It was sad news that the business community received with word from South Carolinian that Jerry Zucker, the man who bought Canada’s oldest company in 2006, had passed away from brain cancer. It was a surprise to most in the company because it had been kept so quiet.

I remember when I first started following this story after a tip from a friend of mine in the retail research business in Toronto. He suggested that I should take a look at what this U.S. businessman was doing without fanfare through a company registered in Nova Scotia called Maple Leaf Holdings. He was very much under the radar buying stock in Canada’s oldest retailer the Hudson Bay Company. He started with something like 13 per cent and then increased that holding to 25 per cent. He ended up out- bidding one of Canada’s largest retailer builders, Mitch Goldhar of SmartCentres (they own the Lougheed Power Centre in Penticton) who gave Mr. Zucker a run for his money in buying the company for $1.1 billion. He was quoted as saying that the HBC chair was leading the company in the right direction.

Now we can expect the experts to come out of the financial woods to tell us what they think will happen with the company now that there has been this major change. Will we start to hear the rumours on Target coming to Canada again? At the annual meeting of the Target Stores in Minneapolis last year the president thought that maybe there would be some things happening with an international chain. I don’t think this is the right time to be talking about selling the banks are not all that happy with retail in the U.S. at the moment. One chain that we have never discussed is the Kohl’s of Illinois who have spread their wings across the U.S. They are very progressive. We have been in a number of their stores and Canadians would enjoy shopping there.

I don’t think we’ll see any changes soon and it depends on the Zucker family as to just how long they want to be owners of Canada’s oldest retail organization. It is far too early to be speculating.

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Boutique Hotels & Resorts of British Columbia has added a new destination to its growing portfolio of luxury hotels and resorts with the addition of the Nelsen Lodge in Revelstoke, British Columbia. The first phase of development for Revelstoke Mountain Resort, the new 221-suite Nelsen Lodge is scheduled to open the first of its three buildings with 59 suites in fall 2008 and the remaining suites opening over the next twelve months.

“With the abundance of snow and summer activities, Revelstoke is poised to become one of the top four season mountain resort destinations in North America,” says Mike Duggan, president of Boutique Hotels & Resorts of British Columbia. “We are thrilled to be a part of this exciting development and in setting the bar for luxury accommodation in Revelstoke.”

Raymond Letkeman and Associates, one of the foremost resort architectural firms in North America, designed Nelsen Lodge in a contemporary mountain alpine architectural style with every suite offering outstanding views across the Columbia River to the glacier-peaked Monashee Mountains. With the completion of a $6 million extension to the village gondola this fall, the resort will boast North America’s longest vertical descent with 6,000 feet of lift-serviced ski terrain.

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Terasen Gas is pleased to announce a major new wine tourism event being brought to the Okanagan that brings together chefs and wine in an educational environment. The first ever “Chefs and Wine” will take place this year on Saturday, May 10 as part of the expanded Okanagan Spring Wine Festival. “Chefs and Wine” will take place at the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Ruth Sulentich with Terasen Gas describes the event as one that makes perfect sense for the Okanagan. “We want to be able to showcase how cooking with natural gas provides a better taste sensation and by bringing together three chefs for this event, we will be able to showcase some fabulous cooking demonstrations. Of course, when paired with wine, the recipe sampling event should be an absolute hit with wine tourists”.

“Chefs & Wine” will feature a complete demonstration kitchen brought into Penticton just for this event. The mobile kitchen will be set up in the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre and will host three different chefs who will present live cooking demonstrations featuring uniquely Okanagan recipes. Chef Danny Capadouca, Chef Neil Schroeter and Chef Gerard Martin will each prepare one of their own recipes and table samples will be available for all patrons.