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John Thomson  

Rumours and things

Cabela’s Canada, as the world’s foremost outfitter, passionately serves people who enjoy the outdoor lifestyle by delivering innovation, quality and value in their product and services.

Serving over 250,000 customers across Canada and internationally through Mail Order, Internet and Retail Stores, Cabela's Canada has established a team that is experienced and knowledgeable of the requirements of the Canadian marketplace.

Cabela's is expanding into cities across Canada -- aiming to become the first coast-to-coast outdoor-merchandise chain in the country -- and has acquired one of Winnipeg's biggest warehouses to serve as its national headquarters and distribution centre.

The Nebraska-based firm's Canadian division -- Cabela's Canada -- has spent the last two months quietly renovating the 345,000-square-foot former DeFehr Furniture plant.

Established a beachhead in Canada in 2007 with the acquisition of a Winnipeg hunting and fishing retail institution -- S.I.R. Mail Order and Warehouse Sports store, which had many customers in the Okanagan.

Cabela’s Canada plans to open a new store next year in Edmonton.

The hunting, fishing, camping and outdoor-merchandise retailer said that construction of the new 70,000-square-foot store is outlet is scheduled to get underway in September, and that the store is expected to open in the fall of next year.

Their online order business is very strong. For years I received their catalog a number of times a year and I have a friend in Vernon who wanted it the minute I was finished having a look.

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I went down to Penticton to meet Gordon Ferguson the manager of the new Coast Penticton Hotel and the Ramada Courtyard Inn. The hotels owned by the Locations West Investment Group led by developer Robin who Agur bought the Travelodge a couple of years ago and have completely upgraded the property and it has been bannered as the Coast Penticton. Still to come next year is the addition of a 65-room tower and a new swimming pool.

It made me think back to the days when the Ramada site was originally built. There was a large restaurant where we used to stay when the Mrs. and I would go down to shop, stay and dine in the friendly city, because she liked to see what Woodward’s had to offer. There was always a trip to the original Granny Bogners to dine. You couldn’t go to Penticton without a nosh a Granny’s.
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This past week Report On Business had a great headline. I’d like to leave it here for you to think about:

“Downtowns Rising From The Dead

The faded urban cores of Canada’s mid-sized cities are benefiting from visionary and innovative thinking.”

What can I tell you?

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I was surprised to hear about Bernard Callebaut’s financial problems with his chocolate company. It just seems like a few weeks ago I was writing about the company out to raise $5 million in a stock sale. Now they have filed for receivership forced by the Alberta Treasury Branch, which are owed $3.9 million. He started the chocolate company in 1983 with his first store in Calgary. They now have thirty stores in Canada and two in the U.S. plus a factory producing the goodies in Calgary. Man, they make excellent chocolates.

Bernard came out to Kelowna to speak to our Media Marketing Club just after his franchise store in Kelowna was opened.

From what I can read he may have paid too much for a piece of property he bought to start an organic dairy on the highway to Banff for $5 million three years ago. It was just valued at $2 million.

I understand the company will continue to operate.

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Venture Kamloops has an exciting new initiative underway, the VK Business Corral. The Business Corral provides dedicated Kamloops Entrepreneurs access to a skilled and responsive business start-up advisory committee. The committee is a group of business professionals who have collective expertise and experience covering many facets of business start-up and exposure to connections with a variety of key Kamloops sectors.

The meeting format is a Dragon’s Den concept: a session, once a month, with one new business venture. After the business pitch has been presented the committee conducts a vigorous Q & A session with the entrepreneur. The session is further enhanced by way of a feedback form that the committee members have completed over the course of the presentation and then given to the entrepreneur as a takeaway. Comments to date from both the Entrepreneurs and the committee have been extremely positive.


More John Thomson articles

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About the Author

John Thomson is the Okanagan's pre-eminent business columnist writing his column, Rumours and Things, for over 24 years. Plugged in to the valley's who's who, John keeps his readers coming back for more with his straight talk and optimistic perspective on where we are headed next.

When John is not writing his column, he runs a sixteen year old think tank called the Executive Roundtable and holds his popular "Thomson Presents" quarterly business speaker seminars.

Have a comment, question, or tip for John? 

E-mail John at
[email protected]
or send him a fax at 250-764-8255.

 



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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