3,
Facet

Wednesday,

north shore news

<p BUSINESS

E: Ross Merrifield traded in the much larger and more
iques 1 for ‘the ‘smaller miniatures he now specializes in.

javier. and Gabriela Martinez are ringing a a little bit of
to North Va

things electri Westburne Electric’s John Gillies has been with the

for 18 yea

ty 29, 1998 — North Shore News —

AUTO centrai ... Pat and Gardiner Dye have been in business on the North Shore

since 1975.

Robert Gaister
News Reporter robert@nsnews.com

BIGGER is not always better.
Ross Merrifield realized this about 15 years
ago when he got out of the antique business.
“We got rid of all the big antiques and
shrunk everything,” said Merrifield, who
together with his wife runs Ross’ Treasure
House.
The store carries all things small — from
miniature furniture to miniature raw lumber.
“We have no competition. Nobody else
does this,” said Merrifield.
However, a great nutnber of
people are interested in his prod-
ucts. Everything in the store is in
the same one inch to one foot
scale which allows for the truest
possible reproductions.
He said that while 70% of his
clientele is made up of adults,
their reasons for getting involved
in miniatures are varied. Some
are indulging thcir dream home wishes and
construct scaled models of houses “they’ll
never have.” Others attempt to resurrect

* childhood memories by reconstructing a

long-gone relative’s home.

and unlike most businesses, Merrifield is
less than keen to increase his visibility in the
community.

“It’s nice here because we’re off the beaten
track — we don’t want walk-in traffic (and)
people wasting our time,” said Merrifield.

Discover Mexico
Castani International Furniture constitutes the
new kid on the block. Owned and operated by
the husband and wife team of Javier and
Gabriela Martinez, the business opened its
doors last January.

There is more than furniture to the
Martinezes though. The duo has been devel-
oping a website to augment. the furniture por-
tion of the business in addition to promoting
Mexican tourism and culture.

“Right now we just have furniture, but
we're going to have more than 100 products
on the website,” said Javier.

The couple first came to Vancouver three
years ago and have since decided to call North
Vancouver home.

“Our son is four years old and we thought
this is a nice place for him,” said Javier.

“And we always wanted to live in another
country.”

Check them out at www.mexiscape.com

Auto central
Central Auto Parts owners Pat and Gardiner

Dye have been in business since 1975. At that. --

time they were located on Esplanade i in a space.
adjacent to Paul’s Tailors. at

They divide the duties of running the store
Gardiner looks after the mechanical, side. and
Pat runs the office. .

The only hiccup in an othe finely:
tuned - business. operation . has - been the: ‘co
struction of the recently complered Low
roa :

“We were behind barricades for 1] months...

Our business has been funneled directly to our:

competition kitty-corner from here,” said: Pat’
with a laugh of relief that the road-building
experiment has been concluded.” --

On to. bigger and. better ‘things, .

today is a big day for the business ..

because it coincides with the open-
ing of its new machine shop. -

To mark the occasion they have - .

> arranged for a‘NASCAR vehicle to
be on-site.

All things electric ;
John Gillies has worked at “the: North"
Vancouver division of ‘Westburn Electric for:
18 years. .
“I was called one day to unload a truck and
I've been here ever sincé,” said Gillies. “It’s a

_lot of fun.”

Westburne is a national company that sup-
plies its customers with all kinds of electrical
supplies. The local five-man contingent counts
everyone from Vancouver Wharves to BC Rail
to the fast ferries as customers. Although he is
originally from North Vancouver, Gillies’ now
calls Gibsons home and daily commutes. to
work by ferry. Though he points out it could:
be worse. .

“It’s better than commuting to the (Fraser)
valley,” said Gillies.

All the rest

The other businesses in the plaza include
Coastline Closets, Deerwood Landscaping
Supplies, Zale Construction Ltd. General
Contractors, Vulcan Lapel Pins and Sport
Medals and Lindsay Models and Design. :

if you have a business that is part of. a unique
or t erwise worthwhile block or of any,
share it with us. Write to Commercial ‘Avenues
c/o Robert Galster at the North ‘Shore News,
1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, °V7M
2H4 or e-mail: robert@nsnews.com Los

me reat ane ty Re

be
i

fete Gamat neene