Gaming lounge hits Reset button on Pembina space

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This article was published 19/01/2015 (4226 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RESET INTERACTIVE ULTRALOUNGE: Nicknamed Reset, this strange and unusually modern gaming and dance club at 1931 Pembina Hwy., snuck open with a grand opening last Friday night. Ironically, it’s perfectly created for the grown-up Chuck E. Cheese’s crowd who used to go to that same building for birthday parties when they were kids a few decades ago. Now it’s aimed at the 18-40 demographic and combines state-of-the-art video gaming, and a funky upscale night club with DJs and late-night dancing.

“It’s the first of its kind in Canada that we know about,” says Brad Goodman, who co-owns the futuristic-style club with Kelly Marsden. Patrons can even sit at two LED-lit bars with gaming controls in their hands and play on one of 14 large screens. Banks of games — from the newest to classic favourites — snake around the large club. Party areas are all plush sofas, with two raised white-leather private VIP sections boasting bottle service and 65-inch TVs for gaming.

Goodman and Marsden have brought in famous food truck owner Derek “The Poutine King” Collins who has set up an indoor facility with exotic poutines, salads and meatier dishes for the club and special delivery service out for VIPs. Bobby Loewen a.k.a. “Tha Coach” with Goodman a.k.a. DJ Fin-S (who DJ’d in Las Vegas for three busy years) team up to provide the dance music. Club hours are 5 p.m.-2 a.m. nightly. HOT TIP: Reset is the last turn off to the right before the off-ramp to Bishop Grandin, so make a tight right at the Singleton’s sign — or else!

 

LA CUISSON, EH? A totally different new business just plastered its picture windows at 774 Corydon Ave. with mouth-watering French baking posters. La Cuisson is designed to be a combination of a bakery in France, a British high tea spot and a spiffy in-your-face “siphon” coffee bar. They roast imported exotic coffee beans on site, so soon people will smell their coffee wafting out the doors — a clever ploy. The two Winnipeg owners Hui Li and Sam Deng are confident La Cuisson will take off like the three shops in Vancouver already opened by business partner Jason Hsu. “Lots and lots of people come to them,” says a very excited Li. It could be because he hasn’t slept much in weeks while getting ready for the February opening. “I’m excited, but it’s lots of work and sometimes it makes me crazy,” he says. His wife, Stella Li, is the “French” baker in the back, and Li will be the on-site manager and barista making siphon coffee — individual cups made in a glass apparatus that looks like a crazy science experiment.

 

SHEDAY SUCCESS: It was an outstanding day with about 600 execs, pre-exec and entrepreneurial women (and a few interested men) who came together to share stories and air obstacles. They also heard successful Winnipeg women speak about overcoming them, says Marina James, CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg. She and Mary Jane Loustel from IBM and Brenda LaRose from Leaders Inc. conceived of the event. “We thought of it in September, so we moved pretty quick,” says James.

Speakers included Loustel; lawyer Anita Wortzman from Acumen Corporate Development; Barbara Bowes of Legacy Bowes Group; Beth Bell of IBM Global Business Services; Casie Nishi of Wellness Institute; Clare MacKay from The Forks; David Baker, CEO & Chief Storyteller from Think Shift; Denise Zaporzan of Denise Zaporzan & Associates; Gail Stephens, from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights; Michelle Aitkenhead, Regional Vice President, Integrated Markets, RBC Royal Bank; and Pat Solman, Vice President of Consumer Customer Solutions at MTS.

Juiciest part of the day? The fireside chat — candid conversation with people grilling four women — featuring Loustel, Solman, Aitkenhead, and MacKay. Women asked questions, demanding honesty about hardships, and asking for the “secret sauce” for handling difficulties. They talked about real fears such as worrying you’ll be past your due date, and the “bossy” issue that sometimes comes up when women are requesting things to get done PDQ. Will there be a second annual event? “On yes, we will do another one next year. This one sold out, without advertising,” says James.

Big brass spotted? Oh, yeah! Mayor Brian Bowman; MP Joyce Bateman; city councillors Cindy Gilroy, Devi Sharma and Janice Lukes; Sandy Altner of Women’s Enterprise Centre; the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Debbie Brown; True North’s Lorna Daniels; Kelly DeGroot of CentrePort Canada; Helen Halliday of Delta Winnipeg; Karen Weiss from the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce; Tracy Mainland from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers; Rhena Mennell of Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries; Bonnie Staples-Lyon of Staples-Lyon Communications; and Annette Trimbee from the University of Winnipeg.

 

DE-STRESSING: Is conquering the stress in your life on your New Year’s resolution list? Monique Dorge, a stress expert, is teaching a three hour, one-night course called Stress Management Tips and Tricks on Thursday, Jan. 22, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. in the hidden classroom behind the Radiance Gifts and Treasures gift shop at 7-875 Corydon Ave. Cost: $75 a pop. She says January is a bad month for stress, and the question is: will you be at peace, or in pieces? She teaches tension assessment (“How did I get to this awful point?”), plus tension-reducing activities such as making contracts with yourself and others. She sends you home with a manual of activities and resources. To register or get info, call 204-254-8563 or Radiance at 204-284-4231.

 

SOUL MEDICINE SOLUTION: After a shaky 2014, people going to The Soul Medicine Psychic Shoppe at 136 Provencher Blvd. are asking psychics what’s up for them in 2015 — and in record numbers. To accommodate the growing business, owner Bernice Bisson recently doubled her area by taking over the adjacent D’ Eschambault Insurance space. They have finished two out of three reading rooms which look like scenes out of Arabian Nights, with plans for a Himalayan salt room this spring. A dozen Winnipeg mediums and readers are now available by appointment with two on duty at the shop for walk-ins. A big reading social is coming up.

“Tickets for our Saints and Sinners Psychic Social go on sale today,” says manager Gloria Stokes. “We’re fundraising for D’Arcy’s A.R.C.” It happens March 28 at the Park Theatre, 698 Osborne St., with a full roster of psychics reading and entertainment such as belly dancing, drumming and a DJ. The social has sold out with lines out the door the last two years. Call 204- 995-8077 for tickets.

 

Got tips, events, unique things happening? Call the tip line at 204-474-1116 or email mscurf@shaw.ca or send letters to Maureen Scurfield c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6.