Over 100 people showed up at the Sharbot Lake Pharmasave last Friday (June 10) to feast on Roast Beef sandwiches from Cota's Mobile Catering and celebrate with Nick and Jocelyn Whalen as they marked 25 years since they opened a pharmacy in Sharbot Lake. From the start, the Whalens have operated the pharmacy as a community service, helping out countless people with attentive service, attention to detail, and a kind word when it was needed.
They have also been generous contributors to any and every community cause that has been brought to them. The 25th anniversary was no exception, as they marked the occasion by donating $2,500 to the Central
Frontenac Railway Museum. Mayor Frances Smith brought appreciative greetings from the township, as those of us who remember when they opened the pharmacy wondered where the time has gone.

After the closing of the Tiffany gift store last year, Shelly Lacelle of Wilton Creek Fabrics, which is located just across the road from the former Tiffany store, on the west side of Road 38 at Colebrooke Road, decided to turn the upper floor of her heritage building into a new store.

She calls it the Upstairs Tea and Gift Shop.

At the store opening last Saturday, May 28, Shelley was happy to show off some of the product lines she will be carrying. One of the centrepieces of the store is the product line from Tea Forte, a premium tea company whose pyramid-shaped tea infusers and unique tea blends have been a major force in bringing back the elegance and ceremony of a fine cup of tea.

The Upstairs Tea and Gift Shop is also carrying a full line of teacups and other accessories.

Since the shop is located above Wilton Creek Fabrics, which is celebrating its 14th anniversary on June 4, Shelly is able to offer quilts for sale for the first time.

“I have been selling fabric and providing workshops and advice to quilters from across the region for 14 years, and with the store I am now able to sell the work of some of the best quilters I know,” she said.

“These are not mass-produced quilts you can find at a box store. Each quilt is one-of-a-kind, made from the finest quality designer fabrics; true works of art.”

The store also has Canadian-made stoneware by Maxwell Pottery of Mattawa. Signature pieces such as their Canoe on a Lake dip sets; pendants by Dotti Pots; and the toys and cottage decorations that fill the carefully designed display area should be popular with the local population as well as with cottagers. There is also fine cabinetry by Rabbet Wood and Glass Design of Sydenham.

“I really have no idea how this is going to go,” said Shelly, “but it is something I have wanted to do for a while now, to offer something new in Harrowsmith and turn more of my building to retail.”

There is also a potential opportunity for an entrepreneur who is interested in serving tea at the store. There is a kitchen and a small dining room space that could be turned into a tea room if someone was interested.

“It is not something that I have time to do, with the fabric store and the gift store now taking up all my time, but I would be happy to welcome someone to do it,” she said.

The Upstairs Tea and Gift Shop is located at 4909 Road 38 in Harrowsmith. It is open Tuesdays to Thursdays, and Saturdays, from 10 am to 4 pm; Fridays from 10 am to 7 pm. Call 613-372-1972 for more information.  

When Fernleigh Lodge first opened 95 years ago on Kashwakamak Lake, in what was then known as Clarendon and Miller Township, the region was just being opened up for tourists and cottagers.

The lodge was located on a one-lane road. It had no electricity and no indoor plumbing. All the logs for its heritage buildings had been floated down the lake and then hewn by hand. In the early years Fernleigh Lodge was supported by fishermen, and that was men only until the 1940s, mostly from the United States.

John Ahr, the original owner, saw the potential of float planes and built the lodge as one of the early fly-in resorts, to save visitors the long and difficult drive from New York State, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.

The lodge had one of the first gas-powered boat motors, a 2hp motor. Since there was only one motor, they would tie the boats together, use the motor to pull the boats down the lake and then they would drift back.

The lodge today is far removed from those early days, but at its core is Kashwakamak Lake, a prime fishing destination, and one of the most beautiful lakes along the upper Mississippi watershed.

Along with the newly constructed premium suites at the lodge are a number of original cabins, many of which have recently been fully renovated within the original frame.

The main dining room and kitchen are housed in the original log building. The hand-hewn beams are intact as are the well-preserved walls and floors, although the facilities have been fully redesigned for modern use. Wifi is available on the comfortable covered deck overseeing Kashwakamak Lake. The view is the same; the lake is the same as it was back then; but getting away from it all is different at Fernleigh Lodge today than it was back then.

Kevin Phillips has been coming to Fernleigh Lodge all his life. His family made the trip up to the lodge each summer from their home in Ohio when he was a kid, and his parents became Fernleigh Lodge's owners in 1981. They were dedicated to keeping up the tradition of John Ahr and his nephew John Green, who took over the lodge when Ahr died in 1961.

At one time there were a number of lodges and marinas up and down Kash Lake, as it is known locally, including: Twin Oaks, Evergreen and Aragain. Now, only Fernleigh remains, and in order to continue to thrive, Kevin Phillips, with his wife Melissa, have made major changes to the facilities and programming, adapting the lodge for year-round use.

When Kevin inherited the lodge from his parents, he decided to make the lodge his focus, while still maintaining KP Plumbing, the business he has been running in North Frontenac for many years.

“I love this place; always have,” he said, “and I knew that in order to continue to operate we needed to upgrade, offer more activities, make cabins available year-round for ice fishers, skiers, hikers - everyone who can appreciate how beautiful the four seasons are in this region.”

The premium cabins that have been built were the first step in the transformation of the lodge. They are two-storey, 1100 square foot buildings that sleep seven and include fully equipped kitchens and living rooms, with sun rooms facing the bay.

Renovations to the lodge’s main kitchen and dining room followed, and then full-scale upgrades to a number of the original cabins were made. There are now tennis courts, trails, playgrounds, a beach, and many other features at the lodge for the use of patrons. Packages are available that include meals and motor boats.

“Now that we are open year-round, we are hosting more weddings and conferences or retreats, hunters, and families seeking a getaway from the daily grind. We rent by the week in the summer but the terms are more flexible in the off-season,” said Kevin

The latest venture at the lodge is a sports store, which is opening this week. Fishing rods and reels, tackle, and other equipment, clothing of all kinds, and more is available at the store, which will be open year-round.

“Now that we are the only lodge on the lake, and one of the only places anywhere in North Frontenac offering year-round accommodations, we decided to bring our sporting goods store, which had been located in Brockville, back to North Frontenac,” he said.

North Frontenac residents, cottagers and visitors now have a full service fishing store available all season long.

Fernleigh Lodge can be accessed off Road 506 by taking the South Road at Fernleigh and following the signs. For more information go to Fernleighlodge.com or call toll free 1-866-459-9909.  

Kevin Fenner has a lot of experience in the roofing business. He worked in an industrial setting as the manager of a roofing company during boom years in Alberta, and after moving to Ontario 15 years ago he built a company with 25 employees that did roofing for homeowners and for home construction companies in the Perth and Carleton Place areas. In the last few years, however, he has narrowed his focus to residential roofing jobs, mainly replacement roofs on family homes and cottages in the Lanark County and Land O’Lakes regions.

He prices every job based on a site visit.

“Every house has its own individual character and technical challenges. For example, you might not want to put a metal roof on a older home that is not completely square because it wouldn’t look right, but western red shingles or architectural shingles might be a better option. Materials are only one factor that plays into a price. That’s why I have to physically look at each job.”

One of Fenner’s key concerns is with customer satisfaction, and a major component of his website, Landoflakesroofing.com is a long list of customer comments on the jobs that he has done in the past. A common theme is the professional look of the new roof and the lack of mess around the house once the job is done.

“We are not interested in compromise,” he said of his five-member crew, who work on only one job at a time. “We plan out all of our jobs; we stick with them once we start out, and we won’t tip garbage out into a farmer’s field at the end of the day.”

Roofing installation includes ensuring proper venting, ice and water seal in valleys, attention to skylights and other features, etc.

“One of the unfortunate things about the roofing industry is a lack of regulation,” said Kevin, “anyone can say they are a roofer, but it is a tough trade. It is physically demanding and you have to know what you are doing.”

One of the improvements that Fenner has seen in his long career has been improvements in the technology of materials, which means that new roofs, whether they are steel or shingle roofs, tend to last longer.

“In the past we didn’t have the synthetic underlays that we have now and the quality of other materials has gone up as well.”

Warranties reflect those changes. Architectural shingles, for example, come with a 50 year, transferable warranty. Land of Lakes roofing also provides a standard 5-year warranty on all labour.

“Our goal when we do a job is to foresee everything that needs to be done, use the right materials and do the job right, and then we hope never to hear from the customer again, except to hear they have recommended us to their neighbour,” he said.

Spring and summer are the optimum seasons for new roofs, and Land of Lakes roofing is booking work for the coming season now. They do about 100 roofs a year, with a 4-6 week waiting list for construction.

For a free consultation, contact Kevin at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By Dawn Morden, the Mountain Grove Seed Company

Seeds are alive. As they grow, they are constantly adapting to their surroundings. Seeds were traditionally passed from generation to generation as a means to survival. Each generation would select the healthiest, strongest, most fruitful plants, the ones that survived, and save their seeds.

There is no definitive definition for an heirloom seed. They are old seeds, which were passed down from generation to generation. They are pollinated by insects or the wind.

Heirloom vegetables come in many different shapes, sizes and colours. Round carrots, pink celery, lobed tomatoes or white beets. Most heirlooms are more nutritious than store bought ones, and different colours contain different vitamins. If you grow heirloooms, their seeds can be saved so that you can grow them again.

Garden seeds have evolved from wild plants. They were picked and planted again. The plants with desirable characteristics were used and grown again, slowly changing the way that the plants grew. The wild grain that is wheat had kernels that would ripen a few at a time. As people picked them, they were selecting seed for the timing when it would ripen. Gradually, more kernels on each blade of wheat were ripe for picking, at the same time.

This is how our food has evolved. Heirloom seeds are centuries of work from the past, and are the security of our future. Each seed is a legacy. Some come with stories. Here are a few of these stories.

1500-Year-Old Cave Bean. This bean has a very old story. The original seed was found in a cave, in New Mexico. It was carbon dated to 1500 years old. The Cave Bean is an ancestor of the Anasazi Bean. It is a green pole bean that grows on 10-foot long vines.

Noires des Carmes Melon. This melon has a treasured history. It was grown in sixteenth century France and has been preserved in France by the Carmelite Monks since 1787. The melon is fragrant, juicy and four inches round. Its skin turns near black when ripe, and it has also been called the Black Rock Melon.

Cherokee Trail of Tears Bean. This bean has a story of persecution and sorrow, and is part of our history in North America. It is a bean given to us by the Cherokee people. In the winter of 1838, they were driven from their homeland in Tennessee and forced to relocate in Oklahoma. Over 4000 people died. The path that they walked on, and shed many tears, was later named the Trail of Tears. They carried these bean seeds with them as they walked.

Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn. In this corn lies a story of extreme greed. In 1848 Nathanial Stowell cross pollinated a flour corn with an Iroquois sugar corn, to produce his own variety of corn. He was from Massachusetts. He reluctantly sold his friend two ears for four dollars with a promise that his friend would only grow it for himself to eat. His friend then sold the corn to a seed company for $20,000. It was a popular variety when it was introduced by the seed company in 1856.

Deseronto Bean. This bean has origins close to home, but has lost its story. It is an old bean from the Tyendinaga reserve. It is a delicious fresh green bean, and its dried beans are plump, white and smooth. It is very productive regardless of the weather each season.

Red Fig Tomato. This tomato has a story of sustenance. It originated in Italy during the sixteenth century. It was picked whole and dried the same way that figs are, for eating throughout the year. It is a pear shaped red cherry tomato that also tastes good fresh. They really do dry whole; they do not get mouldy.

Montreal Melon. This melon has a rich history. Brought to Montreal by French settlers, and grown along the St. Lawrence River, it became a famous culinary delicacy. Melons were sold to hotels and restaurants in the US where there was a high demand, as it was resold for up to $1.00 per slice. By 1907 it was so profitable that some Montreal farmers hired armed guards to protect their fields. It was extinct by the 1920s but in 1995, a few seeds were found at the US department of agriculture. A green fleshed cantaloupe with an average weight of 12 lbs.

Jimmy's White Lake Bean. This bean has an intriguing story to tell. It comes from the White Lake area, near Almonte. Some friends moved to White Lake. They bought some green beans at a local farm stand. They asked the farmer where else they could buy those beans. He said you don't buy them, you grow them, and he gave them some seeds. His name was Jimmy.

There are thousands of varieties of heirloom seeds, every vegetable you can think of, some with stories and some have long lost their stories. Many heirlooms have been lost. Varieties that people can remember can't be found anywhere, to grow again. As these varieities become extinct, so does the genetic diversity of our food. In 1981, there were approximately 350 different kinds of garden peas available from seed companies, by 2004, there were only about 200. There were over 130 varieties of celery available in 1981, but only 70 by 2004. Over half of the varieties of vegetables, even today, are grown and sold by only one seed company in North America. This puts them at high risk for becoming extinct. Each gardener should adapt at least one thing that they love, and save the seeds from it, forever. Keep growing it and saving your seeds. Share your seeds with your friends and neighbours. Keep the legacy alive.

The Mountain Grove Seed Company has collected, and is collecting local heirloom seeds, local historic seeds. Our area has many things that were grown by grandparents and other relatives. These are our special heirlooms. So far the collection includes asparagus, chives, dill, sweet william and sweet peas. The bonny best tomato was grown in the Parham area in the early 1900s. Our original seeds were not from the area, but now have been grown here for the past twelve years. If you have any special family heirloom seeds that you would like to be included with our collection of local historic seeds, or any information about what varieties of vegetables that your ancestors grew, let us know. You can contact us on facebook (Mountain Grove Seed Company), or by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you are interested in learning about saving seeds, there will be a seed saving workshop at the Sharbot Lake Farmer's Market on Saturday June 11, 2016.  

The community was taken by surprise when the liquor store in Inverary closed on March 21. The Barr family, who ran the store along with a convenience store, decided to retire.

When Reta Azulay, the owner of Northway Hardware, which is located next door, found out what had happened, she immediately contacted the Barrs and offered to rent the store, because whatever happens, Northway can use the space.

The second thing she did was contact the LCBO to find out about re-opening the liquor store.

“The liquor store is important for Inverary,” she said when interviewed early this week. “We fought to stop a solar farm from coming in, and we were successful. We are trying to build up the community, and there is a lot of development coming this way. The convenience of a liquor store is important to people in the surrounding area.”

The response she received from the LCBO was that they had not renewed the contract with the Barrs because a new corporate store has been opened on Division Street next to the Canadian Tire and No Frills stores and the company needs to do research to determine if a store in Inverary is still necessary.

“We know from running our own business for decades that people do not want to have to drive to Kingston all the time” said Azulay. “If they think north Kingston is going to serve them, they are wrong. The liquor store is definitely needed for Inverary.”

Not only has she contacted the LCBO repeatedly by email and phone, Azulay has also contacted MPP Randy Hillier who expressed his support, and sent an email to the township.

“Ron Vandewal is putting forward a motion of support for this, which I did not expect, and the two councilors for Storrington, Norm Roberts and Ron Sleeth, are also fully in support,” she said.

A petition to bring back the liquor store has been signed by 1000 people in one week.

What Azulay is hoping to hear this week is if the LCBO is going to put out a call for tenders to take over the contract in Inverary. If it does she will submit a bid, hoping to put it back into the same location where it was until just two weeks ago.

All of the shelving has been left in place in the building, and while work has been done to brighten the space up a little, Northway is waiting to see if a liquor store can come back before preparing it for any other use.

“We never planned to go into the liquor store business,” she said, “but we think it is important for Inverary's future that there is a liquor store. A couple of older buildings in the village are being renovated now and we are trying to bring the village back to where it was. Losing the liquor store would move us backwards when we want to move forwards,” she said.

The Sharbot Lake Dental Clinic is the only rural clinic in Frontenac, L&A and western Lanark counties. It was opened many years ago by Dr. Richard Dale, and as he approaches retirement age, Dr. Dale has recently ensured the future of the clinic by selling the business to Dr. Amir Faizi, a dentist based in Kingston who is finishing up his military service later this year.

Dr. Dale will keep working at the clinic for up to two years, but Dr. Faizi has already had an impact on the service. He is now opening the clinic on Fridays and selected Saturdays and has added root canals, perio (gum) surgery and complicated extractions to the clinic's list of services.

Amir Faizi graduated from Dental School at the University of Toronto and signed up with the Canadian military after that, eventually being stationed in Kingston. As he contemplates a future after his military service is complete, Dr. Faizi started looking around for a dental practice.

“I started looking around for a dental practice that would be reasonable, and this seemed like a good practice in a good area, so I gave Dr. Dale a call and he was interested,” he said.

That was in late November, 2015, and within two months the sale was made.

“He said that he had been thinking about selling the practice within the next couple of years, so my timing was good. We met and I found him very trustworthy and straightforward, and the staff are very good and experienced. It was a pleasure dealing with everyone,” he said.

The transition took place on February 2, and while Dr. Dale continues to see patients Mondays to Thursdays, Dr. Faizi has been coming in on Fridays to do the newly added procedures. In order to do the new procedures, new equipment has been purchased, and four or five root canals, for example, have already been done. In the future the clinic will be adding more services, such as IV sedations and implants, once the necessary equipment has been purchased.

“For our patients who don't want to have to go to Kingston or Perth for a range of procedures, we will be offering them,” he said, adding that the fee for service at the Sharbot Lake clinic follows the guidelines suggested by the Ontario Dental Association fee guide, keeping to the lower end of the scale.

Dr. Faizi lives in Kingston with his wife Padina Pezeshki, and their six-month-old daughter, Liah. Padina is a bio-medical engineer who has had success in using radio frequencies in the treatment of cancer. A short description of her work can be found on Youtube – www.youtube.com/watch?v=68rzgFLVcNo.

Anyone who has met Rick Law knows that he is a pretty sociable guy. This is likely what inspired his newly-launched Godfrey Social Club, the coffee shop and gas bar that he owns and operates in Godfrey. The establishment held its official grand opening on March 5 and Law hopes to see it become a popular gathering spot for locals who like to meet and greet and enjoy a beverage.

Law bought the historic building and property in April 2013. He has 35 years under his belt working as an auto-body mechanic, which he continues to do in his present location. His creativity shows in the painting aspect of his work, and he especially enjoys restoring collectible cars.

The retro-inspired coffee shop fronts onto the Westport Road at Road 38. It was unofficially open last summer and in recent months, Law has been working to expand it. The property now has a high-test gas bar (with regular gas coming soon) and inside, there are tables and chairs, comfy couches and loungers where guests can enjoy satellite TV, Wi-Fi internet access, and play vinyl records to boot. There are retro popcorn and candy machines and the space is bright and friendly, made more so by a wide array of 1940s and 50s collectibles that include antique signs, a variety of hanging car/motorcycle parts, and one old chopper in the corner painted with an old A&W sign.

“I want people to come by, fill up with gas and come in, sit down and relax, enjoy a coffee, tea, hot chocolate, pop, or ice cream (in the summer months). If they just want a place to work on their screened devices or to meet up with friends, I want this to be a place that they think of.”

Law is busy most days working in his body shop, so he has enlisted the help of his daughter, Stephanie, who hails from Windsor and who will be working in the coffee shop. Law said that he also hopes to be able to employ a few summer students when the fairer weather arrives and the local traffic picks up.

He admits to having lived a pretty rough life in the past, but said that despite that fact, he has been warmly welcomed into the community. “This community has really accepted me for who I am; I really enjoying being here and I just love this place. Seeing people enjoy the place as much as I do is great and the idea is not so much about making a ton of money - I know that I'm not going to make a million dollars here - but more about making people happy and seeing people get excited by what they see here”.

Another draw to the shop is Law’s gorgeous husky, a dog named Skydancer that he rescued, which he brought out to meet with the guests at the opening. Law has a number of ideas up his sleeve for the future of the shop and hopes to hold movie nights and other special events. “I want people to tell me what they are interested in, and if I can swing it I definitely will try.”

Another project he mentioned is to build a rat rod to have on display for guests. Law said he also hopes to also put in a second sink so that, in the future, he will be able to serve an assortment of snacks as well.

The shop and gas bar will be open from 7am – 7pm and in the summer from 7am - 11pm. The Godfrey Social club is located at 16 Westport Rd.

It's been two months since Brenda Bonner retired after working for eight years as a Nurse Practitioner (NP) at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team.

At 64, she was feeling that it was time to take a step back from full time work in a clinic. She saw patients at the clinic four days a week, often working through lunch and into the early evening, and she did a lot of paperwork at home.

“All in all it was a full time commitment,” she said this week from her home in Perth. Her work as a nurse practitioner, which came after a long career as a registered nurse, was some of the most rewarding in her career, and after taking a step back for a few weeks she has thought about her own future, about the future for nurse practitioners in general, and about their role in a reformed healthcare system in Ontario.

For her own part, Bonner has been considering a number of options.

“I would like to keep working, but with more balance in my life, more time for family,” she said.

She is considering taking on patients for house calls.

“For various reasons, including transportation issues, there are patients who require care in their own homes, so I might do some of that work. It is not covered by OHIP, but some supplemental health insurance policies will cover it,” she said.

She might be doing relief work in a community health centre in the vicinity of her home in Perth, and also some in-service education to health care organisations, to promote and maintain health knowledge and skills.

“I didn't have any of these ideas when I left Sharbot Lake, but over the last couple of months I have been considering how I can continue to work on my own terms by setting these things up. It is different for me since my whole career has basically been as an employee at only two jobs, as an RN in one location for 30 years and as an NP for eight years in Sharbot Lake. It's a change to be setting up a business of my own at this time,” she said.

Bonner has also spent time, before and after she left the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, considering potential changes in the role that nurse practitioners play in the heath care system.

She supports some of the initiatives that are being promoted by the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario (NPAO).

“When the NPAO made submissions to the Ministry of Finance for the upcoming Ontario budget, they highlighted a few items that would make a difference for NPs and save money for the system as well,” she said.

One item that was featured in the submission is to deal with the pay and benefits gap between NPs who work in hospitals and those who work in primary care clinics.

“Salaries have been frozen since 2006 in clinics, which has led to a $30,000 pay gap, plus, NPs who work in hospitals enjoy the pension and benefits plans in the hospitals. This means that when positions in hospitals come open, NPs leave clinics, often rural clinics, for those jobs,” said Bonner.

The NPAO also supports the “right care in the right time in the right place, by the right provider”, an initiative of the ministry that intends to redirect healthcare dollars so they start to follow the patients and not the providers.

Bonner cited a case that illustrates how this is not happening currently. Public health units that were running sexual health clinics led by nurse practitioners have been switching to contracted clinics run by doctors. This has been done for financial reasons. The health units pay the NPs out of their own budgets, whereas the doctors can bill OHIP directly for the service. This is a financial benefit for the cash-strapped health units, but since the doctors’ billings are higher than the cost of clinics led by the nurse practitioners, ultimately there is a greater cost to the healthcare system as a whole and the ratepayers who fund it.

Finally, the NPAO is supportive of an initiative to locate NPs on a full time basis in long-term care facilities.

“Acuity level is increasing in long-term care facilities. Seniors are staying at home longer, and they are older and sicker when they go into long-term care. Nurse Practitioners on staff save doctor visits and visits to emergency units at hospitals,” said Bonner.

by Julie Druker

Chad Newell, the long-time technician at Verona Computers, has recently taken over the reins as the business’s new owner.

The business was opened in 1995 as Verona Computer and Satellite by Tom Revell, who owned and operated it for nearly a decade before selling both the building and the business to Colin Bowe and Don Cox, who ran it as partnership. After some years the partnership dissolved and Bowe became sole owner.

Chad Newell began working at the store in 1998 as a grade 11 co-op student and has been working there ever since. When I interviewed him earlier this week, he joked that he has spent over half of his life working at Verona Computers. He also said that becoming its new owner was something he had been considering for some time.

“Colin, who was always a silent partner in the business, had been wanting to sell it to me for years so this is something that I have been considering for a while.”

Newell's interest in computers began when he was a grade seven student and got his first computer. He said it was gaming that motivated his interest into understanding how they operate. “Gamers are always upgrading their computers in order to play the newest, latest, and greatest games and over the years I spent a lot of time working on my own computers to do just that. So what started off as a hobby has become my passion.”

Newell said he is excited to be Verona Computer’s new owner. “Financially, it will eventually be a bigger pay cheque for me once I get the business paid off, and the fun thing for me will be having control of the business and being able to improve certain aspects of it.”

Streamlining service and service charges and keeping quality and service high going forward is what Newell is aiming for. “Our strength has always been our service and it is usually faster and better then most big box stores. Our turn around on service calls is usually in the range of a day or two, where at other larger stores it can take one of two weeks.”

Not everyone is aware that Newell custom builds new computers, which he says cost a little bit more than most brand names due to using higher quality parts. However, this results in computers that last a lot longer than most name brand computers.

He sells both new and used desk top and lap top computers and his custom tailored desk tops are a big draw for customers. “Our new computers are built to spec to what people need, and not more. If what you need is a basic computer to get on the computer and do email, you really do not need all of the things that just look good on paper. With that in mind, we don't try to up sell to our customers; instead we aim to target people’s specific needs.” The business also sells a wide range of peripheral and add on components like printers, routers, networking tools as well as battery back ups, speakers, keyboards, mice, flash drives, video cards and more. The main focus, though, is on service and clean ups, upgrades and repairs, which are a big part of the service aspect of the business.

Verona Computers offers on site service visits at home and at businesses, and pick up and delivery is also available. Newell has won over a number of loyal customers over the years and he said that “good word of mouth” is how he keeps customers coming back and also how he attracts new customers. “I really appreciate our loyal customers; without them there would be no Verona Computers. My belief is that when one customer is convinced of what our service is worth, they will spread the word and that means a lot more to me than anything else.”

Finding a good and trustworthy computer technician is comparable to finding a good and trustworthy mechanic, especially when owners are ignorant of the inner workings of their machines - and especially these days when people are relying on their computers not only for their everyday work but for their everyday communications. “Anything that is sufficiently complicated is kind of like magic to someone who doesn't know anything about it and that is where people can be taken advantage of. I am not that kind of person and people know that and that is why they keep coming back.”

Verona Computers is located at 6772 Hwy 38 in Verona. Business hours are Monday through Friday from 10am-6pm. For more information call 613-374-3253 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.