community this .size, it makes an important statement." She said Seaforth offers everything a person needs and has a large rural area that supports the town. Jackie's Hair and Aesthetics Jackie Wildfong offers hair styling and full aesthetics in her full-service salon. "I love it," she said. She opened in January when she said, "It just kind of fell into place. I knew I wanted to open my own • business sooner or later." While she has worked for other people, Wildfong took a break from this area and pursued a job in Texas that didn't come through. When she returned, she didn't want to work under anyone anymore and entered into her own venture. Since opening, she is finding her client base growing and said Seaforth has a good business community. "Everyone helps out everyone. I find everyone goes to everyone's business," she said. She enjoys her customers and said it doesn't feel like work. Forever Young Hair Designs Cindy Champagne likes her job best when someone comes into her hair style shop and leaves looking completely different. "I've been doing hair since I was 14," she said. She got her licence as soon as she was 16 to make it a profession and had been working at The Looking Glass. She decided she wanted to venture on her own and looked at the Huron Business Centre for help. She's found she can get the information and support she needs and that her business is being well-received. This past week marked her first anniversary in business. Mom's Pizza and Subs Heather Stewart's business was a gift that keeps on giving. Her husbanfl, Ron and her children gave' it to her as a birthday present after she recently returned to town. She has operated restaurants in Lucan and St. Thomas, taking a break from the business to raise a child. Heather had' 'been a manager of Godfather's Pizza in the same building she now has Mom's Pizza and Subs. "This is home. I know the store and I know the product that has to go out," she said. Since opening in April, they're expanding the menu and preparing to turn Mom's Pizza and Subs into a franchise. Classic's Cafe Also expanding its menu was New Orleans Pizza. But with that came a physical expansion with the creation of Classics Cafe. Being located on the Highway, John Hunt saw a market in motorists that were passing through. He opened Classics Cafe as both a sit- down restaurant and drive- through where he said more than 150 people drive through a day. They've increased the menu three times since opening and Hunt said he's got plans for a possible third business in the future. The target right now is on family dining. The expansion allowed them to hire nine people bringing the total to 16 staff members. ' He said there's been much support from the town and the are currently working on some new ideas for the restaurant. Brian E Wightman: Certified General Accountant Growing up on a farm in Auburn, Brian Wightman wanted to return to this area and got that chance a little more than two years ago when Deloitte Touche Chartered Accountants was hiring. Having worked in accounting in London for eight years, Wightman brought that experience to the Seaforth business until this summer when he went independent. Deloitte and Touche had asked if he was interested in taking over the office as an independent, certified general accountant and Wightman was interested. Compared to other towns of its size, Wightman finds Seaforth is a busy place and has a good business community of which to be a part. Country Automotive Refinishing One of the newest businesses, which held an open house last week, is Mark Penner's Country Automotive Refinishing. Ever since he was 'a youngster reading hot rod magazines, Penner wanted to be able to make cars look like' the ones in the magazines. He has been doing it. for about 10 years now, working at various automotive companies. Since July, he has been doing it on his own, after earning his autobody licence in March. Since starting in the industry, he has wanted to open his own business., In the past year, circumstances came together that allowed Penner to renovate a farm building on his father's property and Country Automotive Refinishing was born. "I welcome any type of collision work," said Penner.• He also does rust repair and complete refinishing. Since opening, Penner is already ahead of what he planned for the business. He figured it would be a year before he need to hire someone but in the past two months, he hired Steve Fehr and has found enough work to keep a high school co-op student, Nick Denhaan, active and learning. "I try to do the best work I possibly can," he said. In the past 10 years, by working with different companies, he has had a chance to learn what products and techniques work best and are the most economical. Custom service is one part of the business he stresses. "I always knew I was going to have a shop sometime," he said. Evancic Perrault Robertson Certified General Accountants Grant Palmer. of EPR Accountants, wanted to be closer to some of the certified general accountant's customers. The company's London office, linked with a national firm, had a number of clients in the agriculture industry from Huron and Perth Counties. Palmer, driving through Seaforth a few times a week, saw his current Main Street and Goderich Street corner location come available at the end of this summer and thought it was a perfect spot for an office. He comes to the area on Tuesdays and Fridays with a staff member at the office and meets with clients from this area rather than them having to come to London. "We moved up here because we wanted to show commitment to the area," Palmer said. Palmer has been in public accounting since the early 1980s and, three years ago, bought into the London BPR firm. He is one of three partners: Don DiCarlo and Harvey Gilmour make. the rest of the London team while Palmer also mans the Seaforth office. Ice Dreams! Second Period Sports In April, Trent Ward returned to Main Street with Ice Dreams, combined with Second Period Sports to meet the sporting needs of Seaforth and the surrounding area. Ice Dreams focuses on figure skating with new and used clothing that helps save customers money on dresses and clothing that may only get worn for a handful of performances. Second Period Sports also lets people take advantage of equipment that has been used but can help outfit a hockey or ball player economically. While he places limits on some of the new items he stocks, he can get anything a player needs overnight. The, store also offers custom cresting and does its embroidery through Diva Graphics and Design. His is the only location in the area for second-hand sports equipment which draws people from around the area. The same is true for the figure skating needs of the area. In addition, Lydia Laine's School of Dance operates on Thursday nights from the store with kids from three to nine years old and a second group of older kids. Wilkinson Consulting Preparing for a computer programming education, Anthony Wilkinson has begun offering computer related consulting services to the community. He offers in-home computer repair, home training, web -page design, internet set-up services and other consulting services including helping people select the right computer for them. "I enjoy wor#cing with computers and the public. 1 always enjoyed tutoring. It was a natural thing to get into," he said. While he begins college in January, people can still schedule time with Wilkinson for any of his services. Sally's Closet Alta Wilbur was a consignment shop customer before opening her in the form of Main Street's Sally's Closet which opened this summer. "I think the community can make use of this shop not only for clothing but household items," she said. She wanted to create one that was more like a department store rather than focus only on clothing. "It's a one-stop consignment shop," she said. She offers everything from furniture to women's and men's clothing. She said people are happy to have a place that they can sell what they no longer need and find other items that fit their budgets.