The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Ukrainian born Tatiana Kalashnyk who moved to Brandon in 2008 to work at Maple Leaf Foods.  Now, she has followed her dreams and has recently opened Chocolate Dreams at 711 Rosser Ave. Chocolate Dreams features amazing chocolate and candies from Russia, Belgium, and Ukraine.  They will carry unique brands of chocolate that won't be found in Brandon like Lima, Kalev, Rochen and other brands.  Plus, they will also be stocking fresh coffee from South America. Take a moment to stop into Chocolate Dreams.  Business hours are as follows: Monday to Saturday 8:30 am to 7:30 pm and Sundays closed Facebook page

Tastee's Ice Cream and Grill, located at 1405-1st Street, is officially for sale. Current owner, Cathie Crossin posted on the popular 50's style diner Facebook page that after 11 years she is ready to move on and tackle other projects. Open in Brandon since 1967 they have become your neighborhood ice cream shop and favorite local burger joint. Anyone interested in purchasing the business is asked to contact Glen Kirkland at Remax (720-1235). We here at bdnmb.ca wish Cathie all the best moving forward.

The City of Brandon have received a Site Design Analysis from Burns Maendel Consulting Engineers Ltd to construct a 6-storey hotel with 116 guest rooms on the property located at 1148-18th Street in Brandon. The address is the former location of the Western Motel and the Site Design Analysis was submitted on behalf of P.R. Hotels (Brandon) Ltd. A quick Google search of the address listed for P.R. Hotels Ltd. takes you to the Holiday Inn Saskatoon Downtown location. According to the document submitted to the city, the proposed hotel would have meeting rooms however there are no plans for a restaurant or lounge. Access to the site will be off of 19th Street.

According to the sign at the front of their property, the Shell gas station located at 1108-18th Street will be closing their doors on Monday, October the 9th. No word on what will become of the property going forward. Kickin' Axe Throwing will be Brandon's first axe throwing club playing host to birthday parties, stag/stagettes, corporate events and fundraisers.  They will be located at 3B-389 Park Ave East in Brandon.  No official word on an opening date yet, but check out their Facebook page for updated information.    

If you’re a manager or business owner, hiring is likely one of your top priorities. It often takes a lot of time to find just the right person to fill a position, especially when you’re looking for someone who is dedicated, reliable and safety conscious. To help with this process, more and more businesses and organizations are turning to Career Connections. Career Connections has a long history in western Manitoba as being one of the only employment agencies that specializes in finding employment for people living with a disability. They provide a number of different services to employers including on-the-job-training, job coaching and support, which is available on a short-term or ongoing basis. Tracy Williams, Executive Director of Career Connections, said that as October is Disability Employment Awareness Month, she wants to highlight the benefits of hiring a diversified workforce, which include lower turn over rates, higher productivity, well trained and safety conscious employees. “I believe that everybody deserves the right to work in their community, no matter what their abilities are. From an employers point of view, diversifying your workforce makes good business sense,” said Williams. As an example, in six Tim Hortons stores employing staff with disabilities, turn over was at 35 per cent compared to the 75 per cent industry average. In addition, absenteeism in 2011 of the employees with disabilities in these Tim Hortons locations was zero. Career Connections is a one-stop-shop for helping job seekers to find employment, to train prospective employees and perform evaluations. They provide two-day, full vocational assessments to determine what area their clients would be most successful in and determine what their barriers are to employment. Referrals come from a variety of different agencies such as the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Employment Support Programming through the Government of Manitoba such as Market Abilities and Job Connections, Correctional Services of Canada and the Samaritan House Training Centre. “We could potential service as many as 250 people in a year, which may be people who are looking for employment or are already working and being maintained,” said Williams. “With our caseload we assist people with physical disabilities, hearing impairment, vision impairment, mental health issues, learning disabilities, we’ve had clients who are ex Military members and ex RCMP officers. There are many barriers to employment, but it’s our job to help identify that barrier and put together a supportive vocational plan that works for both the client and eventually the employer.”