John Thomson's I Didn't Know That!

I wanted to talk about gasoline prices at the pump because they jumped a little just before the big long busiest weekend of the summer.

I called my friend Dave Skogland, who owns the Skogie’s chain of car washes called Skogie’s Auto Spa. Dave opened Orchard Park Car Wash in 1971, which was then on the outskirts of Kelowna. He has an independent operation, sells Petro Canada and is one of the largest gasoline retailers in the valley.

We sat down to talk because I wanted to hear the side of the story we never hear: and that is of the operator, the retailer who sells you the gasoline for your vehicle.

Dave went and got his last bill from the fill up of his tanks.  The first figure I noticed was the base price of gas, at 85.25 per litre, but the dealer pays 1.23.8 per litre… and the street price that day was 1.25.9 per litre.  But that’s not all.

Dave: “The base price for of the fuel before taxes is 85.25 a litre. The balance is taxes prepaid by the retailer, and help to create a very unbalanced competitive situation from region to region.

“The gate price to the dealer seems to have increased over the last few years because the majority of fuel is sold to the public by the large integrated oil companies, who also control the production and refining, Now we have a situation whereby the majors are able to simply increase their profits on the wholesale refinery end of the business and keep the retail margin very small. This leaves the independents such as me with little or no retail margin.

“The dealers, according to the billing, are paying 1.23.8 per litre, and on top of this is a 2% per transaction charge by the banks and oil company credit cards, and we are paying 126.33 per litre and selling for 1.25.9 plus 1 cent for the loyalty card. ”

It just doesn’t work anymore.

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It just never quits with questions about IKEA, and are they going to come here, and they would draw customers from all over the Interior, said one email.

Their latest store footprint is 350,000 sq. ft. for the store and restaurant, plus parking. Both the Richmond new store and Coquitlam store are these monsters.

People from here shop there and have it delivered, or bring it home in their own transportation.

In the last article I did on IKEA their spokesperson said the company is going to try some smaller stores in Europe to see if they work. The real problem with IKEA is that it takes that big box to give you the real shopping experience of IKEA.

Anyway, after twenty-four years of writing about these things IKEA still remains the favorite from readers, inquiring about the future and who will come here in retail.

There is only so much room.

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Now that P.F. Chang’s have moved into the Canadian marketplace, will we now see their frozen dinners in our large grocery stores? This company didn’t want to be in the frozen dinner section until they could make sure that what was put into the package was the same as the food served in the restaurant, and Con Agra is the producer.

Most of our large grocery chains are importing from the U.S. everyday. I would expect Superstore or Walmart to be the first.

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One of my contacts in the development business told me the other day that his company is receiving a number of enquiries these days from Saskatchewan. It seems with the boom there at the present time those houses they wanted to sell so they could move to the valley and retire are now making it easier for the people to sell their homes.

A home that was on the market for say $180,000 has now doubled in price and is not listed from long.

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The 2012-2013 season is supposed to start on October 11th. The Canucks are supposed to be in Calgary. Don't believe it. This long, hot summer is going to last well into November.

- David Pratt, CKNW.

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When I was a youngster, I know that’s a lot of years ago but we bought fresh vegetables off the farm truck that came down the street every couple of weeks. I believe the farmers were Hutterites but I am not sure of that.  But that has changed totally, it’s a new world out there, and now we go to the Farmer’s Market to buy our fresh goods.

My story is about the new Farmer’s Market proposed for just across the street and just down Benvoulin. Lambert Schmaltz and his two sons Tom and Al were presented with an idea for their properties on Benvoulin and Springfield. It was 2006 and the present successful Farmer’s and Crafters Market had been told they would have to move because Orchard Park wanted the property back for their own use.

Lambert and his sons were presented with a concept for their property across the street to build a new market and after much thought they agreed to the proposal and started the ball rolling. The company hired the well-known designer/planner Ekistics of Vancouver, who have designed so many projects in Okanagan. The Mission Crossing Farmer’s & Crafters Market was underway. First came the planning and design and then the long trip through the city hall departments to get approvals. The city hall story must be told one day.

This site is on the East side of Benvoulin, the second one down from Springfield Rd., three acres. This will be the beginning of the project with 200 stalls in the open-air market.

Phase two and three will be designed as a European style permanent market with bakers and meat markets, restaurants and coffee houses. Both unique and different, and just what the public wants: our own Grandville Island or Pikes Place Market in Seattle.

Tourists will come shopping from all over the interior.

They wait for fourth reading from council and then the business begins. It will be a wonderful addition to our continuing plan to be the best place to live and visit in B.C.

Photo: Contributed

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Have you got your tickets to the musical “One Hit Wonders” at the Kelowna Community Theatre tomorrow night at 8pm?

Well known musician Rann Berry and his band have got a show of music well loved in the 60s and 70s and it is going to knock your socks off.

This is really an evening of entertainment you don’t want to miss. The group has done a wonderful effort to put this lively show together.

Hope to see you there.