NEWS photo Mike Waketiald CAPILANO COLLEGE graduate Ingrid Mutsaerts shows some of her wares in her new Vancouver store. AaGas EEN Computer § Skills for the Workplace Register Early! For Course Schedule and more information, call 984-4349 - Computer --. People | “To Register call. ‘984-4349 0 or visit: "1280 Marine Drive, North ‘Vancouver, . BC. ‘VIP. 1T2. 41 - Wednesday, August 31, 1988 - NOT EVERY 25-year-old can rn two businesses and have time left over to give private kni. .ng lessons. But that’s not a problem for the North Shore’s Ingrid Mutsaerts, who recently opened a new Knit and Stitch Shoppe in Vancouver's Arbutus Village Square. “In this business you have to have a lot of variety. We offer 272 types of wool,’’ says Ingrid, who spends part of her hectic days at her other Knit and Stitch Store in Richmond. Ingrid’s success story is due largely to the training she received from a two-year retai] management program at Capilano College, which turns out an average of 30 graduates a year. Most of the grads have managed to find work in their own field, and some, like Ingrid, are lucky enough to open and manage their own fashion stores, says program coordinator Hilury Clark, who began the retail management pro- gram at Capilano College in 1973. “We have a very credible pro- gram,”’ she says. And Clark has the evidence to prove her pcint. Three of her students have gone on to do post-graduate work at the prestigious Fashion Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, one of the best-known design schools in America. Other students are completing degrees at Ryerson in Toronto, and still others, like Elenore Makis of Makis Shoes in Park Royal Shopping Centre, are managing a variety of fashion-related FABRI Institute of By EVELYN JACOB Contributing Writer businesses. For Ingrid, opening a business wasn't a lifelong dream. At first she had no plans to work in her parents’ Knit and Stitch store in Park Royal, but started to change her mind with every school project she completed. Hilary pro- coordinator very credible PROGRAM Clark ...‘ta gram."* “T went away for four months after 1 graduated, and it was then | decided to stay in the business. [’m addicted to my business now.”’ Although the Park Royal store is stil! the busiest, Ingrid says business at the two other stores is “*preat,’” “Vm planning to smoke ‘em,’ she says, laughing. Between knitting eight to nine ICLAIND MUCH BETTER! “HOME DECOR COUPON Save 53.00 m. off any “Love That Lace” fabric currently priced at ‘19.99 m. or higher Limit 5 m. per customer Limit 10m. for sewing club members OFFER VALID SEPT. 2-5,1988_._ id Save *2.00 m. off any 106% wool or Limit 3 m. per customer | 100% silk fabric priced at ‘12.99 m. or higher | | Limit 5 m. for sewing club members OFFER VALID SEPT. 2-5, 1988 Save ‘1.00 m. off any 100% polyester print or 100% rayon challis print priced at ‘6.99 m. or higher Limit 3m. per customer Limit 5 a. for sewing club members —— OFFER VALID SEPT. 2-5, 1988 —--—-— North Shore News sweaters a month, teaching, and managing two stores with three part-time employees each, Ingrid decided to move her home from West Vancouver to Kitsilano in Vancouver to be closer to the Ar- butus store where she spends most of her time. And she says she relies on much of what she Jearned at Cap College to get her through her daily work. “There’s a definite benefit from knowing how to design and sell your clothes at the same time,”’ she says. ‘“‘At Cap we learned retail math, payroll and mark-up on costs. | refer back to my school days for everything.’’ But Ingrid says what helped her the most was the practical part of the program. In a small store in the college called Cap Corner, she made and sold T-shirts bearing the college's logo which turned out to be a hit with students, “They (T-shirts) were gone in four days,’’ she says proudly. That success has carried right through the career of the graduate from West Vancouver Secondary School. Today, Ingrid says she takes pleasure in staying up until 5 a.m. knitting and planning where she can open more Knit and Stitch stores. . “T was thinking that somewhere up in the north of B.C. would be a good place or maybe Prince George or maybe....”" For further information on Capilano College’s retail manage- ment program, contact the college at 986-1911.