‘Soapy disco’ for your ride

For Kyle Thompson, foam is where the heart is.

As a high school student at Winnipeg’s Transcona Collegiate, one of his classes required him to create a business plan. He was cleaning vehicles part-time at the Chamois Car Wash and Detail Centre, so he used the assignment to envision a car wash of his own — one with a Regent Avenue address.

Fast forward some 25 years later and that dream is a reality. Thompson is the co-owner and general manager at Flamingo Express Car Wash.

Located at 868 Regent Ave. West — east of the row of car dealerships that call the thoroughfare home and across the street from an Amazon distribution hub — Flamingo opened last month.

Neighbours relieved after fire strikes Quickie Mart

As Janina McNaughton watched the Quickie Mart on River Avenue go up in flames on Tuesday, she felt relieved.

“The first thing I see is flames, like a fireball of flames inside,” McNaughton said about watching the blaze from her bedroom across the street.

On Wednesday, the bright green building, at 292 River Ave., was boarded up and charred on the outside.

Crews from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded at 8:13 p.m. Tuesday to battle the blaze, said the city in a news release. It was under control within the hour.

‘Part of the neighbourhood’s history’: Minto staple B.C. Grocery shutters

Gary Achtemichuk stopped at his favourite Winnipeg corner store for relish.

Unlike similar trips over the last four decades, he left with a surprise: B.C. Grocery, a Minto neighbourhood staple, was closing its doors.

Owner Lechman Parboji officially shuttered the shop Monday after 42 years at its helm. On Wednesday, movers hauled equipment out, making room for a new three-bedroom apartment suite — one the Parboji family intends to use, at least initially.

“The whole neighbourhood is going to miss him,” Achtemichuk said. “He was the friendliest gentleman you’d ever want to talk to.”

Designer building following making models of everyone from celebs to ordinary Winnipeggers

Kevin Takatch was getting groceries in Los Angeles when he stumbled into an art sale celebrating 25 years of Jackass.

The Winnipeg designer behind BeLove suddenly found himself surrounded by famous faces, carrying one of his own jackets and wondering who he could get to wear it.

Then he spotted comedian Eric André, who appears as himself in the reality stunt/prank franchise, and asked him to model the jacket.

“I knew I couldn’t (wimp) out, like I did with the first celebrity I saw,” says Takatch, who declined to give his age.

‘One-stop powwow shop’: Trail Creations opens doors to traditional, ceremonial clothing

Spoons hang on the wall — small, silver and, unlike most items in the shop, not for sale.

One from Saskatchewan, another from Florida. Each represents a place Jessica Lavallee and her family visited during a powwow circuit. The 32,000-kilometre trek led Jessica to 3096 Portage Ave.

She opened Trail Creations, a Winnipeg store selling materials to make traditional Indigenous garb, in the space last month.

“We want it to be a one-stop powwow shop,” Lavallee said.

Schwartz’s Deli swaps black cherry soda for local alternative as U.S. tariffs bite

On a typical summer day at Schwartz’s Deli, in Montreal, there's a lineup at the door as tourists and locals wait to get their smoked-meat sandwich. But now, something has changed.

Village Green Bakery keeps focus on classic quality, kindness, fun in Victoria Beach

VICTORIA BEACH — They’re not carved into stone tablets — they’re reminders and not commandments, after all — but behind one of the display cases at Village Green Bakery is a laminated sheet of letter-size paper with a list of statements outlining how owner Jen Leslie wants staffers to approach their work.

Fittingly, there’s a baker’s dozen of them.

One is aimed specifically at a stoic teen who’s worked at the bakery since it opened in summer 2022 — “Smile, Brody,” it says — while the other 12 are meant for all 17 employees at the seasonal business, which is open annually from May long weekend until Thanksgiving.

“Smile and enjoy the ride,” is the first reminder, followed by, “The summer is short, so make it a good one,” “always take the high road” and “you are awesome.”

Welcoming Creekside Tree Farm and Nursery

The local horticulture industry in Manitoba is a close-knit, supportive community, in which wholesale growers and retail garden centre owners know each other well. Many are long-standing, multi-generational family businesses.

If a local grower decides to expand greenhouse operations or a garden centre changes ownership, it’s big news that ripples throughout Manitoba’s entire horticulture industry, including the gardening community.

So, when a brand-new, independent wholesale nursery and garden retailer sets up business on 236 acres just 35 minutes north of Winnipeg, it merits considerable interest. A new startup in an industry with very few new players stands out.

Creekside Tree Farm & Nursery, a retail and wholesale nursery, is located at 165 Tom Prince Dr. in Petersfield, Man., just down the road from Chesley’s Resort and Campground. The owner, Mikkel Grabinski, is 28. He purchased the site for his nursery in 2019. The past few years, he has worked quietly around the clock to grow his operation by planting thousands of trees, build relationships with wholesale suppliers, and hire a workforce.

Entrepreneur Willow Wolfe conceived and crafted a better — and cruelty-free — paint brush

NAROL — Talk about a brush with fame.

Fifteen years ago, Willow Wolfe, the founder of Willow Wolfe Painting Courses and Art Supplies, read about American actor/artist Richard Grieco’s experimentations with a style of painting he’d coined as “abstract emotionalism.”

Wolfe, whose personally designed line of synthetic paint brushes and watercolour workbooks are sold at more than 450 retailers around the globe, mailed Grieco (21 Jump Street, Veronica Mars) a set of brushes she felt would suit his needs.

The two have since remained in touch and this spring Grieco contacted Wolfe again, to let her know about a semi-autobiographical movie called The Painter he was directing and starring in.

New Skyline: revolving restaurant to reopen atop Fort Garry Place

Come fall, people will once again have the chance to dine more than two dozen storeys above Winnipeg’s downtown.

Alfonso Maury, former owner of Corrientes Argentine Pizzeria, is preparing to reopen the revolving restaurant on the 30th floor of Fort Garry Place. The venue, which has sat empty for the past six years, offers a panoramic view of the city.

Maury is aiming to open Dos Pampas Skyline Restaurant at the beginning of October. He plans to hire around 20 employees, who will prepare and serve an Argentinian-inspired menu he is currently putting together with head chef Norm Pastorin.

Dos Pampas will include seating for 120 customers, Maury said. Additionally, the restaurant will feature a lounge with couches and short tables where guests who have finished their meal but who aren’t ready to leave can enjoy dessert or another drink.

Entrepreneurial spotlight finds IndigiHub

The list of accolades keeps getting longer for the Winnipeg-based founder of IndigiHub, an online resource for Indigenous entrepreneurs.

H.P. Tergesen & Sons General Market surpasses 127 years as family-run business in Gimli

GIMLI — Walk into the store. Meander past the clothing, candy and candles. Find him in the corner, his eyes scanning the bookshelves, a smile on his face as a half-dozen people explore this side of the shop.

Wearing grey shorts and a light blue shirt, Stefan Tergesen, the fourth-generation proprietor of H.P. Tergesen & Sons General Market, is explaining his vision for what’s widely recognized as the oldest general store in Western Canada.

“First and foremost, I want everybody to enjoy being in here,” he says. “I want you at some point to look and go, ‘Oh, cool!’ after seeing something that gets your blood flowing.”

If you ever find yourself on the west side of Lake Winnipeg, some 80 kilometres north of Manitoba’s capital, and you realize you forgot to pack something, there’s a good chance you’ll find it at Tergesen’s.

Small businesses at front lines of tariff war, as many lose sales

Since the latest U.S. tariffs rolled in this past weekend, Bernard Hellen has been fielding order cancellations for 3D miniature models — all previously bound for his American clients.

"I've probably had about 50 order cancellations this morning alone," said Hellen, owner of Toronto-based Miniprints, which makes railroading hobby miniatures of animals and figurines.

For Hellen, Americans make up 85 per cent of his sales.

"A 50 per cent tax is more than the average American consumer can pay or is willing to pay," he said in a phone interview on Monday.

Wooed by wood, Cedarella founder takes pride in handcrafted designs

Marina Bulan is the founder of Cedarella, a two-year-old venture that turns out eye-catching wood products such as jewelry, kitchen decor, children’s toys and, most recently, metre-high outdoor planters that double as home street-number indicators.

Ahead of immigrating to Winnipeg a decade ago from their native Russia, Bulan and her partner thought it would be prudent to conduct some research on their soon-to-be new home, a city they knew next to nothing about.

Imagine their surprise as they were viewing the 2007 surrealist film My Winnipeg, which comically blends historical facts about our burg with what Winnipeg-born writer/director Guy Maddin has termed “mystical hypothesizing.”

(For instance, there is no proof that, as reported in the award-winning flick, Winnipeg is the sleepwalking capital of the world, and that residents keep keys to their former abodes on their person in the event they turn up there during a bout of somnambulism.)

Pre-owned sets seller Romo’s Bricks seeks to click with Winnipeg’s Lego community

There’s no mortar in sight but there are certainly thousands of bricks at a new brick-and-mortar store in Winnipeg catering to Lego enthusiasts.

Ashton Romaniuk and Madison Froome opened Romo’s Bricks in late spring. Located at 955 Milt Stegall Dr., in the same building as CanCentral Sports Cards & Memorabilia, the store specializes in selling pre-owned Lego sets, minifigures and other Lego-related products.

“It’s something we’re both passionate about,” Froome said.

To stock the store, she and Romaniuk spent $50,000 on four large Lego collections, purchased from local collectors. Romaniuk estimates that since the store opened on June 2, inventory has grown to $250,000 worth of Lego.

New Bannatyne eatery brings feast of Asian flavours

Matriarchal influences run deep at House of Ma Kitchen and Bar.

Executive chef Dom Merano took inspiration from his mom’s home cooking while developing the menu for the new Exchange District restaurant — specifically Cynthia Merano’s recipes for lumpia (Filipino spring rolls) and kare-kare (braised beef and peanut stew).

“It tastes like home,” Merano says of the dishes, adding that his mom “felt honoured to be able to share her cooking with people. She was actually here prior to opening helping me roll lumpia.”

Cynthia’s photo is hung among the “Wall of Mas” at the back of the restaurant, where the mothers and grandmothers of True Hospitality staff are given pride of place.

MamiMarkets connecting ethnic food vendors, customers

A West African soup recipe and a fruitless search for ingredients led to a business opportunity for two Manitoba entrepreneurs.

Célébrer des employés qui mettent la main à la pâte

L’immigration francophone joue un rôle grandissant dans la vitalité de Saint-Pierre-Jolys. À la Boulangerie Saint-Pierre, des employés venus de plusieurs pays contribuent à la croissance de l’entreprise tout en s’intégrant à la vie du village. Une diversité que l’entreprise souhaite célébrer avec une nouvelle murale.

La Boulangerie Saint-Pierre, à Saint-Pierre-Jolys, connaît une importante expansion depuis quelques années. Pour Jocelyn Gagné, propriétaire de l’entreprise familiale, cette croissance repose largement sur le travail de ses employés, dont plusieurs sont des immigrants francophones. C’est pour souligner leur contribution que la boulangerie, en collaboration avec l’artiste franco-manitobain Gérald Laroche, a entrepris la création d’une murale qui ornera bientôt sa façade.

Jocelyn Gagné, qui travaille dans l’entreprise depuis l’âge de 13 ans, alors que ses parents étaient propriétaires, constate bien que la société a changé à travers les années. “On est rendu dans près de 150 magasins, on a grandi pas mal vite dans la dernière année. On a beaucoup plus d’employés que dans le temps de mes parents.” Avec une telle croissance, le besoin d’engager davantage de main-d’œuvre est venu naturellement.

Un Folklorama à l’année longue

Fusion pop-up coming to street food festival

After surviving breast cancer and watching her husband live through a brain tumour, Marilyn Magtoto decided it was time to take a chance.

City Lego seller continues to build up its business

Brick by brick, a Winnipeg Lego seller is building its third expansion — in less than two years.

Classic Scoop founder left lucrative job to start business offering treats on-site for parties, festivals

Days off used to be infrequent for Paul Abdul-Raymond, but now every day’s a sundae.

The Winnipeg entrepreneur is the owner of the Classic Scoop, an ice cream trailer that customers can book events such as birthday parties, corporate functions and community festivals. Abdul-Raymond and his staff show up to serve classic cones with customizable toppings, ice cream sandwiches and seasonal specials.

It’s a lot of work but it’s also a lot of fun for the 39-year-old, who left a lucrative but stressful job at a health-care company to get the Classic Scoop going in spring 2025.

Customers affirmed his career pivot from the start.

Ridesharing platform lets people connect with local drivers with trucks, cargo vans

Want to transport something big but you don’t have a buddy with a truck? Log on to Truckbud.

Winnipeg entrepreneur Praise Odutayo launched the ridesharing platform in November. People who need to move large items can connect with vetted local drivers who have trucks or cargo vans for same-day delivery. Requesting a driver takes about 60 seconds, and users get real-time updates from pickup to drop-off.

Odutayo says he built Truckbud to solve a simple but common challenge: many people don’t own a truck or van, yet regularly need to move items that won’t fit in a car.

“Truckbud is making large-item transportation more accessible, affordable and convenient, while creating flexible earning opportunities within the community,” said Odutayo, 24.