The Hole’s Enjoy Centre is still a work in progress but family spokesperson Jim Hole is optimistic all the businesses will be open and running within the month and landscaping on the building will be finished by summer’s end.
“I tell people it’s like a home renovation times a thousand,” said Jim Hole, who listed weather complications and contracting problems as reasons for delays in completion of the 242,000-sq.-ft. centre.
“We had hoped to be open all at once but now it’s been a staged opening,” he said.
Mei-chi Chan, who is a partner in the Health Hub, which owns Prairie Bistro, the Prairie Bakery and the Water Garden Health Centre, appeared unconcerned about delays even though her studios are still being partially finished.
“Opening first was the bistros and that was trial by fire. It’s not been bad because people are coming in and looking and they are curious about each new stage,” she said.
The Bistro opened in the spring along with the greenhouses, but the bakery and spa facilities are opening in the next two weeks, as will Amaranch Health Foods, Sandy View Farms Deli and Liquid Harvest, which specializes in fancy wines.
New this week are the Beautiful Home and Gift, owned by Jill and Judy Barrigan and Hillaby’s Tools for Cooks, owned by Lynn Hillaby. Both of these businesses cater to the interior home dĂ©cor market.
“We were looking for a location for some time but we like this concept because it’s a place to come and enjoy the sunshine and the space. It’s kind of a mall yet we are all independent,” said Judy Barrigan, who said several people had already stopped by her store this week.
“Of course people are here for plants now and then they look to see what’s in the Enjoy Centre. But in winter they will still come because there is so much sunshine here. They’ll come to get the sun,” she said.
Daylight seemed present even on gloomy wet days this past week. In the Water Garden spa area, the light is fascinating.
Round skylights tunnel light down almost like spotlights and provide unusual energy in the training and yoga rooms. The corridor between treatment rooms overlooks Big Lake, allowing even more muted sunshine to light the area.
Hole acknowledged that a lot of work remains to be done in landscaping the building and he almost coughed with laughter when he looked out at a sea of mud and was asked to speculate when it would be finished.
“The landscaping will be more late summer,” he said, adding big landscaping plants would have to come from tree farms.
“We need big trees and those will have to come from tree farms, but overall traffic counts are good here. People are coming and they are interested. It’s pouring outside today and there are more people here than we would have had on a day like this in the old site,” he said Friday.
