Guy Seymour, owner of The Nomad Food Co. – a business he’s very proud of and says of his experience in Revelstoke as an independant owner, “it’s been a blast working here on my own.”
PHOTO BY CARL BR JOHNSON
By Carl BR Johnson
One thing I’ve noticed whilst living in Revelstoke is that this little town, er, city, appears to have an unusually high number of mom-and-pop shops compared to other similarly-sized townships.
True, there are a few big-box names here like McDonald’s, A&W and Subway, but they are few and far between for a town this size.
The town centre especially has an overwhelming number of little shops that have become an enduring part of small-town life here.
Being from Calgary, you either go big or go home.
Add to that, the increasing number of American brand name stores that have found a home in my city and it’s starting to feel like Wall street has a permanent stranglehold on our wallets.
So what makes Revelstoke such a magnet for independent and free-spirited folk to come and leave their mark here?
One such place I found particularly charming was The Nomad Food Co..
I spoke with its owner Guy Seymour recently, and we took a journey into the creation of “my baby” and small-business life to try and find out why Revelstoke is such a mom-and-pop nexus.
Seymour, 46, and a Sydney, Australian native, said he has travelled the world and, “saw a lot of fast food alternatives” but he thinks he’s found his niche with The Nomad.
“This [The Nomad] is a total mom-and-pop operation,” said Seymour.
“It’s been such a blast working here on my own.”
He chose to simply serve mainly burgers and fries at his little-shop-that-could because, “we couldn’t go wrong with that.”
Seymour used to work for Revelstoke’s Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) Heli-skiing as a chef and he said that there is a lot of talent here from all over the world because of that organization.
“I think we have the CMH [Heli-skiing] to thank for the amount of independence in this city,” he said.
“They bring in a lot of talent to this city and some, like me, wanted to branch out on their own so we could experience the freedom of our own shop environment.”
So, if you are going through impotence and looking for a cialis prices trusted doctor in Delhi then you can consult Dr. free sample of levitra browse description Also do not take more than one pill in a day as it can be dangerous. She will certainly remember the old days when you both were young.Generic Apcalis contains tadalafil generic as the active regencygrandenursing.com purchase cheap viagra constituent that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If you are a user of this medication method, your action time will be 30 min on an average. viagra without
Seymour said that there’s “a romance in setting up your own shop” but that romance will die quickly if you aren’t preparing to work hard.
La Baguette is another independent that has found its home in Revelstoke and has managed to blossom in more ways than one thanks to this town’s ‘independent-first’ mentality.
Olivier Dutil St.-Pierre, 32, a Quebec City, QC native and co-owner of La Baguette, manages three locations for his French restaurant – one in the city centre and two more on the ski hill.
He and business partner Sonia Ratte later added the coffee shop and catering to their business and have successfully integrated those business models for three years now.
Dutil St.-Pierre is right up front about his views concerning big box restaurants and independent shops by saying, “every small-town should have more independent shops than big name corporations.”
“The independent shops create the culture in any small town. The big corporations don’t give a small town its character.”
At first glance, he appears to have found more success than most with his three locations here but he is quick to justify his business’ intentions and expressed his loyalty for the ‘Stoke.
“Yes, we have three locations but we are still a mom-and-pop shop. And with us, the money we make stays in Revelstoke – unlike the big name fast food franchises where that some of that money goes out of our town,” he said.
Both Seymour and Dutil St.-Pierre agreed that the big name restaurants along the Trans-Canada are useful in grabbing the motorists’ attention and surmised that many might become weary of the same kind of food and will want to come into town – to the independent dealers – out of curiosity.
Something that works just fine for them.
John Guenther, Revelstoke planning director, made it clear that on the whole, city council shies away from big box retailers.
“There is a provision in our city planning that doesn’t support big box retailers,” he said.
“Typically in resort communities like Revelstoke, the space on either side of the main highway is reserved for the big names like McDonald’s and the Subways and so on. When you start to get deeper into the town or in what you would be consider the city centre, then you’ll start to see more of the independent mom-and-pop shops,” he said.
Personally, I have found that free-thinking independence quite refreshing.
If we all conform to cookie-cutter models for anything we do, the diversity of the human race becomes that much more diminished and quite frankly, boring as hell.
If Revelstoke city council stays the course then we can look forward to an enriching town in which to experience the independent, free-spirited human condition at its best.