Before heading out for the spring or fall salmon runs in Haines,
Alaska, or to hook that monster trout in Atlin Lake, fishing fanatics can be found perusing the colourful lure displays
at Sports North on Baxter Street. Glenn Babala, owner and operator of the fishing and hockey store, started working
in the outdoor retail industry in November 1972 as a 15-year-old stocking the shelves of the Whitehorse Woolworth’s. “Two days
later they promoted me to sporting-goods manager, so I guess they didn’t have anybody else.”
Babala opened Sports North in 1980, in a 132-square-foot Quonset hut that had “one light bulb”, he says. Few people will argue with the fact that Babala knows fishing, but he also seems to know how to grow a store. The transition from a small one-light-bulb operation to the current location has taken 29 years, and during that time the store floor space has slowly expanded. “In 2007 we actually bought the building and the
property next door,” says Babala.
Specializing in selling equipment for two Yukon passions—hockey and fishing—has allowed Sports North to fill a void in the marketplace, as for many years Canadian
Tire was the one-stop shop for both sports. Babala stocks his shelves with medium- to high-end products, and his reputation as a good salesperson precedes him. “We try to be honest with people,” says Babala. “It’s not in my best interest to lie to them.…
You have to have fair prices for the customer; plus, you have to have fair prices for yourself.” Switching from the hockey to the fishing display in April takes the sporting-goods entrepeneur and his wife, Laurie, about six weeks. “It’s painstaking hours and hours of work.” Laurie started working in the store with her husband in 1998. Since 2004, the couple has been able to close the store a few times during the year and go on holiday.
And as an avid fisher, Babala still makes time for his passion. “I love that fall coho salmon fishery in Haines,” he says. “Halibut
is exciting, too. You don’t know if it’s 10 pounds or 200 pounds.”
Though retirement is on his mind, it will happen “one of these days”. Until then, fishersand hockey players will find the gear and advice they need at the store on Baxter.
“Some days I love it, and other days it becomes overwhelming,” says Babala. “But I’ve been here all this time, so I guess I did
something right.” For more information, call (867) 667-7492.
Many Yukoners will remember the gloriously decadent Hawkins
Street B & B, with its high ceilings, hardwood floors, large windows, balconies, antique furnishings, and ensuite bathrooms with clawfoot bathtubs. Now, instead of catering to the needs of tourists, the former B & B serves as a location where Yukoners can experience alternative healing in a supportive and luxurious atmosphere.
In June 2008, seven holistic-health practitioners moved their practices into the building at 303 Hawkins Street, and Yukoners have been benefitting from the convenience of a one-stop holistic health shop ever since. Anni Elliston, who practices traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and Joanne Baines, an osteopath and physiotherapist, are the two women who initiated the healing centre.
Each practitioner maintains a separate practice, but Elliston says she and Baines considered giving the centre one inclusive
name. “Then we realized that we’re all pretty established with our own businesses,” says Elliston, “and we’re not interested in managing everybody else’s businesses as practitioners.”
Part of the appeal of the health centre is that along with the cooperative aspect, “everybody has their own identities
within the space”, Elliston adds. The idea for a holistic health centre has been brewing for quite some time. “I’ve been trying to set one up for about five years,” says Baines. “You’d get a group of people together, but you wouldn’t find the right space or things never quite worked out.”
But then Baines and Elliston started talking about the project and working out the logistics in the spring of 2007. “I think we
both [thought] … it would be a nice idea to be in a team of practitioners, but all working alongside one another,” says Elliston. “I was talking with Anni and she found this space,” adds Baines. “We thought, get the space first and then the people.”
The Hawkins Street location was the first space Baines and Elliston looked at together. “Our first impressions were, like,
‘Wow, this is so beautiful, but it’s too much. We don’t need hardwood floors, balconies, and individual bathrooms and all of these things’,” says Elliston. But as they continued to look at potential office spaces, they reconsidered the former B & B.
“(A) there wasn’t anything that was appropriate out there. And (B) we do deserve this,” says Elliston. Not only are the practitioners appreciating the location, but clients are also responsive to the atmosphere of the centre. “They love it,” says Baines. “People love the fact that I can communicate with another practitioner they are seeing. They really like that
team approach. Also, they don’t have to go to a new place.”
To maintain the cooperative and supportive atmosphere, the practitioners attend a bimonthly meeting that incorporates an
educational component and general housekeeping. As well, each practitioner takes a turn at cleaning the common space and snow shovelling.
“We created a business concept centred on support,” says Elliston. “The people that we’re surrounding ourselves [with] are the profit—the harmony, the balance, the support that we and our patients get from us working around each other is of most value to us.”
“It’s not a financial profit,” echoes Baines. “It’s a feel-good profit. We all love it. Everyday I come in and I’m grateful for
the space.”
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In the North, May 1 is the official start date of the tourist season, and there is no mistaking the signs of it in the
Yukon. RV caravans start to crawl along the Alaska Highway, and the wide sidewalks on Main Street in Whitehorse suddenly overflow with pedestrians.
Another sure sign is the lineup that snakes out the door of the Klondike Rib & Salmon BBQ restaurant—on the corner of Second Avenue and Steele Street in Whitehorse—and onto the sidewalk. Ribs and salmon may be the sell line for the eatery, but apparently the halibut-and-chips meal is the big draw.
“From what we hear, the halibut and chips are ‘world famous’,” says Dona Novecosky-Amiot, who co-owns the restaurant with
her husband, Trevor Amiot. “That’s what our guests tell us—from all over the globe,” says Dona. “When a lady from England in her youthful eighties tells you they are the best fish and chips she has ever had, that says a lot.”
The restaurant is renowned for its salmon dishes and mouth-watering ribs. “[The rib recipe] started in Trevor’s family, but he has certainly added his own flair to it over the years,” says Dona. Dona and Trevor took over the restaurant in the spring of 2002. Though they both had worked in the service industry and Trevor had experience in adventure tourism, they hadn’t operated their own restaurant before, but felt they could build on the success of the previous owners.
“We have both worked very hard for other people,” she says, “and we knew that together we could make amazing things
happen—and we did.”
Because the restaurant is a wall tent and doesn’t have any heat, it’s only open during the warmer months, but a staff of 15 fulltime and 10 part-time workers is still needed to keep up with the demand. (The restaurant serves approximately 40,000 customers a season.) “We open each year on Mother’s Day and close between the second and third week in September, when Trevor hears the moose calling his name.”
Yukoners may have noticed that the restaurant went up for sale last year. “When you are doing well, sell,” says Dona. “We want someone else to have this amazing experience, too. It really is quite a remarkable little spot.” And you can be certain the
two restaurateurs, who also own the Beez Kneez Bakpakers Hostel and the Mountain Ridge Motel and RV Park, have a plan for the future. “Nothing solid yet,” says Dona, “but when we know, you will know.” After the last dinner is served in September, the couple close up the restaurant and head out on a fall moose hunt. During the winter, Trevor takes care of his trapline, and last year Dona joined the Canadian Rangers.
“A lot of our time is spent outdoors. Never a dull moment.”
For more information, call (867) 667-7554.
Ribs or Salmon?
Both Trevor and Dona prefer ribs. “Maybe because we are
both farmers,” says Dona.
Dona’s favourite item on the KRS menu? Sourdough bread pudding, she says. “Appropriate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, topped with Yukon Jack caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. All the food groups there.” As for Trevor, “No doubt about it: the ribs.”
Go to www.chocolateclaim.com to find out more.