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Culture Overcame Odds

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By Heather McLaughlin

Cultures overcame odds to make a difference, YMCA manager says The smell of incense embraces the air as the rhythms of an African melody float gently in the background.

An elephant stares unblinking from a corner and Japanese-style paper lanterns sway overhead.

Woolly Peruvian finger puppets smile at you.

At 383 Mazzuca’s Lane - a narrow alleyway tucked between two downtown brick buildings - Cultures Boutique connects local residents with exotic locales.

But this isn’t your typical gift shop.

Cultures is operated by the international and social development department of the Fredericton YMCA. The store marks its 15th anniversary in the capital city on Sept. 13.

The profits it makes sustains human rights causes espoused by the YMCA in Honduras and it helps the Fredericton YMCA employ a street outreach worker to aid this city’s poor.

Rick McDaniel, the Fredericton YMCA’s international and social development program manager, said the odds were stacked against Cultures when it began.

“We broke every one of the rules about setting up a business,” McDaniel said.

The economy was in recession. The store was set up in a hard-to-find alley. There was no money for advertising and the store was a windowless, grubby former metal works studio. Volunteers had to scrub and lug, paint and renovate to turn the building into a usable space.

“It was a disaster when we walked in,” McDaniel said.

Despite the unlikely beginnings, Cultures has prevailed and built a loyal local customer base, while luring tourists as well.

“We’ve run 15 years. Every year we’ve run in the black. We’ve never had a year that we lost money and we’ve been showing eight per cent growth for the last four or five years,” McDaniel said.

More than a happy ending to a shaky beginning, the story of Cultures Boutique stretches far beyond its white walls.

In San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua, under a hot sun, Jose Jimenez shapes clay into big-eared, potbellied piggy banks. His brother Rudolpho, who makes pottery reminiscent of the pots shaped in 5,000-year-old Pre-Columbian style, has finally saved enough money to buy a piece of land.

Elsewhere in Nicaragua, artisan Teodoro finally has money for chairs and mattresses - even a mini-bar-style fridge.

They’re among crafters who sell their products at Cultures via Ontario-based Casa Relief International, a fair-trade importer.

All of the products at Cultures are bought from fair traders, from the Just Us Coffee purchased from a Canada fair-trade coffee roaster to wood-carved face masks.

En français: Malgré les difficultés au début, Cultures a prévalu et construit une fidèle clientèle locale et a réussi à s’attirer des touristes également.

Jazz and blues festival a big draw for businesses

Music lovers aren’t the only ones who came to Fredericton for the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival.

A growing number of those who booked hotel rooms during the festival were here to mix business with pleasure, as the festival is becoming a magnet for conventions and business meetings in the city.

Wendy Bradley, aTourism Fredericton employee who helps business people organizing conferences and meetings, said event planners make their schedules to coincide with the lively week of music by world-famous artists.

“A lot of times when a meeting planner calls me, they’re looking for pre- and post-event planning.

A festival of this calibre actually helps them with their delegate attendance,” Bradley said.

Planners want their delegates and clients to enjoy a lively atmosphere.

“It’s a great time to bring people in, and it shows our city in a great, vibrant, happy light,” Bradley said.

A lot of times it’s the destination and the events that sell a convention, she said. So bookending events on either side is a popular move because the events help draw more participants, Bradley said.

Sara Holyoke, general manager at the Delta Fredericton Hotel, said she had a number of reservations from groups holding meetings and events to coincide with the festival.

En français: De plus en plus de gens mélangent le plaisir avec les affaires lors du Festival Harvest Jazz and Blues.

Chamber to get into the doctor-recruitment business

The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce is setting its sights on doctors, as it looks to ensure the health of the local economy.

The chamber established a working group to examine how it can support recruiting physicians to the capital.

The chamber is calling on members to step forward and offer suggestions and support to help physicians find office space, locate housing for doctors completing their residency and secure employment for new doctors’ spouses.

The chamber’s effort won’t involve providing financial incentives, said Anthony Knight, CEO of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce.

As it stands, more than 1,400 people in the Fredericton area are on a waiting list for a doctor.

There’s some concern that a lack of doctors down the road could impact economic growth in the city as a number of area doctors prepare to retire.

At last count, there were 136 family physicians registered in the former River Valley Health district. That number included doctors who didn’t have a private practice, who were retired or on maternity leave.

According to MoneySense Magazine’s 2008 assessment of the city, there are 2. 2 physicians per 1,000 people in the Fredericton area. That’s down from an average of 3.9 the year previous.

Knight said the plan isn’t meant to duplicate the province’s recruitment efforts but supplement them.

En français: La Chambre de commerce de Fredericton a créé un groupe de travail afin d’appuyer le recrutement de médecins pour la capitale.

Corbett Centre comes to life

The Corbett Centre retail development is now full of life.

The University of New Brunswick leased approximately 18 hectares (45 acres) of land to developers Trinity Development Inc. and RioCan.

Montana’s Cookhouse and Dollarama started up in August.

Home Depot has been open in the Corbett Centre since the summer of 2006.

In September, other businesses planned include an East Side Mario’s restaurant, a Michael’s craft store, a Petcetera pet store, and a Linens ‘N Things home decor centre.

The local Winners branch located in the Smythe Street Canadian Tire Plaza has also move to the new uptown development.

En français: L’Université du Nouveau-Brunswick fait la location d’environ 18 hectares (45 acres) de terrain aux développeurs Trinity Development Inc. et RioCan.

Students breathe new life into economy

More than 11,000 university students have descended on Fredericton’s bars, restaurants and entertainment facilities.

“It really is like night and day between now and the business we were doing during the summer,” said Patrick Tahan, general manager of Budget Cab.

“We really are an eight-month business and the difference students make for us is unbelievable.”

Don Webster, owner of George’s Skycab, agreed.

He said his company adds several vehicles to its fleet every September to cope with increased business.

“We have to plan ahead and have more cars and more drivers for when students arrive,” he said Thursday.

Frank Scott, co-owner of the Lunar Rogue Pub on King Street, said he sees the effect university students have on downtown businesses every year, although he admitted his establishment doesn’t get many first-year students walking through its doors.

“We don’t get a lot of the new students, but we do get all kinds of third, fourth, fifth and graduate students. They are certainly wonderful to have back, “ he said.

En français: Plus de 11 000 étudiants universitaires fréquentent les bars, restaurants et lieux de divertissement de Fredericton.

Duo launches carpooling website

Two friends who saw a lot of people travelling in cars alone have developed a website that will help the environment, help people save money and maybe provide the pair with a thriving business.

University of New Brunswick student Marc Merhebi and his friend Phil Brideau, a student at the Moncton campus of the New Brunswick Community College, are the masterminds behind atlanticcarpool.com, a regional carpooling-message service.

They launched the online venture together late last month, and they’ve already seen some interest.

The site features more than 30 listings from around Atlantic Canada from people looking to carpool within a community or for longer-distance rides.

Brideau got the idea for the website when he was travelling between Moncton and Fredericton and saw that most cars on the highway had a lone occupant.

He figured it was a shame more people weren’t carpooling between the hub city and the capital.

People have happened upon the website through word of mouth and a posting on kijiji.com, Merhebi said.

Demand is bound to increase, he said, because students are back to school and people are less likely to want to walk or bike to their destinations in colder weather, Merhebi said.

There are other carpool websites, he said, but they don’t focus on a specific place or region, and that should allow atlanticcarpool.com to stand out.

Merhebi and Brideau said they eventually want to take the site nationwide.

En français: Deux amis qui ont vu un grand nombre de personnes qui se déplacent seules dans des voitures ont développé un site Web qui aide à protéger l’environnement, les gens à économiser de l’argent et peut-être fournir la paire avec une entreprise prospère.