MBiz

Central Central Carman & COmmunity Chamber of Commerce Chambre de commerce de Notre-Dame Macgregor & District Chamber of Commerce Oakville & District Chamber of Commerce Portage La Prairie Chamber of Commerce Treherne & District Chamber of Commerce New & Noteworthy Jeweller Ajay Aggarwal (left) and florist Kyle Pettinger also provide marriage licences at their shops on opposite sides of Saskatchewan Avenue. Photo by Fred Greenslade then, they've had a hand in many happy endings. "You are a part of their very internal circle when you help with wedding preparations. It's good to be a part of that business," Aggarwal says. "It becomes a very long-lasting relationship with the whole generation. It's where the story begins." The couple are enhancing their wedding services. At nearby family business Olina Fashion, they recently began to sell wedding gowns, as well as dresses for bridesmaids, flower girls and the mother of the bride. "In Portage, there's no store that sells wedding dresses," Aggarwal says. "We are the only jewellers and now we are the only wedding store." They plan to expand further, adding printing services and gifts to the mix, as well as flowers. "We are planning to do the complete operation for anything related to weddings," Aggarwal says.  "Then we will become a one-point solution completely. From January onwards, we'll look at completing all the missing loops." There is a third option for marriage licences a few kilometres down the street at Schapansky's Florist, which also offers bouquets, boutonnieres and a caring attitude. "We don't want any stress," says owner Wil Pacholuk. "We try to give them a product that they really love, but in the same sense, we want to make it as easy as possible for them." >> Portage & District Chamber of Commerce held its 2013 Best Business Awards gala Oct. 24 at the William Glesby Centre. Recipients were: Honeybee Health Foods (small business), Portage Credit Union (contribution to the community by a business), Barney Christianson (contribution to the community by a business executive), Portage Transport Inc. (medium business), Cobbe's Plumbing & Heating Ltd. (long-term achievement) and Portage Family Abuse Prevention Centre (not-for-profit). >> A mini roller derby broke out when the Portage chamber bestowed its Community Volunteer Awards during the business awards gala. Members of the Headstone Honeys skated in to congratulate local league founder Tina Jansen, who was named sportsperson of the year. Portage Credit Union's Dave Omichinski was honoured as citizen of the year while Joshua Ward was named youth volunteer and Jody Fletcher received the award for arts/cultural person of the year. >> Portage MCC Thrift Shop is celebrating its 30th anniversary by giving 30 gift bags full of $30 worth of fair trade products to 30 local businesses and organizations. The gifts are the thrift shop's way of encouraging people to use fair trade products in the workplace. MBiz November 2013 21

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