Tweed & Hickory Ladies Wear at 351A George Street North is closing. Drop on in for final sale pricing...
[Contributed by PtboCanada's Evan Holt]
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After being an RC (Remote Control) hobbyist for years, Dwayne Jamieson decided it was time to take his passion to the next level. Although you can find RC at different big box stores around town, he knew that Peterborough was missing a store that fully specialized in it. That’s when Jack’s Hot Spot was born.
Located at 395 Water St across from the Scotia Bank, Jack’s has been bringing top quality RC toys to our downtown since February 2010. Known by Jack to his friends (a nickname he earned by dressing up as Jack Nicholson), Dwayne is a one man show down at the shop. He is there 6 days a week offering his expertise to people of all levels.
Jack’s offers a little bit of everything in a shop that can be considered a “little store with a big store inventory,” as Dwayne puts it. They have RC planes, helicopters, cars, trucks and boats that come in styles ranging from beginner for those looking to try out the hobby, to professional for those who have the experience to take on a vehicle that is basically just a smaller version of the real thing! Relatively new to the RC hobby has been the addition of cameras to helicopters, which he also offers with beginner models.
Though you can find the odd RC car or helicopter at other places around town, there isn’t a store that offers such specialized items as Jack’s. Ninety-five percent of what he sells in the shop is "hobby grade"—meaning you can modify and upgrade it if you so choose. This is where his selection of paints, glue, transmitters, epoxies, and other accessories sets him apart, on top of the quality RC vehicles he offers.
If he doesn’t have a part of accessory onsite, he can bring it in in no time! On top of offering RC, Jack’s can also do repairs and upgrades at the shop which Dwayne says is a large part of his business. As anyone who is in the hobby knows, you are constantly tweaking and repairing. A lot of the time—after business hours—Dwayne takes his work home and makes repairs there!
For those interested in the hobby but to a lesser extent, Jack’s also offers great train sets with a massive array of accessories, model vehicles, and even the odd electric guitar! Jack’s Hot Spot is truly a passion project. Dwayne has brought to the city his enjoyment for RC and it shows in the display of the shop and the work he does inside of it. If you’ve ever been interested in the hobby, we suggest you stop in for a visit and see all that the shop has to offer.
For more on Jack's Hot Spot (395 Water St.), go to:
Website: Jackshotspot.com
Facebook: Jack's Hot Spot
Phone: 705.775.5225
For more on Downtown Peterborough and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), click here.
—By Aaron Elliott TRENT WORKS
Sofie Andreou is leveraging the talent of her Trent University students to create a new company called TrentWorks. Sofie will help students launch their careers in digital marketing by giving them experience in graphic design, logos, branding, websites, SEO, tech support and social media. Businesses will benefit from fresh new thinking from the cutting edge. To find out more about this great idea, visit Trentworks.com.
FLYING COLOURS
The investment in the Peterborough airport is starting to pay off, with the recent double announcement—the expansion of Flying Colours, and the creation of the Peterborough Aerospace Centre. Flying Colours continues its amazing flight path with the construction of a new 20,000 square foot addition and 15 – 25 new jobs in the interior, maintenance and engineering areas. This adds to the 200 employees at Flying Colours. Meanwhile the Seneca College School of Aviation & Flight Technology Building is nearing completion. Peterborough Economic Development is packaging all of this new activity and infrastructure including airport resident and regional aerospace businesses to demonstrate the strength of the sector in this region. It should help generate interest and increase investment inquiries. More details here.
WEE WOK EXPRESS
Wee Wok Express is a new Chinese takeout restaurant at 337 George Street. Ron Kam and his family have renovated the former South Pacific location and are now offering pick-up and delivery of their signature dishes including Cantonese, Szechuan and Thai specialties. You find the full menu and details online at Weewok.ca.
OVERSTOCK LIQUIDATION
Jay and Sheryl Over recently took over the former Jack and Jill Farms location at 3001 Lakefield Road to create Overstock Liquidation. Open every Friday and Saturday, Jay and Sheryl unload two new truckloads of merchandise each week. Everything from bedding, furniture and household, to beauty products, electronics, handbags, clothing, jewellery and watches.
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The evolution of Peterborough’s downtown is ever apparent. Some businesses have come and gone, while others have undergone a complete re-branding like Shots Lounge, which was formerly known as Splice.
Opening as Splice in 2006, the lounge was meant to be a semi restaurant-lounge offering a wide array of drinks and dinner options. While the menu was constantly changing to provide its clientele with top quality food, it eventually turned into a full-on nightclub to the delight of its owners.
Eventually however, under the same ownership, Splice was essentially transitioned to the successful ARIA. Later, the idea came to bring back elements of the Splice atmosphere but in a remodelled setting. In March of this year, renovations began at 379 George St N, and since its June opening, Shots Lounge has become a hotspot downtown!
Owned and operated by a group of locals including Lang Freeman, Shawn Stephenson, Andres (Sucho) Salazar and Sammy Shehadeh, Shots Lounge has
brought back a casual nightspot atmosphere that brings with it the same feeling as a pub, but in a different setting. This is what Splice use to have, and with Shots they have been able to recreate the old closeness and community feeling.
The owners like that it has become a spot again where everybody knows your name. Separated into two rooms, Shots is quite a versatile operation. The front room opened in June and is set up as a bar where patrons can order trendy drinks in a cozy lounge setting. The back room, which opened in September, is available for special functions such as birthday parties. Any kind of event is possible in this space and they love working with requests from clients.
Open 7 nights a week from 8 p.m.-on, Shots offers an intimate yet exciting venue with DJs constantly spinning only the best music while offering an absolutely massive drink menu with nightly specials. Their bartenders can create anything you can imagine! The lounge offers a nightly promo between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. called “5 for 5” where you can order any 5 hand crafted beverages for $5 each.
Partnered with ARIA and Dolce Vita who supplies a full kitchen, Shots has become one of downtown Peterborough’s newest go-to nightlife establishments! They invite you to come down and experience what so many people have been talking about since its June opening. If you’re looking to throw a memorable party of any theme, they’d be happy to help you make it happen in this unique spot.
For more on Shots Lounge (379 George St. N), go to:
Twitter: @shotsonshots
Facebook: Shots Lounge
Phone: 705.749.9315
For more on Downtown Peterborough and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), click here.
—By Aaron Elliott
When Ian Kyle retired as a soldier in 2008 after 34 years of active service, he still had the military on his mind. That’s why on January 22, 2009 he and his wife, Janet, opened Sarge's Army Surplus at 291 George St N, located directly across the street from Showplace in downtown Peterborough.
As you can imagine, Sarge's forte is in offering military surplus gear from around the world. This includes all sorts from small accessories and all aspects of military clothing to outdoor camping gear ranging from tents and sleeping bags to extreme weather gear graded for arctic and even jungle use! What Ian and Janet also offer at the store—and what has really taken off for them—is paintball and air-soft gear. The hobbies for both are popular now and Sarge's is the top supplier in the area for high end equipment.
When you enter the store, you are immediately met with product from floor to ceiling. People are often enamoured with how much is available and the overall display of things they could never imagine would be available in our city. Ian uses the saying that “It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it” which you can tell his store operates by!
Along with his knowledgeable staff including Dave and Ryan, Sarge's offer rentals and are also qualified to do repairs of much of the gear that they offer. One of the most interesting parts of the shop is the collectibles and memorabilia section that is offered. Here you will find items from all around the world ranging from old military medals to badges and even pre-worn uniforms.
Ian and Janet are still very much involved in the local military scene and often attend and set up booths at military themed shows. They are proud to support our local Veterans, celebrate Veterans Awareness Day, and happily offer discounts to armed forces, scouts, and the cadets.
If you’re interested in military history, camping, survival equipment, or hobby sports like paintball, we suggest you check Sarge's Army Surplus out. There truly is no other place like it around, and we’re happy they’re located in the heart of Downtown Peterborough!
For more on Sarge's Army Plus (291 George St N), go to:
Website: Sargesarmysurplus.com
Facebook: SargesArmySurplus
Phone: 705.741.0811
For more on Downtown Peterborough and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), click here.
—By Aaron Elliott
Downtown Peterborough is known to have a
nighttime establishment for just about every type of crowd you can imagine and
for the most part all of the businesses are doing quite well. With so many
options available, one would think that opening up a new club in the heart of
the city would be a very tough sell! Lang Freeman and Sammy Shehadeh have proved that wrong.
In 2011, Lang, who was already running what was then Splice Lounge, was approached by Sammy with an idea to expand and bring an experience to Peterborough that wasn’t already available. It was on October 31, 2012 that ARIA opened in its location at 331 George St. N after an extensive eight month renovation project!
ARIA brings an unmatched big city nightclub
feel to our downtown core that has had people buzzing for almost a year now.
The club brings in some of the biggest traveling DJs around to throw down some
of the most epic parties you will ever experience! Lang and Sammy have spared
no expense inside the club equipping it with sound and light installation from the renowned Apex.
With club nights falling on Friday and Saturday, ARIA has time between events to plan out amazing ideas. They have developed a program called E-Life which is comprised of local businesses which strive to bring top quality food and entertainment to our great city!
Using Dolce Vita, which is part of the E-Life program as their primary caterer, ARIA has hosted some great events such as last year’s PeterTweeter Awards. They also had a PtboPride event, and host as many theme parties as can be imagined!
With so much space and time available between their massive club nights, it has become the goal of ARIA to become more of an all-encompassing entertainment facility and offer their space for different events throughout the week.
The layout of the club is perfect for bands to play in, to host upscale banquets and also to host weddings which they have started to plan for next year already.
Lang is a graduate of Trent University and has kept close ties with the school since his graduation. As such, ARIA has been proud to host Trent’s annual Glow Show, they have DJ’d intro fest and have also set up at Trent’s Vendor Show. What Lang is most proud of however is that ARIA secured a partnership with the school to run the entire Head of the Trent event with the university and rowing team.
If you’re looking to host an event in downtown Peterborough in an unmatched big city atmosphere—we're hosting our 1st Annual Christmas party there December 5th!—we suggest you give ARIA a try. They have all angles covered to give you an experience the guests at your function will be talking about for years to come!
For more info on ARIA (331 George St. N), go to:
Website: ClubAria.ca
Facebook: ClubAria
Twitter: @ARIA_Inc
Phone: 705-743-0333
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The Yoga Room has opened at 247 George Street (where the Flower Shop used to be), next door to Riley's.
Stay up to date with The Yoga Room by following them on Facebook.
[Contributed by PtboCanada's Evan Holt]
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When you work in the service industry and your business has been operating for over a quarter century in the same location, you know that you’ve been doing something right! That is exactly how Laurie Jones of Laurie Jones and Company Hair Designers feels.
Located at 165 Sherbrooke St Unit 2 across from Larry Electric, Laurie established her business in its current location in 1986 and has never looked back. The shop has a staff of four very dedicated women (Marilyn Huggins, Charmaine O’Brien, Laurie "Parker" Roberts and Laurie Jones herself) who are all born and raised Peterborough girls!
They all have many years of experience in the business and enjoy coming to work in downtown Peterborough each and every day that the shop is open. Being a smaller venue, the ladies have built up a large clientele through their connections with family and in our community.
They’ve known all along that with great service and results come word of mouth sales for them, which is why they have excelled at what they do for so long. Laurie Jones and Company is a salon that focuses on people from the neck up! They offer haircuts, colouring jobs, washes, perms and even deal with some facial waxing. They happily cater to both men and women, from seniors to children experiencing their first haircuts.
On site, they use and sell some large name professional products such as Redken, L’Oreal and Schwarzkopf to name a few. As mentioned, all the women love what they do, and they are happy to have stayed in their smaller location downtown. For them and their customers alike, it offers convenience in its placement, and a great atmosphere on the block they’re on and towards the downtown core which is all within walking distance.
With 27 years experience as a shop, the ladies have seen a lot of change around them. They’re happy to be a constant in the community and invite you to book a time for your next hair appointment.
Their hours are as follows:
Tuesday and Thursday: 9:00am-7:00pm
Wednesday and Friday: 9:00am-5:00pm
Saturday: 9:00am-1:00pm
For more on Laurie Jones and Company Hair Designers (165 Sherbrooke St), go to:
Phone: 705.748.5000
For more on Downtown Peterborough and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), click here.
—By Aaron Elliott
Mark Loescher has moved his well known business, Mark’s Finer Diner, into Peterborough at 128 Lansdowne Street. You’ll find the same great food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, catering and eat in or take out, plus a licensed bar and lounge upstairs called Your Place. The lounge is currently running a logo contest with an entry deadline of this Friday (October 4). Details at Marksfinerdiner.com or find them on Facebook.
Lawrence Smoot’s company, Virtual Man Friday, offers virtual assistant services such as data entry, research, Webpage or blog content, as well as meeting planning, real estate photography, location scouting and personal concierge. Lawrence has a Masters of Public Administration and over 25 years of administrative experience. Visit Virtualmanfriday.net or call 705-927-5056.
Sofie Andreau and Winston Bromley have just launched the Social Media Business Institute. They offer organizations and individuals an all inclusive self paced social media learning platform. In the Social Media Fast Track certification program, members are trained in Strategy & Planning, Management, Measurement, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Video, Pinterest & eNewsletters. Plus there is a live training session on October 9. Details at Socialmediabusinessinstitute.com.
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