86 Castlégar News March 27, 1985 FOR FASHION GIANT PETER NYGARD Blazer burying days are over WINNIPEG (CP) — It's been a long time since fashion giant Peter Nygard had to bury 20,000 blazers in a Manitoba hayfield because he couldn't sell them or even give them away. It's been even longer since his immigrant father had to chase a bakery truck down a Winnipeg street to land a job. And Nygard’s sister, Liisa Nichol, has taken giant steps since she sold women’s clothing from a suburban basement Today, more than 30 years after arriving in Canada as children, the Nygards have made their mark in the national and international fashion world — and they credit it all to something they learned in their earliest years. Nichol, 42, is the founder and president of Pirjo-liisa Fashions Ltd., a national company that has grown from her basement to a $7-million operation in the last 10 years. HEADS TAN JAY Nygard, 43, is the chairman of Tan Jay International Ltd., a womenswear manufacturer that will garner $100 million in sales this year from ,operations in Canada, the United States and the Orient. " Nichol says their success is all a matter of “sisu” — a Finnish word meaning tenacity “Every child in Finland is supposed to have sisu you're trained with that,” she said in an interview in her Winnipeg office. The Nygards’ father provided some practical training in determination not long after the family arrived in Winnipeg in 1952. None of the family could speak English and Nichol fondly recalls how her father, who had worked in a large bakery in Finland, started looking for a job. “He saw a bakery truck delivering bread at home and he followed the truck to find the place where the bakery was,” she said. On his first effort, he was outrun by the truck but “he went to same corner the next day and he ran behind the truck all the way to the bakery — he kept up with it and that's how he got his job.” BEGAN in 1975 Pirjo-lissa, which is taken from Nichol's Finnish name, was launched on a less dramatic note in 1975. Nichol, who had been trained as a speech pathologist, INDUSTRIAL FIRST AID 2 Week Day Course PLACE: PEP Hall, Castlegar DATE: April 22 TIME: 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. INSTRUCTOR: Ken Emmons Must pre-register by April 15, 1985 ~“ Course Fee $250 Phone Diane 365-6442 started the company after having her fourth child. With $2,000 worth of inventory, she set out to sell clothing in the same way Tupperware is sold at home parties. t was exhausting at times — I was going 17 hours a day,” said Nichol. “I was the buyer, the shipper and then I did the house parties and I had a family of four young children also, so those were the tougher times.” But Nichol got other young mothers in her neighborhood involved and soon every second house on the small street was selling Pirjo-Lissa fashions. Nichol generally buys discounted clothing from about 150 manufacturers and sells it at the parties as well as her 19 stores on the Prairies and in Thunder Bay, Ont., and Ottawa. She plans to expand into British Columbia. Her prices, which range from $20 to about $100, are kept low because there is little overhead in the warehouse style stores. ROAD EASIER For her brother, the textile industry's rising star, the road to success was a little easier. Nygard gave up a middle management job with Eaton's in his early 20s and joined a local manufacturer, Jacob Fashions, in 1966. With $8,500 in savings and a $40,000 loan, Nygard took over the small firm when owner Nathan Jacob died. The company was later renamed Tan Jay, based on Jacob's first and last names. Nygard, an intense man with piercing blue eyes, sits behind a big curved desk in his posh Winnipeg office and recalls his early days in the rag trade. “I had no training — I was completely thrown into the den of lions and just fought my way out of it,”. said Nygard, who still has traces of a Finnish accent. “That turned out to be a blessing . . forced to rely on my own instincts.” FOR OVER 25s The jet-setting style of Nygard, who lives in the Bahamas, became successful by avoiding fickle fashion trends and sticking to classic styles for women — blazers, slacks, suits and dresses in conservative cuts aimed at the over-25 market. Demographics have swung in Tan Jay's favor and its market share has been growing as the general population ages. But there have been setbacks. Nygard recalls the incident in which he had to bury thousands of acrylic blazers because they weren't fit to sell or give away. The blazers, produced by a Hong Kong manufacturer, contained flaws that caused bubbling in the lapels. “They were horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said. “It really looked like something was growing on it — like fungus. “We couldn't even give those garments away.” Both Nygard and Nichol attribute their business success to a healthy respect for hard work, although Nichol admits that her brother has always been the leader. “The only thing I did ahead of him is having and raising children,” she said. Nygard agrees. “Certainly of us two, I was always the guy who plowed the field — I would be the one who would give the instructions,” he said. because I was MORE SPECTACULAR Voltage synthesizer tuning Random Access wireless remote On screen channel indicator 5 Years full parts and labour warranty SEE IT AT HOMEGOODS roronty ...... “99 HIGH OUTPUT HIGH RESOLUTION T-120 6 HOUR VHS BLANK TAPES $7 .99 each Pkg. of 3 — $22.95 Pkg. of 10 — $69.95 Stock up with your friends STOCKS ARE LIMITED! 20" Color Television Auto color 36 Months full parts and labour factory authorized warranty. SEE IT AT HOMEGOODS roromy....... > DID 60 MOS. WARRANTY VHS HEAD CLEANER Check and Compare! STOCKS ARE LIMITED! 6 “SEE IT AT HOMEGOODS" HOMEGOODS 693-2227 FURNITURE WAREHOUSE Baa Open Mon. through Sat. from 9:30 a.m to 5:30 p.m AT CHINA CREEK STUDYING REPORT . . . Members of the Castlegar Savings Credit Union study the 1984 annual report at their general meeting held last Wednesday. The CASTLEGAR SAVINGS CREDIT UNION 3th annual meeting was attended by a total of 158 members, and 13 guests. CosNews Photo By CasNews Staff The Castlegar Savings Credit Union had a $3.5 million increase in deposits last year, but increased interest paid to credit union members led to a revenue loss approaching $200,000. “Members' deposits grew by $3.5 million, or almost 13 per cent, and we welcomed 700 new members,” said Kar! Swanson, in his board of directors’ report presented last week at the credit union's 36th annual general meeting. But Swanson said “significant growth” in interest paid on deposits totalled a “record” $2.5 million in 1984 — compared to $2 million in 1983. “This large payout to depositors, of course, affected our net income,” he said in the report. The credit union's net income last year was $46,400, down from $237,000 in 1983. However, Swanson noted that operating expenses for the credit union were “slightly less” than in 1984 down about $33,000. Loans plummeted in 1984 compared to 1983. In 1984, about $6.1 million in loans were granted, approximately $5.2 million from 1983. down “This reduction is indeed indicative of the times, and reflects forethought on the part of our members, who refrained from borrowing during financially troubled times,” said chairman Norman New in his credit committee report. Swanson said although loan losses continued to be “above those experienced in more normal times” Deposits up, revenues down total loan losses for the credit union were still below industry averages. Loan delinquency is “well-controlled” and the credit union is “making adequate provision for future losses,” added Swanson. The Castlegar Savings Insurance Agency — a wholly owned subsidiary — had a 97 per cent growth in revenue in 1984, received top sales awards from two companies, and expanded its services of office facilities. General manager Harold Webber painted a distinctly unrosy picture of B.C. and Castlegar’s economic future in his report. He said this year interest rates in Canada should remain stable, and housing starts in B.C. are expected to increase by 2,000 over 1984, for a total of 18,700. But Webber said unemployment will remain high at 14.5 per cent, with 20,000 to 25,000 new jobs needed annually just to maintain that level. Inflation will stabilize in the 4 to 4.5 per cent range, said Webber. But he added: promise of strong province.” The terms of three board members expired this year. Norm Essery of Slocan Valley, Larry Brown and Lucille Doucette were all elected for two-year terms by acclamation. Both Brown and Essery return for another continuous term, with Doucette replacing Sam Gruden, who didn't seek re-election. One-hundred and fifty-eight members and 13 guests attended the meeting “All told, 1985 does not hold the recovery for Castlegar or our Canadian ad MONTREAL (CP) After marking time during the 1981-1983 recession, adver tising revenues in Canada surged 11.8 per cent last year to hit $5.6 billion, concludes a study by Strategem Ine. of Montreal. In the two previous years, the increase in revenue was less than the inflation rate for that period Daily newspapers remain comfortably in first place among Canadian advertising vehicles, collecting 25.5 per cent of all ad revenues last year, says Jacques Dorion, president of Strategem, a firm specializing in market analysis. Direct mail, catalogues and folders are the second-most popular advertising vehicle, with 21.5 per cent of the market, and are gaining slightly on newspapers over the long term. Dorion said the market share of the electronic media has not changed in five years. Last year, television accoun ted for 17.8 per cent and radio 9.5 per cent, for a combined total of 27.3 per cent the same share they had in 1979. Television has progressed FEA TILE AEA ES. KOOTENAY SAVINGS CREDIT UNION 16th Annual General Meeting Tuesday, April 2 7:30 p.m. Gymnasium, Cominco Arena, Trail, B.C. Registration commences 6:45 p.m GUEST SPEAKER: James R. Thomson Chet Executive Officer of B.C. Central Credit Union AGENDA INCLUDES: ‘ Door Prizes 3’ Report * * Announcement of Election Results * * Auditors’ Report * revenues up slightly at radio's expense, but the Strategem statistics indicate Quebecers, at least, watch less they used to. In 1980, the average Que becer spent 26 hours a week watching television, three hours more than the average Canadian, but in 1984 the figure fell to 24 hours per week, in line with the nation. al average The decline in radio's rev enue share is attributed to the closure of some regional stations during the recession. Dorion said about half of Quebec's regional stations are still losing money The print media — daily newspapers, weeklies and than d got 38.5 per cent of the adver tising pie last year, compared with 39 per cent five years ago. SHARES THE REST The rest of the market is shared by directories and rural publications (6.9 per cent) and outdoor adver tising, such as billboards (six per cent). Contributing to the print media's 38.5 per cent are weekly papers (5.4 per cent), magazines (4.6 per cent) and the business press (three per cent) They are putting more emphasis on thematic sec tions, dealing with subjects such as automobiles, housing, and interior decoration. But Dorion said these special sections are sometimes weak on editorial content Cheque out a crippled child today See what your dollars can do Support Easter Seals Compliments ot Castlegar News Light Retreshments Husband never returned By JUDY CROSS YELLOWENIFE, N.W.T. (CP) — Every night Renie Stewart prays her husband will return home. Frank Stewart, 52, an un- employed laborer and father of 10 children, disappeared nearly three years ago. He gave no hint anything was wrong or he was planning to run away. Renie Stewart, 52, last saw her husband in August 1982. He left their home in Akla- vik, a community of 900 about 1,150 air kilometres northwest of Yellowknife, to travel 1,400 kilometres to Hay River for the annual meeting of the N.W.T. Metis Association. One of the last people to see Stewart was his sister Ruby McLeod. He had told her he was on his way to visit a family friend in the senior citizens’ home, but promised to see her at a dance that night. “He showed me his ticket,” McLeod said in a telephone interview from her home in Inuvik. “He seemed to be looking forward te the dance. “But he didn't show up. Someone went to look for him. We waited and waited. When it was time to go home the next day, I went to his hotel room and picked up his things. But he didn’t come to the plane either.” McLeod, like the other members of her family, con- tinues to hope Stewart is alive. Renie Stewart has applied to the territorial government to have her husband declared legally dead. When asked about the application she be- gan to cry. “I want him home. We need him here,” she said. Bev Latham, communica: Smoke detectors must be WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Transportation De- partment ordered airlines Tuesday to install smoke de- teetors within 18 months in lavatories of all their large aircraft to give pilots early warning of an in-flight fire that may not be easily de- tected. The regulation, part of a series of proposals aimed at providing passengers with better protection against fire, also would require air liners to have automatic fire extinguishers in lavatory trash receptacles and addi tional hand-held fire extin guishers in the cabin. “By preventing the spread of fires, these improvements installed several weeks after Dole was accused by several members of Congress of not moving quickly to implement cabin safety regulations, including those dealing with fire haz ards. Aviation safety groups for years have been pushing for additional safeguards against fires aboard aircraft. The efforts were renewed af. ter a fire aboard an Air Can. ada jetliner killed 23 people in June 1983 as the plane made an emergency landing at Cincinnati. Ironically, the Air Canada plane had a fire extinguisher in the trash receptacle of the lavatory where the fire be- gan have the to save lives and prevent serious in juries,” said Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole. The announcement came Investigators were unable to determine what caused the fire, although they have speculated a flush motor may have been responsible. tions co-ordinator for the Metis association, has fol- lowed the case closely. “People who knew him well say he could not have gone this long without con- teating te taal.” Latham Hotline for medical OTTAWA (CP) — The Canadian Medical Associa- tion will hook up a federally funded 24-hour telephone line for people to report problems with medical devices. The phone line, to be set up by early next week and cost- ing about $70,000 a year, is expected to reduce injuries or deaths resulting from faulty or hazardous medical devices, said Dr. Ajit Das- Gupta, director of the Health Department's bureau of medical devices. The devices range from eye glasses and hearing aids to sophisticated medical equipment such as X-ray machines and oxygen dis- pensers. devices “There are several hun- dred thousand types of med- ical devices available for sale in Canada,” DasGupta said, adding no one agency can look at them all. ~ He said he hopes the phone line will be used by con- sumers, doctors and other workers in the health field to alert his department to prob- lems it can then order manu- facturers to correct. Problems the government wants to hear about include minor malfunctions and de- sign flaws, products that don't live up to their billing and products creating serious health hazards. The toll-free phone line is 1-800-267-9709. 3 theme plazas part of Expo ‘86 VANCOUVER (CP) — Ina world's fair devoted to tra portation and communica- tion, what could be more fit- ting than a plaza embracing an artificial traffic jam com- plete with “multilingual howls of protest. Expo 86 officials are hoping to touch a respondent chord in every fairgoer, so three theme plazas — Land, Marine and Air — will be among the dozens of attrac- tions. The Land Plaza is des- cribed as a playful fantasy of an international traffic jam, embracing everything from a gypsy caravan to a travelling circus. The Land Plaza will be filled with sounds — honking horns, radio music, braying animals and multilingual howls of protest. The Air’ Plaza is a set of lacy, steel towers rising 40 metres above the Expo 86 Inside the towers, a col- lection of real and fantastic aircraft — balloons, billowing parachutes, space capsules, early gizmos and light planes — are suspended in flight. The Marine Plaza consists of a surrealistic ship with 40-metre high steel masts strung with rigging sails and flags and a “dream deck” which projects into adjacent False Creek. control MORE SPECTACULARS Jarry SIZE MICROWAVE 1.3 cu.ft. capacity Electronic touch 700 watts of power in 10 power levels 4-stage memory with Temperature probe cooking SEE IT AT HOMEGOODS FOR ONLY .. 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But he said media atten tion on the nonsmoking project late last year resulted in a flood of requests to the association, which now has a three-month waiting list. of companies wanting to in- troduce the program. “We can't get them to come back out to Boeing to put it on,” said Earl, a former smoker who fights the nico- tine urge by chewing gum. Earl said the company, which manufactures airplane parts, had been working on the quit-smoking program all last year. The scheme was originally announced last summer after the parent company in Se- attle, Wash., launched a sim- ilar plan. The project was set to get going in the Winnipeg plant early this year. But he said a represen- tative from the Lung Associ- ation had told him not to put on the eight-week program at the time because it would have peaked just before a paid week-long Christmas plant closure. “She told us that's a ter- rible time to ask people to quit smoking because during a paid Christmas closure you eat too much, you drink too much, you socialize all the time. That puts tremendous pressures on (smokers).” PLAN ON HOLD Earl said the resulting me- dia attention on the project, in which some employees voiced concern over going cold turkey, put the plan on the back burner. A handful of workers have to cut down on lost produc- tion time due to smoking. “It's an expression of con- cern on the health of those of our people who are not smokers,” he said. Smoking has never been allowed on the factory floor. Media interest came from the fact that the company plans to ban smoking in the cafe- teria — a move that wasn't taken place yet. Earl said smoking is still allowed in an open office area, but non-smokers are staking out their territory with*no-smoking signs and lighting up is no longer al- lowed in meeting rooms. “Smokers have been very isn’t going to be rushed into anything. “Many people would love us to drive a stake in the “But we will do it when we can take the culture shock. We're not going to give in to outside pressures.” There's no longer a dead- line for beginning the proj- ect, he said. “We will do this when we can tolerate it. In the mean- time we must be patient.” Guaranteed Service Guaranteed GM Parts Guaranteed Price G.M. SAFETY RECALLS ATTENTION G.M. OWNERS If you owna G.M. Car or Truck between the model years of 1978 thru 1984, we will check your vehicle serial number for any outstanding SAFETY RECALLS. If your vehicle is affected by any safety recall, we will perform the inspection and recall repairs for you. 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