StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat's Year-End Review

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

I thought for my last Business Beat column of the year, I’d reflect on the year that was, from the perspective of the business community.

First, there are some really sad stories… People who put everything they own on the line, and then borrowed the rest, only to run face-first into a Global Pandemic. None of us can imagine what it is like, to lose everything unless we’ve lived it.

The same can be said for many employees, who were suddenly a lot less secure than they thought.

Thankfully we live in a country that has been able to respond and provide a lot of support, though I know it won’t be enough for some.

And now, with vaccine on the horizon, we are in the second wave. Think of how maddening it would be if you were in business and had to watch while people took chances with the simplest public health directives—to wear a mask, to properly distance, to wash your hands, and to watch your business being shut down again, because of it.

Stu Harrison

So, what can you do? Here’s a list:

1.     Go out of your way to shop locally, even if it’s online, keep it local.

(When you keep your money in town, you are making a personal investment in the future of your community, and you are showing your pride in what we have built.)

2.     Give to the local charitable, not for profit, and arts community. They are really hurting.

3.     Buy a gift card.

4.     Leave a positive review.

5.     Like or follow or share a social media post of a local business.

6.     Tag a friend if you see something they might like.

7.     Get take-out.

8.     Buy from local artists and artisans.

I hope you have time this holiday season to reflect on this horrible year, find some things to be thankful for, cherish that Zoom call, and that you’ll “LoveLocalPtbo”.

Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukka, Happy Kwanzaa, Gungshi Shin Nien, Feliz Navidad, Salaam alaikum, Merry Christmas.

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StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat This Week Featuring The Hive, The Crepes Of Wrath & More!

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

The Hive is a new Tattoo Studio in Downtown Peterborough. Three talented tattoo artists, owner Bree Fitzgerald, and Tasha Sinton and Karamina Stewartl have created a vintage feel in a beautiful space at 442 George Street beside Blue Streak Records. All three artists love to consult with their clients and come up with a custom piece of art, applied in a private and relaxed studio. Follow The Hive on Instagram.

Baxter Creek Golf Club has added three new simulators in their clubhouse. For just $35 an hour, you and your friends or family can golf some of the greatest golf courses in the world. For details and tee times, visit baxtercreekgolf.com.

The Crepes of Wrath recently opened at 170 Hunter Street. Owner Brian Goeckel has lots of fun with his menu, with choices like Full Metal Jackfruit, Bay O Pigs, Roast Beast and Classical Gas. Stop in, on Hunter, just West of George, next to META4, or find Crepes of Wrath Ptbo on Facebook or Instagram.

Not everyone caters their own wedding and then turns it into a business… but that’s what happened to Shannon and Joy Brown. The couple, capitalizing on how the business started by naming it Till Death BBQ, have been building the business steady for a couple of years. They had over 40 weddings booked this year, and then, like so many businesses had to scramble. They have been doing delivery and take out and added a food truck. This summer they gave away well over a thousand pulled pork sandwiches, corn bread muffins, brownies and more, by simply pulling up to the hospital and handing it out to front line workers. Find Till Death BBQ on Facebook.

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StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat This Week Featuring SWAG Parcel Service & Kelcey’s Nutrition Centre

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

A great story from Kelcey’s Nutrition Centre in East City. 21 years ago, owner Bill Kelcey and a few other similar, and independent, stores formed a buying group, allowing them to compete. 21 years later that buying group, now called the Health First Network, is now 96 companies, 142 stores and an office, warehouse and distribution Centre in Burlington. And Tori Kelcey, Bill’s daughter, has just been appointed to the Networks Board of Directors. Tori tells me that the network also has its own line of vitamin’s, and a famous Peterborough landmark is about to be featured on one of the bottles. For more info, go to Kelceysnutrition.com.

SWAG Parcel Service is a new, local delivery company for small businesses in Peterborough. Owner Heather Million offers delivery at a great rate, with on-time, professional delivery. SWAG can do same day service, customer pickups locally or in the GTA as well as handle high volume and subscription-based businesses. You can find SWAG Parcel Service on Facebook or call 705-868-3134.

Women Breaking Barriers is an interesting event from The Innovation Cluster, coming up on December 15th at noon. Four local founders will be profiled - Jeannine Taylor, Publisher and Editor in Chief of KawarthaNow, Rhonda Barnet, President & COO of AVIT Manufacturing, Shelby Leonard-Watt, Owner of Save our Soles, and Sofie Andreou, Founder of 123DigitalPower, Digital Marketing Services & Training. Details are at innovationcluster.ca.

Charlie Gregory has just published a new book, his fourth! Titled Dreamed Fish Dancer, it is based on a dream his brother Kevin had of their brother Shane, who had passed a year earlier. It is a really interesting concept for a book with contributions from John Boyle, Steven Leak, Jenny Hamilton, Wayne Eardley, Jade Gregory and more. You can get your copy by emailing cassjade@cogeco.ca.

Events coming up include an information session on some of the services offered by WSIB and how your business can benefit. The webinar is this Friday (December 11th) from 9 – 10 am. To register, call John Carr at 647-308-1730.

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StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat This Week Featuring Grady's Feet Essentials, The Peterborough Petes, The Promoter Book & More!

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

Grady’s Feet Essentials recently opened a second location at 231 King Street, at the corner of King & Aylmer. That is in addition to the Lansdowne Place store. The downtown location has Blundstone boots, Birkenstocks, shoe care products & a Birk/Blundstone repair shop. They are open Monday to Friday 9-5. They have also added free delivery within 30 minutes of Peterborough. Check it all out at feetessentials.com.

The Peterborough Petes, coming off the success of their Halloween care package deliveries, are planning an even bigger effort called Very Merry Christmas. The Petes organization will be expanding their route, and delivering over 3000 Christmas packages to Peterborough residents. If your business would like to get involved as a sponsor, get in touch today at gopetesgo.com.

The Promoter is out… the new book chronicles the life of local promoter Brian Edwards. Co-written by local author Ed Arnold, the book tells the stories, from being the youngest person ever to be granted a booking agency license in North America, to travelling the Country with Canadian entertainment icons like “Stompin” Tom Connors, Tommy Hunter, Frank Mills, Carole Baker, Red Green and many more. The Promoter is available at brianthepromoter.com or by calling 1-800-465-7829.

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StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat This Week Featuring Maximized Mobility, Miss Grove & Company, Fleetwood Hills Farm & More!

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

Maximized Mobility owners Kathy and Lauraine sell innovative enclosed mobility scooters, but they’ve recently expanded their space on The Parkway to include a Warehouse Boutique. They carry distinctive clothing, plus sizes, jewelry, infant and children items, home décor, brand name housewares, brand name shoes and boots, lots of knicknacks and great Christmas decorations. Located at 649 the Parkway Unit #1, they are open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit maximizedmobility.net for more info.

Miss Grove & Company is Margie Langille’s business. A monthly subscription box, Margie features local artisans, her own handmade baked goods, preserves, beautiful fresh flowers and more.  At just $30, and farm to door delivery across the Kawarthas, Miss Grove and Company can provide a unique gift for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, house warming gifts—you name it, they do it. Margie also works with a lot of local companies and realtors. Check it out at missgrove.com.

The Start-up Visa Program enables immigrant entrepreneurs to launch innovative companies by providing valuable assistance in navigating the Canadian business landscape. The Innovation Cluster Peterborough and the Kawarthas was recently certified to offer the program. One of only 31 business incubators in Canada, and the first in a rural area, Cluster President John Gillis says the program has the potential to attract some of the best and brightest minds from around the world who can build businesses in this area and create jobs. Expected to launch early next year, check out innovationcluster.ca/startupvisa for more info.

Congratulations to Fleetwood Hills Farm on having its White Liquid Honey crowned Champion-White Liquid Honey and Grand Champion Liquid Honey-Reserve at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair! Stephen Moore and his family operate 289 acres just South of Lindsay. Go to fleetwoodhills.com for more info.

The Moore family

And congratulations to Dick Crawford and PKA SoftTouch for having their micro-needle device awarded 2nd overall in the Top 10 Best invention from iCAN 2020, the premier event in Canada for worldwide inventors and innovators. The single-shot, pre-filled, pre-measured device delivers a drug to the body of the patient effectively and painlessly. After fifteen years of development, the device is in the final stage of testing, and they hope to confirm their first licence in the next six months. Pkasofttouch.com

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StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat This Week Featuring Creative Kwe, Uride & More!

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

Uride is Canada’s fasted growing ride-hailing company, and they are coming to Peterborough. Originating in Thunder Bay, the company has been working with the City for a number of months and they expect to be able to launch by the Christmas season. Meanwhile they are recruiting Peterborough drivers. There is full information on the requirements for drivers, as well as a downloadable app for riders, at uridetech.com.

Ashley Lamothe has been busy developing new programming for her business Creative Kwe. Ashley specializes in workshops, creativity coaching and online courses that all focus on unleashing that creative spark in all of us. Ashley has a free webinar on Creative Workplace Wellness Programs tomorrow (November 17) from 12 – 1, a design your own personal roadmap workshop on November 25th, and she has just launched a new side-business making handcrafted resin keychains called ResiNation. Check it all out at creativekwe.ca.

Cahill’s, as a local retailer of Nobis outerwear, is participating in their annual “No Cold Shoulder” campaign. Teaming up with Cameron House, Cahill’s is encouraging everyone to drop off their gently-used, winter coats at their store on Hunter Street in Peterborough. Anyone who drops off a coat in November will get a ballot for a chance to win a $250 in-store credit. Donated coats will be cleaned by Grainger’s Cleaners and donated to Cameron House in Peterborough. Cahills.ca for details, or just stop in.

And congratulations to Raycroft Financial Planning on their new location. After 10 years at the corner of Charlotte and Park, the firm has moved to 890 High Street, in the former Kawartha Credit Union Building. Started by Bill Raycroft, the company is now run by Bill and Noreen’s son and daughter Dan and Lynn, specializing in professional financial planning, for tax, retirement, estate and investments, as well as insurance, education funding and more. Raycroftfinancial.com

Lynn

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StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat This Week Featuring Clarke's Cafe, The Loomex Group & More!

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

If you’re in Millbrook and you say you’re going to “Clarke’s”, you could be going to the car wash, the laundromat, the gas bar, the service station, and now the café! Heather and Mike Clarke recently opened Clarke’s Café. Managed by Taylor Post, the café offers breakfast and lunch 7 days a week, for both dine in and take-out. They also run the automotive repair shop called Clarke’s Service Centre, and Mike’s father Bill still punches the clock every day to operate the car wash, laundromat and gas bar. Go to clarkesservicecentre.ca for details. 

The Modern Makers Market opened last week at 651 Chamberlain Street. A collective of over 35 vendors, The Modern Makers Market brings local small businesses into a store front for an easier shopping experience. A market vibe in a retail location! Whether you are Christmas shopping, or looking for something unique for yourself, or a special present, you’ll find one-of a kind art, home décor, soaps, jewellery, candles, clothing and more. Find the Modern Makers Market on Facebook. 

Congratulations to The Loomex Group on acquiring Montreal-based Explorer Solutions, known for their economic development and airport planning services. The move gives the Loomex Group access to a global market through the US and France.

The Canadian Council for the Blind, Peterborough Chapter, has a unique project called “From the Blind, For the Blind”. They gather visual aids from people who are no longer using them and pass them on to those in need. They have rehomed everything from closed captioning units to large key keyboards, and they have clients looking for scanners, braille printers, cctv’s, vision max glasses, magnifiers and more. Contact ccbpeterborough.com or call Debby Haryett at 705-874-6905.

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StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat This Week Featuring Rise and Run, Ryan Haacke Photography & More!

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

Nicole Gagliardi and Jason Stabler have just launched their new social enterprise, called Rise and Run. The couple bring decades of experience helping small nonprofits grow their impact, with Jason putting his background in policy, law and management to work alongside Nicole’s expertise in program design, strategy and communications to help small nonprofits with big plans get to where they want to go. So, if you are looking for a consultancy dedicated exclusively to supporting the capacity of small nonprofits, check out riseandrun.co.

Nicole and Jason

Ryan Haacke recently launched his new photography business. Still photos or video, Ryan can capture Canadian landscapes, family photos, or drone and real estate work. Whether you are listing your home or business, or capturing a moment for loved ones and friends, Ryan will bring his Bachelor's degree in Film and Media and his creativity to every shoot. Check out Ryanhaackephoto.com for more info.

The Original Farmers Market will be moving inside the Morrow Building this Saturday (November 7th), complete with spacing between vendors and a one-way direction for shoppers. The Market has worked with the Public Health Unit to make it a safe indoor space. Masks must be worn of course, and hand sanitizer is available. The Market has enjoyed a strong Summer and appreciates the support of the Peterborough Community.

Meanwhile the new Farmcrest Marketplace, which operated at the former Trentwinds location this Summer, has secured the Baker’s Hill Banquet Hall for the indoor season. That’s at the corner of Parkhill Road East and Television Road. They open at the new site this Saturday, and will be supporting the Royal Canadian Legion offering poppies, poppy face masks, and Legion “Poppy” Yard Signs. Go to farmcrestmarketplaceptbo.com for more info.

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StoosNews Spotlight: Check Out The Business Beat This Week Featuring The Creative Lounge, Foggy Clean Peterborough & More!

PTBOCanada is delighted to to be running StooNews columns each week here, spotlighting new businesses and startups in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here is this week’s edition…

The Creative Lounge opened recently at 247 George Street. Owners Ashley Martin and Susan Adams are both born and raised in Peterborough, and have put together a wonderful tribute to its vibrant music scene, with all kinds of cool music décor and a menu that features everything from “bandwiches” to “Raps”. Open seven days a week from 11 a.m., but as of this Saturday (October 31st), their Grand Opening, they’ll be open from 8 am for breakfast as well. Check them out on Facebook here or call 705-775-2788 for more info.

Shawn Salo recently started his new business called Foggy Clean Peterborough. Shawn offers residential and commercial disinfecting services, using a 100% biodegradable, environmentally friendly and Health Canada approved disinfectant. Viruses, bacteria, mould and fungus and of course, the Coronavirus, can all be treated by Foggy Clean using Shawn’s spraying technique, which releases a steady stream of sanitizing droplets that settle onto surfaces and into cracks. You’ll them on Facebook at Foggy Clean Peterborough.

Congratulations to local broadcaster and author Gord Gibb on the publication of this first novel. Called The Fifth Season, Gord describes it as a warm, Canadian story with an eclectic cast of characters: including the hero of the story, who has Down Syndrome. You can purchase the kindle version now for just $2.99, or wait for the print-on-demand and audio book later this year. Just look for The Fifth Season on Amazon.

Gordon Gibb

The Peterborough Rotary Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. As part of the celebrations, they are producing a special commemorative Centennial Book. The club is selling a limited number of ads in the book, just enough to cover the costs. If you’d like to support the club just get in touch with Bruce Gavel at bruce@brucegravel.ca.

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