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John Thomson  

Rumours and things

Golf needs Tiger Woods and Tiger Woods needs golf so will the needs of both be realized this season? It is hard to say because we can’t get into Tiger’s head to see if his life has changed for the good and if he is ready to play with championship style of old.

Television ratings for gold dropped considerably last season with viewer numbers being down something like twenty-three per cent. It has been a killer of a year for them and the sponsors. The big money companies are taking a second look at their golf involvement. Nike, Tiger’s golf ball maker came through with a profit for the year of $1.6 million in golf ball sales. On the other hand, Tiger accessory sales were not strong.

I know and because I watch golf on TV every week you need a scorecard now to keep track of the players. The cameras, although they try, don’t get it as much as the Wood’s game that we liked just a couple of years ago because it isn’t there.

I hope he can put this mess behind him and get back into the groove for his own sanity. He made a huge mistake - let’s get on with it. Elann and the golfer have settled their differences. It was a terrible, stupid chapter in their lives.

December was a bad month for Tiger as he lost Gillette as a full sponsor. Then in January, Golf Digest, the largest golf publication in the world mutually agreed to part after thirteen years. Six sponsors have stayed with him Nike, EA ports, Upper Deck, Tag Heuer, NetJet and TLC Eye Centres.

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I can remember in those days in the last of fifties and early sixties when the A&W Drive-Ins were the restaurant of choice for our three daughters. The Allen & Wright root beer stands started in California in 1946. It came to Canada in 1956 and opened the first Canadian store on Portage Avenue.

There was nothing like that cold mug of root beer and an A&W hamburger and this was before they had even thought of the family of burgers. Our daughters liked us to buy a bag of baby burgers and a jug of root beer to take home.

The Canadian company now has 730 stores across the country and is expected to be expanding to the tune of twenty-five stores a year over the next number of years.

McDonald’s has 1430 stores across Canada, Tim Hortons has 3400 locatons.

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Entrepreneur Andre Blanleil, Kelowna city councilor and one of the most successful businessman in this part of the world, is making another move.
Depending on how you make the count there are sixteen main Audio Electronics stores in his Andre’s chain. But then those are made up of cellular, car audio and audiovisual divisions amounting to something like thirty-six. It is big and growing and very competitive in a very competitive and price conscious business. His success has been quite spectacular.

I am told that now he has plans for a new automatic car wash in West Kelowna as well as another store.

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They’re back.

Those pesky telephone-marketing guys with the non-listed phone numbers from south of the border. They have the same pitch as always. “We can lower your credit card charges!”

Don’t fall for this one, it's a scam of the worst order. Don’t give them any information at all. For an amount of money like $200 they will attempt to get your credit card company to give you a better deal. It is an impossible task for these people from Florida and they are not going to try. They just take the money and say that the bank or financial institution where your credit card from would not cooperate. Enough said - they keep the money and any other information you have given them.

If you have a good rating with your credit card company you can negotiate a
new rate on your own. It isn’t easy but it can be done.

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There is much speculation in the TV industry that CNN’s Anderson Cooper will be one of the leaders in replacing the Oprah Winfrey Show in the fall as she leaves for her own cable network. Cooper’s syndications already have already cleared 75 per cent to more than 80 stations on board. There is no word on Canada.


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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