John Thomson's I Didn't Know That!

The new yacht club is finally on its way for the Kelowna lakefront. The Board of Directors of the Kelowna Yacht Club have asked five major builders to submit bids for construction of the very expensive new property. It is a long needed service for the boating industry which has grown by leaps and bounds these past ten years or so. These are the big guys in the construction industry in the area and I believe they will be working on a tight schedule.

I haven’t seen the final plans for the building but the food concessions will be front and center and a money maker for the club. It will have a private members restaurant and bar as well as a public restaurant with a 2,400 sq.ft. patio. What’s interesting about this facility is that  will have one the best Canadian chains in the food business. I am told The Cactus Club will occupy that space. That would be a real coup.

The site should be under construction by the end of July and be open for the season next year.

**********

I don’t know why, but for the last couple of weeks I have been singing in my head, “I’d like to Teach the World to Sing” -a song used for one of the great Coca Cola commercials.

It was released in 1971 by the New Seekers...

I’d like to build the world a home

And furnish it with love

Grow apple trees and honey bees

And snow-white turtle doves

I’d like to teach the world to sing

In perfect harmony

I’d lie to hold in my arms

And keep it company

I’d like to see the world for once

All standing hand in hand

And hear them echo through the hills

For peace throughout the land

Coca Cola brought singers from all over the world to a hillside in Italy to record the commercial in 1971 and DJs were playing it because it was popular...

**********

Four young entrepreneurs got together in 2011 and decided they would enter a couple of their ideas in the “Young Entrepreneurs contest" to test those ideas in public. It was sponsored by the Economic Development Commission. They couldn’t show their products to the best of their ability but that is in the past. They were honoured with an innovation award. It made them think about starting a business and making it work full time.

The amazing thing about these four gentlemen is their eye for the business world and their ability to present it to others. They raised enough money to start, had their idea and needed some funding, so they raised the amount on their own.

It was all about bike parts and selling them on the Internet all over the world. The team went out to the world market and made some deals. They have just returned.

The business, The Bike Spot was born and a special website was created TBSBIKE Parts.com. The start was difficult but they were ready for that. Now the orders are flowing from all over with big orders from USA. Three of the partners had jobs and so they decided to keep them and hired the fourth partner to operate the company based in Kelowna.

It looks like a bright future for these KLO grads Dylan Decker, Trevor Tuck, Colton Cheney and Shelby Miller but hard work isn’t a problem. The company already has a slogan that tells the whole story, “Spend Less Ride the Best”. The Bike Spot provides quality mountain bike parts at the most competitive prices you will ever find. These entrepreneurs are always looking for new innovations in the bike world to offer to their growing customer base.

It gives one a good feeling when you see this happening in a world where in many cases you need to create your own job.

**********

The phone calls we receive in great numbers these days start out like this: “This is your second and final notice to lower your interest rates on your credit cards."

Hang up and don’t press anything! If the financial institutions have decided to lower the interest rates you can check that yourself. Do I expect that to happen? No.

**********

Target Canada opens twenty more stores in July with a big soft opening at the Target store in Orchard Plaza onTuesday. This adds to their list of 48 stores that are already open from Ontario to B.C.

Twelve million dollars has been invested in remodeling the Kelowna store and adding space to give it a bigger footprint. The Mississauga headquartered Canadian operation will have now reached the halfway point in their plans to open 128 stores this year in this country. The Target chain in the U.S. has 1,784 stores.

The Bennett family who owns Orchard Plaza have said it was a pleasure to work with the people from Target from the beginning. They were very professional and concerned about doing the right thing all the time.

Norson Construction took the contract from the owners to redo the parking lot and the landscaping and have added 44 parking places and a beautiful setting for the Plaza.

**********

It is an exciting time here in the South Okanagan with the grand opening of the new Tasting Lounge & Pizzeria. This has been enabled by the new “Lounge License” which gives you many more wine entertainment options the next time you go out. As well, there is a special opportunity to save with free wine shipping to your home as they celebrate the anniversary of Bill C-311 day.

If you have a chance this summer or fall, be sure to stop by and visit their new Wine Shop, Tasting Lounge & Pizzeria. Located just down Black Sage Road from the winery, they have built a beautiful oasis for you to gain a better connection to the wine that they craft. Relax in the waterside vineyard Cabanas while one of the “Wine Evangelists” guides you on an informative tasting the latest releases.

Feeling hungry? Enjoy your wine with your choice of personal flatbread pizzas that are baked in their wood-fired oven. Each of these artisan flatbreads has been crafted with the finest local ingredients by the food partner, Flatbread Farms. There is a choice of five different flatbreads, each one perfectly paired with a full glass of one of the wines of Black Hills Estate Winery.

**********

Amazon.com Inc. has been a real good partnership for many writers in the valley who had no way of getting their work printed in book form because they didn’t have that kind of money. One of my friends has had three e-Books available and has done well financially. He is working on another one at the moment.

Now Amazon is starting a comic book publishing division. They will publish these books on their Kindle as stand alone comics. Their Kindle eBook line has been a huge success.

Knowing the way Amazon works I know at sometime they will be going to the private sector for writers and artists.