Here and there

Good news for the restaurant customers at The Bay. The company announced from Toronto that their plans call for a remolding of the restaurant in the Kelowna store.

I can’t remember if the restaurant has been there since we moved here 33 years ago or not. It seems like it has been there forever. They draw a mixed crowd from retired to the young couple out shopping who want to get lunch.

The dining room is going to be remolded and have some menu changes. It will
make the eating spot a little warmer and friendlier, transferring the room into a more destination experience. The Bay has entered into a partnership with Compass Group to re-brand the local restaurant. The company is one of Canada’s leading food services companies.

The alliance will help make The Bay a fresh new destination point for die-hard foodies while offering even more quality and convenience to casual diners and shoppers. Compass Group Canada will provide The Bay with access to advanced technology, processes, and innovative food concepts that will help increase productivity, engage associates and provide service excellence to customers across Canada.

"This is an exhilarating partnership for The Bay as we join forces with two of the best food service and restaurant management companies in Canada to forge a progressive new vision for dining and events at Canada's oldest and largest department store," says Bonnie Brooks, President and CEO, The Bay. "We are currently planning the rollout to all our major stores, and we view it as an amazing opportunity to build upon our foundation of delivering new and exciting brands to The Bay - and taking dining and food service to an entirely new level for our customers."

The partnership is good news for The Bay employees. All existing Bay food service employees will receive offers of employment from Compass Group Canada, along with an invigorated work environment and opportunities for employee development. Employment offers will be made in a phased approach according to the transition schedule over the next year.

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It is still winter and if you haven’t had a flu shot there still is time to get one. The risk of coming down with the flu is not over yet.

The flu has already hit very hard in some areas of eastern Canada and the same could still happen here. We have been getting flu shots for many years with such good results. I don’t understand why people have such difficulty in getting a flu shot? It take but a few minutes and if you’re squeamish look the other way.

There are still free flu shots for the elderly, very young people and chronic
medical conditions of all ages.

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Give the Loblaw group (SuperStore and Extra Foods) full marks for the remodel at the Extra Foods store in the Capri Centre. They did a beautiful job in the redesign with the added lighting and a new front end. The store looks great and the store is one busy place all the time. The customer base for the store draws from a large marketplace.

The manger at The Capri Centre told me to drop in and see the new store
and he was right, it is a real winner for the chain. Loblaw really does things right and this store looks great.

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You can imagine how many deals for TV’s were made in the days before the Super Bowl. I wonder how many of those deals was accompanied by an extended warranty package?

People spend hours looking at consumer books or trying the TV in the store before they make their purchase and consider an extended warranty.

The decision one must make these days is not just for TVs. Extended warranties, also called service contracts are offered on everything from cell phones to you-name-it. I was in a Source store before Christmas and they had an extended warranty on the $25 battery for our phone. Typically an extended warranty lengthens and in most cases overlaps the manufacturer's warranty.

I have had so many e-mails from readers who have had trouble collecting on that warranty they bought and how the retailers involved treated them. It is not a pretty story.

It is a huge business - a profit center like none other.

Consumer Reports for example doesn’t recommend buying an extended warranty in any products category. It calls them "notoriously bad deals".

It is a very expensive insurance policy. If a repair won’t wreck your financial situation then don’t worry about.

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I don’t know what this may mean to the ongoing saga regarding The Conservatory on Glenmore Road. We have written about this property for many years and there it sits uncompleted and all alone with little hope for the right contractor to give the place the finishing touches. Or, will we see it be knocked down? I don’t think so - surely there is someone out there who can make this property work.

But here is an interesting sidebar to the situation.

The Conexus Credit Union Group of Saskatchewan who are the ones holding the mortgage for the property, seem to have no luck in advancing the project and certainly don’t want to lose any more of the members' money on the stalled project.

But this happened last week in Saskatchewan. The RCMP are investigating allegations of vote tampering in a proposed merger of three provincial credit unions. Conexus, Innovation and Synergy are the three involved in the merger talks. In January, 95 percent of Conexus members and 77 per cent of Innovation members voted in favour of the merger. Synergy meanwhile has reported to the authorities and alleged vote tampering.

What is going on here?