November Victoria Business News

Maier Joins Beacon Law As Associate

Karl Maier has joined Beacon Law Centre as an Associate. Maier is a University of Victoria graduate who was previously with the office of BC’s Public Guardian and Trustee. The focus of Maier’s practice is in estate planning, business and real estate.

Sooke’s Sheringham Distillery announced it is releasing Lumette! – Canada’s first non-alcoholic, zero-proof distilled spirit. The spirit is flavoured with botanicals like juniper, grapefruit, orange and mint and will be made available this month at some private liquor stores and specialty food markets. The distillery also sells Seaside Gin, the recipient of the world’s best contemporary gin award at the 2019 World Gin Awards in London.

Garth Eichel has been appointed Chief Pilot for Helijet’s fixed-wing division. Eichel has a background as an aviation and flight management specialist and is responsible for the professional standards of Helijet’s fixed-wing flight crews as well as developing standard operating procedures, scheduling, supervision and training. Eichel joins the Helijet team from Vancouver-based Pacific Coastal Airlines, where her served as a captain.

 The 2019 Crystal Awards of Excellence led by the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce were recently held at the Olympic View Golf Club and this year’s winners were announced. This year’s winners include Storyoga in the Business of the Year (1-15 Employees) category; Casman Group in Business of the Year (16+ Employees); All Care Canada, Sidney in the Contribution to the Community category; BMT Group in the Employer of the Year category; Saanich Peninsula Hopsital and Healthcare Foundation took home the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award; and Parsell Vineyard took home top honours in the Green Business of the Year category. Marie C. Rosko was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award; The Cut Cartwel was presented with the New Business, Product or Service Award; Peninsula Streams was the recipient in the Newsmaker of the Year category; Sidney Museum in Not for Profit Organization of the Year and Bayside Diesel & Marine in the Outstanding Customer Service category.

Peninsula Lifetime Eyecare Centre welcomes Dr. Ryan Trottier to the practice at 2401 Beacon Avenue.

Victoria’s 30-seat Nowhere *A Restaurant has been named fifth to a top-10 list of new Canadian eateries compiled by American Express and Air Canada. The restaurant is run by Chef Clark Deutscher, who is also behind its nearby sister restaurant, Hank’s. Nowhere *A Restaurant is at G4 – 1001 Douglas Street and offers sustainable seafood.

McConnan Bion O’Connor and Peterson introduces its new Associate, Bhavi Tathgar. Bhavi earned his law degree with honours from the University of Leicester, England and will be focusing on wills and estates, real estate law and business law.

The District of Oak Bay has appointed Christopher Paine to the role of Director of Financial Services. Paine holds his CPA designation and has over 10 years of experience in local government including serving as the Manager of Revenue for the City of Victoria, Manager of Finance for the District of Central Saanich and most recently as the Director of Finance for the City of Colwood.

The University of Victoria (UVIC) placed second in Maclean’s magazine’s list of the top Canadian universities for the second year in a row. The list ranks the top 15 schools in the country according to student and faculty awards, grants, student services, scholarships bursaries and more. Simon Fraser University placed first on the list.

Re/Max Camosun’s Sidney office announces their top lister’s and producers of the month. Realtors who were named top producer and lister include Craig Walter and the team of Anthea and Gay Helmsing. Jeff Meyer and the team of Dan and John Juricic were named top producers. The top producer’s for Re/Max Camosun’s Langford office on Goldstream Avenue were Tom Krumpic, Dale Sheppard, Tania Delmonico, Shirley Zailo, Jenny Bruce and Don Burnham.

Newlook Eyewear has opened a new store in Mayfair Shopping Centre at #342 – 3147 Douglas Street. The eyewear company is also opening locations soon in both Tillicum Centre and Hillside Shopping Centre and at Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo.

The Four Mile Pub complex at 199 Island Highway in Victoria has shut down following a kitchen fire that damaged the pub. Power to the building has returned and work is underway to reopen the restaurant. The pub is planning on reopening by January 2020.

The University of Victoria Vikings men’s rowing head coach Aalbert Van Schothorst was recently honored with the annual President’s Award at the Canadian University Rowing Association Awards. The award is presented each year to a person who has made substantial impact in the development of rowing as a sport.

Entourage Hair recently celebrated its 1^st anniversary at #A6 – 100 Aldersmith Place.

Clarity Cannabis has opened for business at Unit 105 – 693 Hoffman Avenue. The store is managed by Nicole Neeland and is the third store that Clarity has opened. Michael Forbes, a Victoria pharmacist, is the founder of Clarity, which has two other locations in Victoria and one in Dawson Creek. Plans are also in the works to open a dispensary in Kamloops, Cranbrook and Prince Rupert. Four additional retail cannabis outlets are expected to be open in Langford in the near future, though opening dates for these locations have not yet been announced.

Cynthia Cummings is the owner of Nifty Thrift Shop, a non-profit thrift store that has opened its doors for business at 694 Goldstream Avenue. Proceeds from the thrift shop go towards an overseas PTSD program.

Scott Phillips, the CEO and Founder of StarFish Medical, has been appointed as the new LifeSciences BC Chair of the Board of Directors. LifeSciences BC is a not-for-profit industry association that represents the life sciences community of British Columbia by facilitating investments and partnerships, advocacy and more. StarFish Medical is a full-service medical device design company offering design, development, and manufacturing services based in Toronto and Victoria.

VIATEC announced that it has created four new roles and expanded its office from seven employees to 11. Lindsay Richmond has been added as Director of Leadership and Learning; Jacquelyn Novak has been added as Director of Ecosystem Talent and Strategy; Sadie Evans joins the team as Marketing and Communications Manager; and Carly McGregor has been added as Community Engagement Manager.

Wendy’s has completed renovations at its locations at 776 Bay Street in Victoria and at 1800 Old Island Highway in Colwood.

The first Motel 6 on Vancouver Island was recently opened by Metropolitan Hospitality in the 2400-block of Mount Newton Cross Road off Highway 17. The company acquired the hotel from long-time owner and now-retired, Charlie Danbrook. Danbrook operated the hotel as Western 66 Motors Inn for 35 years. Metropolitan Hospitality also owns Holiday Express Inn in Colwood and manages Saanich’s Howard Johnson by Wyndham Victoria Elk Lake Hotel and Suites, in addition to a few other properties. The new owners have also completely renovated the 87-suite hotel.

Karrie Hill, the owner and operator of the Dead Beetz Burgers food trucks, has opened her first brick-and-mortar restaurant at 1950D Oak Bay Avenue. The restaurant is a fast, casual over the counter restaurant that will support Dead Beetz’s two Victoria food trucks in addition to selling its signature burgers.

The Gardens at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific (HCP) recently celebrated its 40^th anniversary at 505 Quayle Road. The Gardens offer community education workshops for everyone from professionals to hobbyist gardeners and features a public garden that is maintained by volunteers, staff and students. The Gardens is also home to the largest outdoor Bonsai Garden in Canada.

The Christmas Craft Beer Show will be held from November 28^th – 30^th at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. 14 breweries from across Vancouver Island have thus far confirmed their participation in the festival that will also include food vendors and cideries.

Eugene’s Wholesale Greek Food is celebrating its 40^th anniversary. The local company sells tzatziki, homous, pita break, spanakopita and bougatsa at locations throughout Vancouver Island.

Re/Max Camosun has announced its top producers of the month for the office at 2239 Oak Bay Avenue. The top producers were Tony Joe, Joanne Brodersen, Kerry Davies, Bill Zheng, Robert Cole and Kyle Kerr.

The South Island Prosperity Project (SIPP) added the Island Corridor Foundation (ICF) as its newest member on November 1. ICF joins other transportation SIPP members that includes BC Transit, BC Ferries, Wilson’s Group, Victoria Harbour Authority, Harbour Air and Victoria International Airport. SIPP is the economic development organization for Greater Victoria and has over 50 members.

Green Man Bikes in Langford has begun selling bikes with frames made out of Bamboo and produced in Ghana. The bike frames are created by a company named Boomers, which produces bicycle frames for city bikes, road bikes, electric bikes and mountain bikes. The bamboo is sourced from sustainable forests in Ghana that employs many people from rural communities.

Olo Restaurant at 509 Fisgard Street was recently named on a list of Canada’s best 50 restaurants for a date night. The list was compiled by OpenTable which based its results on an analysis of about 500,000 reviews of roughly 3,000 restaurants from across the country.

Desiree McGraw, the President and Head of College at Pearson College is stepping down from her role in July once her five-year mandate is concluded. Desiree was the first woman to serve as Pearson’s Head of College and President.

Congratulations to the top salespeople of the month for dealerships from across Victoria. They are Kewel (Kris) Krishan of Harris Auto, Frank Percorelli of Jim Pattison Toyota, James Tran of Jim Pattison Lexus, Mikayla Tarasoff of Pacific Mazda, Frank O’Brien of Wheaton, David Vollet of Audi Autohaus, Dane Eivindson of Volkswagen Victoria, Daniel Houle of Victoria Hyundai, Matt Kennard of Porsche Centre Victoria, Adam Mikasko of Three Point Motors, Riley Johnson of BMW Victoria, Lance Cook of Jim Pattison Volvo, Mario Velazquez of Wille Dodge, Connie Wilde of Jenner, Mike Smith of Campus Honda, Michael Cwiklinski of Campus Infiniti, KD DuBuque of Graham Kia, Jag Sahota of Campus Nissan, Mike Delmaire of Jim Pattison Subaru and Jeff Hamill of Campus Acura.

Jackie Cox-Ziegler has been appointed the new Executive Director of the Glenshiel Housing Society, replacing Laurie Mueller who was given the role on an interim basis and is retiring. Jackie has a background as an independent consultant and has worked with the Victoria Women’s Transition House, Mustard Seed Street Church and helped form Our Place Society. The Glensheil Housing Society is responsible for operating the Glenshiel property in partnership with BC Housing which leases the property from the Royal BC Museum.

The Engineers and Geoscientists of BC elected a new council that features six Victoria members. They are Katherina Tarnai-Lokhorst, who is now past-president and councillors Jeremy Vincent and Thomas Tiedje and government appointees Leslie Hildebrandt and Alan Andison.

The South Island Prosperity Partnership was recently presented with the Gold Excellence in Economic Development Award from the International Economic Development Council, the largest economic development association in the world. SIPP was the recipient in the category of Regionalism and Cross-Border Collaboration for its approach to economic development and governance structure.

The Tourism Vancouver Island annual awards dinner were recently held, and this year’s winners were announced. Harbour Air, which has been in the news for its efforts to develop an all-electric commercial fleet, took home the Innovator of the Year Award. Island Joy Rides, which provides cycling and kayaking tours throughout the Island, received the Remarkable Experience of the Year Award. Sherry Heggie of Campbell River Whale Watching was named Tourism Employee of the Year while Tourism Cowichan walked home with the Marketing Campaign of the Year Award for its Iconic Cowichan Campaign. Clayoquot Wilderness Resort won the Tourism Sustainability Award and True Key Hotels & Resorts was named the Employer of the Year.

DFH Real Estate Ltd announced their sales leaders of the month from across Victoria. Their sales leaders from Victoria were Sandy McManus, Brad Neufeld, David Philps, Scott Loughton, the team of Ally and Dennis Guevin, John Melvin, Mike Fowles, Scott O’Neill, Roy Stevenson, the team of Tom Muir and Sue Spangelo, Jeff Bishop, Josh Ray, Bruce McCallum, Phil Illingworth, Suzanne Mitchell and Rosemary Tulett.

Five Victoria breweries went home with awards from this year’s BC Beer Awards held in Vancouver. Ile Sauvage and Whistle Buoy Brewing took home top honours in the European sour category for their Shiro Shiro Berliner Weisse, while Ile Sauvage placed third in the smoke-and-wood-aged-beer category and was also named rookie of the year. Whistle Buoy took home a third-place award for its Gulagubben in the specialty beer category. Vancouver Island Brewing’s Harmannator Ice Bock and Dominion Dark Lager placed first and third, respectively, in the dark and strong European categories. Lighthouse Brewing took third place in the spice beer category for its Nightwatch, second place for Shipwreck in the North American IPA category and second place in the Imperial IPA category for Numbskull. Four Mile Brewing placed first for its Hazy Citra Pale Ale in the North American pale ale category.

Reliance Properties has received the National Trust’s Board of Governor’s Award for its work in preserving The Janion in Victoria. Reliance has an established reputation for its heritage revitalization work in Vancouver’s Gastown. The addition completed by Reliance includes 122 micro-homes and commercial space on the ground floor of the heritage building. The Janion was built in 1891 by John Herbert Turner, a former Premier of British Columbia and Mayor of Victoria.

PadMapper recently published the latest version of the Canadian National Rent Report and found that, based on its listings, Victoria has the fifth most expensive rental market in Canada. The report found that median monthly prices of one- and two-bedroom spaces was $1,450 and $1,720. The median price of a one-bedroom unit has increased by 16 per cent since 2018.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Vancouver Island is part of a pilot project to develop an international database of social impact businesses. The project will see data collected in order to create an online directory to enable Canadian and US consumers to find social-impact businesses in their communities. The BBB is hoping to launch its directory in 2020.

Sports Rent is celebrating its 30^th anniversary at 1950 Government Street. The business was founded in Victoria in 1989 and carries a large selection of sporting equipment for year-round use.

The BC Sports Hall of Fame revealed its 2020 Induction Class at an official press conference on October 29. Among this year’s inductees was the 1979-80 University of Victoria Viking’s men’s basketball team. The new class of honoured members will be officially inducted and celebrated at the Induction Gala, Thursday, June 4th, 2020 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

The Save-On-Foods at 2345 Beacon Avenue in Sidney has opened a new wine department.

Information technology (IT) solutions sales veteran Dave Mathieson has joined Charter Telecom Inc. (Charter) of Victoria. Mathieson has spent the last six years with Cisco Systems, Inc, in a successful stint with the company’s Health Care group. Before that, Mathieson spent many years as a senior account manager at Nortel, the pioneer Canadian communications technology company.
Recently, Charter acquired Boardwalk Communications, also of Victoria.