Guy Quenneville

Mickey MacDonald, the local businessman who sold Downeast Communications last year and is currently opening a kids’ boxing gym on Gottingen, has acquired two local businesses. MacDonald’s company, Micco Companies, has recently bought out Nova Scotia mainstays The Chickenburger, at 1531 Bedford Highway, and Mills Brothers women’s clothing store, at 5486 Spring Garden. While the […]

Linda Goyetche has been dreaming of running her own cafe for her entire life. Now, with the help of her sister, Marina, she’ll finally get the chance when Solara Cafe opens at 73 Tacoma Drive in Dartmouth. The sisters say they finally decided to go ahead with the venture during a drive back from Toronto […]

Trident Booksellers and Cafe, located at 1256 Hollis, is celebrating 15 years of service this week. The husband-and-wife team who operate the cafe, Hudson and Janet Shotwell, are staying true to their mission to remain as ecologically-friendly as possible by donating 10 percent of the sales of their books to the Ecology Action Centre, whose […]

When Sam the Record Man on Barrington closed two weeks ago, downtown Halifax music collectors had reason to be dismayed. Good news comes from Taz Record Store: the store, which moved to Gottingen Street two and a half years ago, will be moving back downtown, with an expected opening date of April 1. The new […]

Sam the Record Man, the hallowed music store at 1656 Barrington, shined a spotlight on many a local artist for more than 20 years. That was until last week—Sam’s closed its doors on Tuesday with little warning, to the surprise of many. The owner, Bobby Sniderman, says he and his brother (and co-owner) Jason are […]

Haligonians looking to try some authentic Jamaican cuisine can now check out Sweet Spice, which opened on February 1 at 2725 Agricola. The restaurant’s co-owner and main chef Lajuane Bruce hails from Jamaica, where he learned to cook from his mother and grandmother. After working a string of odd jobs since 1992, Bruce met Dean […]

Lovers of 24-hour restaurant service will be united in their grief as the closing of The Apple Barrel at 1726 Grafton finally sinks in. The long-standing downtown staple closed its doors last Monday and no one was more disappointed than the restaurant’s owner of 10 years, Bryan Bridgemohan. “The drop in our sales last year […]

Kinh-Do Vietnamese Restaurant, which served the public for 10 years at 1284 Barrington, has shut its doors and a new restaurant has surfaced in its place. Gingergrass (425-8555) is a Thai restaurant, but owner Nira Mugroho is keeping many Vietnamese dishes on the menu (while also introducing many popular Thai dishes). Mugroho, who often ate […]

La Dolce Vita, which opened last month, is a new spa at 182 Bedford Highway. The business is owned and run by the husband-and- wife team of Danny and Liza Innocente from Halifax. As the name (it is Italian for “the good life”) suggests, the spa is meant to be a haven for people who […]

A long-running, family-owned pizza joint that closed shop five years ago is proving that blood is thicker than pizza sauce. Dimitri’s Pizza, at 6469 Chebucto (453-5333), will return for business at the end of January in its same location, but in a new building (the old one was demolished). The original Dimitri’s Pizza, which originally […]