Boutique wine store racks up clientele
Bow Valley Square bustles with shoppers
Ihad not been through Bow Valley Square since Oxford Properties began its huge renovation project of the retail floors, but was glad to see old favourites like Redwater Rustic Grille and Joseph’s Men’s Wear still going strong in their new surroundings.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see a couple of new tenants so busy when Christmas shopping meant a trip to the RBC bank machine.
As with all of its locations, there was a huge lineup outside Cora’s Breakfast & Lunches — what happens when you give good value for money.
But I was a little taken aback to see the Dack’s shoe store had disappeared and in its place was a second location for Cork Fine Wine Liquor & Ale.
It’s four years since owner Chris Sikorsky opened his first Cork in the Beacon Hill Shopping Centre and since that time he has made a name for himself as a retailer of smaller production wines, focusing on best practice farming and wine making.
He tore the former shoe store apart, and where you used to look at expensive shoes through the east window, you now look into a humidity-controlled wine and champagne room. The rest of the 1,275 square feet of stone pillars and simple wooden racking is stacked with his boutique items that are becoming a big draw for the 5,000 or so workers in the four towers and the 17,000 people Sikorsky says “roll through here” every weekday.
Sikorsky favours smaller, family wineries — where he has enjoyed meeting the owners — not normally found at the larger liquor stores. On my visit I was quite amazed to listen to him answering the questions of customers on so many different labels he has stored in his mind-catalogue, able to describe makeup and tast-e and pairings with a confident knowledge of his products.
Sikorsky is a good marketer, offering wrapped bottles in carry bags well printed with his attractive store label, but he has also found a great networking tool in the three golf tournaments he helps sponsor.
The Canadian Sports Centre golf tournament, which raises funds for future Olympians is a good example, allowing Sikorsky to meet with many potential customers while supporting a cause that he is quite passionate about. Cork supplies the dinner wines and awards as well as offering a tasting for 10 in the silent auction.
He has a similar agreement with Hamilton and Partners in support of the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Henry Burris All Star Weekend on behalf of Big Brothers.
He says the opening of a new location in Bow Valley Square has been has worked out very well, and a walk through the main floor retail area shows a couple more new tenants that are pleased with the amount of traffic from the four towers as well as the surrounding employment centres that have access through the Plus 15 walkway system.
Best of 7 Barbers was busy and I enjoyed chatting with Zehra Kaba at Fannie May’s chocolate shop.
Founded in Chicago in 1920, Fannie May currently has 98 locations in the U.S but the Bow Valley Square shop is the first Canadian franchise. It too has had a great opening season thanks to personal and corporate chocolate lovers from the surrounding towers and the Kaba’s are already looking for a second Calgary location.
On Jan. 21, Calgary Economic Development will welcome Lee Martineau as its new vice-president of business and trade development.
With more than 20 years of economic development experience, Martineau comes to Calgary from Vancouver where she served as CEO of the Vancouver Economic Commission and prior to that she worked for the cities of Richmond, Squamish and Golden.
Must be quite exciting for president Sharon Carey and her staff at Bow Valley College to see students settling in to the new South Campus building.
Besides classrooms and offices it will house the college bookstore, a 208-seat cafeteria, Tim Hortons coffee shop, and the Calgary campus for Athabasca University, the University of Lethbridge and Olds College.