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ISSUE VOLUME 62 2008/04/03 25 THE UNIveRSITY OF WINNIPEG StuDENT weeKLY Exploring the possibilities of the city with our special urban issue April 3, 2008 The Uniter contact: [email protected] 02 NEWS UNITER STAFF NEWS EDITOR : STACY CARDIGAN SMITH NEWS EDITOR : KSENIA PRINTS E-MAIL : N EWS @U N ITER .CA E-MAIL : N EWSPROD @U N ITER .CA MANAGING EDITOR News Jo Snyder » [email protected] BUSINESS MANAGER James D. Patterson » [email protected] Consumer culture: The battle of small corner stores PRODUCTION MANAGER Melody Morrissette » [email protected] “The key difference is a more PHOTO EDITOR personalized business.” Colin Vandenberg » [email protected] JOE KORNELSEN —Patrick Loewen, COPY & STYLE EDITOR VOLUNTEER StaFF Jacquie Nicholson » [email protected] Corpell’s Water NEWS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR ig box stores are increasingly Stacy Cardigan Smith » [email protected] moving into the city of Winni- peg, making it harder for smaller NEWS PRODUCTION EDITOR Bbusinesses to gain a foothold in the mar- Ksenia Prints » [email protected] ket. But smaller venues are finding ways COMMENTS EDITOR to fight back. Ben Wood » [email protected] “We are like small fish and they are like big fish,” said Mohammad Ayub. ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR “Their prices are lower and they have Whitney Light » [email protected] more products.” Mohammad Ayub is the owner of LISTINGS COORDINATOR Luxton Grocery in the North End. Hav- Kristine Askholm » [email protected] ing bought the 75-year-old company four years ago, Ayub said he was finding SPORTS EDITOR Kalen Qually » [email protected] it more and more difficult to compete in the retail market. BEAT REPORTER Often located on the fringes of Jenette Martens » [email protected] cities, stores like Wal-Mart, Superstore, and Home Depot are taking control of Young Food Mart is one of many examples of friendly neighbourhood corner store. BEAT REPORTER significant proportions of the retail mar- Cameron MacLean » [email protected] ket share. With big budgets and inter- said Gloria Hoeppner, the executive director of the small businesses in the West End. national recognition, large retail firms have the the West End Business Improvement Zone, ex- “We have 45 ethnic groups in the neigh- BEAT REPORTER money and space that smaller venues lack to buy Dan Huyghebaert » [email protected] plaining why there are fewer box stores in the bourhood, and 90 restaurants,” she said. “It’s a in large quantities and sell at cheap prices. area. She added the West End BIZ was interested huge attraction.” Not everyone is willing to face defeat. Win- BEAT REPORTER in attracting businesses of all sizes. The West End also has the advantage of James Janzen » [email protected] nipeg-based Corpell’s Water has been delivering Because box stores need tremendous being a walkable community. Both Loewen and bottled water in Southern Manitoba since 1991. amounts of space to hold the massive quantity Ayub agree that setting up within walking dis- Over the last 17 years it has outgrown several of of products they sell, they are often set up on the tance from the target community is one of the its bottling plants. fringes of city where the land is available. The most important factors in the success of a small THIS WEEK ’ S CONTRIBUTORS Patrick Loewen is the co-owner of Corpell’s community around the U of W is over 100 years business. Water. He felt that Corpell’s Water was able to Joe Kornelson, Brook Dymtriw, Sandy Klowak, Darrel old so it is difficult for large retailers to find the set itself apart by providing better service. Ronald, Stephanie Christie, Graham Podolecki, Graca space to set up. Resendes, Matt Prepost, Aaron Epp, Conrad Sweatman, “The key difference is a more personalized Hoeppner also emphasized the diversity of Kelly Nickie, Marko Bilandzija, Michael Collins, Trevor business,” he said of the differences between small Johnston, Cory Falvo, Rob McGregor. Chantal DeGagne businesses and large retail stores. “The real na- ture of our business is direct service where we The Uniter is the official student newspaper of the University of deliver the product directly to the customer Winnipeg and is published by Mouseland Press Inc. Mouseland Press Inc. is a membership based organization in which students whereas box stores will often outsource the and community members are invited to participate. For more delivery.” information on how to become a member go to www.uniter. ca, or call the office at 786-9790. The Uniter is a member of the Loewen added that a business can com- Canadian University Press and Campus Plus Media Services. SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES, LETTERS, GRAPHICS AND pete on two of three fronts: quality, service, or PHOTOS ARE WELCOME. Articles must be submitted in text (.rtf) or Microsoft Word (.doc) format to [email protected], price. Since small businesses often can’t com- or the relevant section editor. Deadline for submissions is pete on price they will often have to choose 6:00 p.m. Thursday, one week before publication. Deadline for advertisements is noon Friday, six days prior to publication. The service and quality. Uniter reserves the right to refuse to print submitted material. The Uniter will not print submissions that are homophobic, In the community surrounding the Uni- misogynistic, racist, or libellous. We also reserve the right to edit for length and/or style. versity of Winnipeg, one will not find very many large retailers. CONTACT US » “We don’t have the large tracts of land,” General Inquiries: 204.786.9790 Advertising: 204.786.9790 Editors: 204.786.9497 Fax: 204.783.7080 Email: [email protected] Web: www.uniter.ca LOCATION » Room ORM14 University of Winnipeg 515 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 MOUSELAND PRESS BOARD OF DIRECTORS: David EisBrenner (chair), Mary Agnes Welch, Rob Nay, Nick Tanchuk, Dean Dias, Brian Gagnon, Devin King, Meg McGimpsey, Ben Zorn, Scott Nasaty (UWSA) For inquiries email: [email protected] COVER IMAGE Photography by Colin Vandenberg: see more on April 18th at 62 Albert, 3rd floor, $5, 7:00 p.m. contact: [email protected] The Uniter April 3, 2008 NEWS 03 C O Thinking inside the box VANDENBERG LIN THE SECOND LIFE OF SHIPPING CONTAINERS ing project in Steinbach using up to four steel JO SNYDER containers to design a house. STAFF Projects around the world using refurbished shipping containers are gaining notoriety for their innovation and creativity. Container City hipping containers are the standard in London, England, created a village near the method of moving goods around the harbour for apartments, artist lofts and office world. Now, some architectects are find- spaces. Most notably, a Dutch company called Sing they also make pretty good homes. Tempohousing has taken the business of renovat- The international shipping industry is re- ing steel containers to a factory level. sponsible for 90 per cent of world trade, accord- In the Netherlands, Tempohousing uses ing to the International Chamber of shipping, so standardized steel ISO containers and makes it should come as no surprise that there are an Old rail cars like these can be made into anything from artist studios, to emergency medical them ready to be shipped any- estimated 17 million containers in circulation units, to homes, to portable saunas. where with everything built in, around the world. Some 700,000 of these are including wiring, heating, bath- lying around, unused, in ports across the United room, and windows. In Am- States. sterdam, 1,000 units created an In Winnipeg, a short drive up McGil- entire container village used for vray west of Route 90 reveals our own stash of student housing. Stacked on top containers. of each other with balconies on Looking at any rail yard or shipping port, one side and a staircase on the one might notice these steel shipping containers other, students can live com- and see only one use for them. But architects all fortably and affordably in their over the world are beginning to see a new prom- container homes during their ise for the sturdy structures. studies. The village also includes “The potential for them is pretty amazing,” a cafe, a laundry facility, and a said Lancelot Coar, who teaches in the architec- small store. ture department at the University of Manitoba. This idea is perfect for uni- “Part of the stagnation in the vision of what versities lacking adequate and people see is possible is that there are so many aesthetic student housing. unknowns.” But containers can be more Coar is referring to the hurdle of rethinking than homes. our spaces, how we live in them and what they Castor is a design company D could look like, as well as rethinking our stan- ARREL in Toronto that makes anything dard building practices. from antler headphones to hand RO “We have to question what we do from the NALD carved limestone credenzas. aesthetic all the way down to the materials,” he They also make portable saunas said. In recent years, these shipping containers have been gaining a new life through being trans- formed into cabins, portable power generators, cafes, saunas, artists’ studios, and homes. The containers’ sizes are standardized glob- ally, measuring on average 40 ft. long, 9.5 ft. high, and eight ft. wide, making them easy to transport using common means. Instead of wood framing, these steel containers require almost no additional strengthening. This has high potential for emergency housing and more. In Winnipeg, the idea is just starting to catch on. Ron Blatz at the Discovery Children’s Centre in St. James bought one as a quick solu- tion for a garden shed. “It was an instant fix,” said Blatz.