General Motors Transmission Plant down the road. He says the previous owner bought the bar 13 years ago for $430,000. Another possible shot in the arm is a strong rumour that the huge GM parking lot across the street from the tavern will be converted into housing.
BRINGING YOU UP TO SPEED ON THE LATEST BUZZ AROUND TOWN! A pair of well-worn neighbourhood pubs in the Olde Walkerville district — Kilroy’z Bar N’ Grill, 1848 Shepherd Avenue East, and Gladstone Grill and Draft House, 792 Gladstone Avenue, have changed hands with the promise to revitalize the businesses with some youthful vigour. Kilroy’z, at the corner of Kildare Road, was purchased for $100,000 by husband-wife team Darcy Lauria and Katie McArthur, who immediately threw a pre-renovation party dubbed “Say Goodbye to the Dive.” Five months later, thanks to $60,000 in renovations and oodles of do-it-yourself elbow grease, Orwell Public House was set to open, hopefully in July. “George Orwell is the prophet of the time,” says Darcy on the choice of a new name. The 30-something owners are graduates of Walkerville Collegiate and hope to build up the name of the area by etching a big W on one of the walls. “We’re going to sell local craft beer,” says Lauria, noting there will be 21 different beers on tap. Bar food, live music and Sunday board games in the pool room will also be available. Lauria came home after working oil drilling rigs in Alberta and Texas for several years. He and McArthur were able to capitalize on a great price to purchase Kilroy’z, which had suffered customer declines from the closure and gutting of the
The sale of the Gladstone Grill, formerly Back Street, closed on June 30. “Jim Lott is retiring after five bars and 40 years in the business,” says Lott’s Royal LePage Binder Realtor Joan Charette. The purchaser, working through LePage agent Dan Zajac, is another Walkerville graduate, 37 year old John Bradt. “I was working with Dan to buy a multi-unit rental property to add to my portfolio, when I came across it on MLS.” A lover of Walkerville who lives in the area, Bradt was “inspired” by the low price and the potential of the building. So inspired that he decided to quit his nursing job and run the place himself. Bradt has worked as a Chef and Kitchen Manager in Toronto and Windsor and is planning to introduce Mexican street food and tequila-based cocktails as staples in the tavern he intends to rename. He is shutting it down for a few months to undergo a major renovation inside, as well as to apply Mexican street art on the exterior. His brother Jeff has moved back to Windsor from Mexico to assist. The upstairs of the tavern has 10 fully occupied subsidized rental units and there is a property next door, which he calls “a bonus,” to be used for parking. Long-time customers of Purples Lounge, 2462 Tecumseh Road East, sold in early spring to a Calgary investor, might be wondering what is happening to their favourite watering hole. In fact, the Purples name has disappeared. The replacement — QQ Coffee Shop Restaurant — does not have a liquor licence and specializes in Asian cuisine. The new Owner is Tony Quach, who spruced up, operated and sold several hospitality businesses in Calgary before deciding to relocate his family to Windsor. “It was a little too early to retire,” says Quach, who is of Vietnamese heritage. Like many business people these days, he has discovered Windsor is an affordable city
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to work and raise a family. His wife Anh has helped him with the renovations of the old bar, which involved mostly Asian décor and cosmetic changes. The makeover took longer than expected because of the condition of the facility and the need for a major clean-up. QQ opened quietly in late June and is saving its grand opening and promotional push until later in the summer. The café and restaurant, which features a full range of Asian dishes and “regular” coffee, is open from 10 a.m. to 9 .p.m. seven days a week and offers take out and a patio, out front. Quach says he might re-apply for a liquor licence depending on the success of the current format. Lee Valley Tools Ltd., a family-owned chain business selling top quality gardening and woodworking tools, and an exhaustive array of specialty home products, is expanding to Windsor in the fall. The Windsor store, the 18th Lee Valley in Canada and ninth in Ontario, will be located in the Roundhouse Centre, across from Devonshire Mall. “We’re excited about it,” says Vice President of Marketing J.J. Hochrein, who would not be pinned down on the exact date of the opening. “A strong customer base of woodworkers and hobbyists in the Windsor market, including the U.S. and Chatham, fits our profile.” Lee Valley first opened in Ottawa in 1978, and has built a loyal following across the country, and through mail orders in the U.S. The company has had a London outlet for 27 years. Four years ago it opened a store in Waterloo. In a growth mode, it launched a store in Kelowna, B.C. this April. About one third of its total sales volume is from products of the company’s own design. The vast majority of these are products made by Veritas Tools Inc., its manufacturing arm. The company has a research and development team of 11 people and 130 more in manufacturing. Also, a number of customers earn royalties on company-manufactured products based on designs received from them. “Whether a tool from Lee Valley is one made by Veritas Tools or is one of the 5,000 or so we get from around the world, it will always have our full guarantee,” the company boasts on its website, where you can order a product on line and have it delivered in a few days.
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