Tag Archives: Salt Spring Island Real Estate

Saltspring Soapworks

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Salt Spring Island-Style entrepreneurship

This is a very appealing “Island story” of Island-style entrepreneurship! Linda Quiring & Bill Goddu, of the Saltspring Soapworks, came to the Islands in the 1970s.

salt spring soapworks

salt spring soapworks

Linda Quiring Bill Goddu Linda, always interested in gardening and herbs, began by creating her personal lotions, salves, & ointments — an interest in the healing arts/herbology was the basis for this “home occupation”. Then, in the late ’70s, Linda began to investigate the growing Craft Fair market, and began to sell her line of herb preparations.

En route to creating a shampoo, however, Linda came across a soap recipe, and tried it. That first recipe ended up with 50 bars of soap! Linda added the soap to her herbal line at a craft fair, and it was the soap that sold out completely! Several experiments later, and an innovative packaging concept, & the Saltspring Soapworks was fully fledged. Creating their product in their home, then moving the “factory” to a barn on their property, & then to an industrial building — all locations on Salt Spring! — charts the growth of this very interesting and profitable business enterprise.

Soapworks Store

Soapworks Store The product line can be purchased at the Saturday Morning Market in Ganges Village, and also at the company’s own retail outlet in Ganges. This product line is also available in better gift stores throughout North America, and is also marketed in Japan.

soapmakers guild

soapmakers guild

Linda is drawn to the concept of a viable business, that can be a meaningful part of one’s life, and still allow one to enjoy the gardening, cooking, hiking pursuits that are also a part of Linda & Bill’s lifestyle. This is a “small is beautiful” concept!

Be sure to visit Bill on Saturdays at the Market! Don’t leave Salt Spring without one of the lovely soaps, shampoos, essential oils, etc., available from the very pretty retail outlet on the “main street” of “downtown Ganges”!

My Real Estate Office in Salt Spring

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My office is in a 1912 restored character building, at the corner of Lower Ganges and Rainbow Roads, in the heart of the seaside Village of Ganges, on Salt Spring Island.

Right across from the Ganges Marina, the Boardwalk, and the marine park area, I get a great Harbour view, and can watch all the boats coming and going to the two Harbour marinas. Some incredible yachts tie up, here!

salt spring island real estate

salt spring island real estate

I have parking behind, off Rainbow Road, with shade trees in case your dog is along, and you’re leaving your pet in your car.

The entrance to my office is on the side of the building, off a spacious deck, and there’s a lovely lawn area there, too…sometimes, my office moves out to the picnic table in the middle of the lawn, especially in the high summer season…so nice!

It’s a relaxed ambiance, with a definite seaside flair, and easy access off the main road…walk ins are welcome!

This is a branch office of the main Whistler based company, and is definitely a Salt Spring Island / Southern Gulf Islands office.

If you find yourself on Salt Spring, please drop in and say hello. Free maps, real estate information, tips on places to go & to enjoy, while you’re on Island…look forward to meeting you!

Beauty and Manor down by the Seashore on Salt Spring Island

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Salt Spring Island Real Estate’s finest Seashore properties

Seashore Beauty

Spectacular masterpiece property in two titles! Totally irreplaceable, and located at Salt Spring Island’s special “south end”.

Beautiful West Coast Contemporary jewel, lovingly created by the artist owner (Canada’s renowned wildlife painter, Robert Bateman).

Manor by the Seashore

Manor by the Seashore

The home (designed by H. Schubart, who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright) offers oceanside living & dining, a country kitchen, guest wing, a lovely master/ensuite with superb views, and an incredibly appealing studio/office “wing”. Storage areas, den alcoves (read or ponder life from these “withdrawing spaces“), windows on “coastal forest” scenes or on ocean vistas, plus a separate studio/suite (guest? nanny?)…it allows one to actively pursue both a family life, an entertaining focus, and an artistic enterprise.

Wood floors, expansive windows, skylights…easy access to the crushed shell cove and to the kayak/canoe “boathouse” (a driftwood gem) — many unique aspects, here, that you will enjoy.

Manor by the Seashore

A beautiful oceanfront acreage (4+ acres), offering spectacular ocean / islands / mountain viewscapes! Coastal forest with meadow areas, & a pleasing driveway that meanders through the forest charm, to arrive at the “west coast contemporary” home. Enjoy a lovely walk on beach with warm ocean swimming (sunsets forever!). There is a terrific studio space (artist? home occupation?), with adjacent guest “suite”. The plus? A double garage, at house level, and a separate oversize garage & workshop, positioned along the entrance driveway (perfect for boat storage or for those classic cars!).

Real Estate | The market today…

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At a recent international real estate conference that I attended, realtors from other secondary home/discretionary areas, including hard hit Spain, were noting that tiny baby steps of uptick in sales volume were being detected…just since end of August, so it’s very recent, indeed.

Some saavy and major developers, in Canadian cities, are also newly targeting early Spring as going to be very different, on an upward momentum, for sales volume if not prices, in spite of continuing media reports of impending double dip concerns for the U.S. economy, over supply of inventory in many sunbelt states, and jobless numbers increasing.

It’s almost a given that what used to work won’t anymore, and what is emerging as the new paradigm will work. This is true of the real estate industry, too. Franchise models are in disarray, the entire mls system in Canada is dramatically changing, for the benefit of consumers, (a.k.a., the “enduser“) and the sacrosanct referral system of old is vanishing as a key element in a real estate agent’s business model

A recent Time Magazine (U.S. Edition) article drew attention to parallel universes in economic conditions: digital worlds (iphone 4, ipad, etc) being one kind of Jobs report, and manufacturing aspects being an opposite jobs report. One more example of the schism between the known of the 20th and the unknown of the 21st centuries.

It’s almost a given that what used to work won’t anymore, and what is emerging as the new paradigm will work.

Click here to read and download the entire October 2010 market report.