Hard to find movies now found in a flash!

That's the promise of Little Shop of Movies in Niagara Falls. They sell hard-to-find movies like British comedies, Japanese anime and more, as well as thousands of North American movies.

Check them out!

The Niagara Guide is happy to welcome Little Shop of Movies to The Niagara Shopping Guide!

Vintner's Cellar Wines of Distinction Joins!

If you're looking for a DIY wine making service, look no further than Vintner's Cellar Wines of Distinction in Niagara Falls.

It's amazing how much you can save when you make 30 bottles of your own great-tasting wine compared to buying it in the stores. Great for parties, weddings etc.

The Niagara Guide is happy to welcome Vintner's Cellar Wines of Distinction!

The Amazing Expiring Money

One of the big shopping trends this past Christmas season was the gift card. It's really a gift certificate but looks like a credit card.

The mysterious thing about gift cards (and some gift certificates too) is they expire.

Let me see if I understand how this works.

I want to buy someone a gift, but don't know what they want. So I buy a gift card for them - say from Canadian Tire. I spend $50 for the gift card and my friend gets it on their birthday.

If I gave my friend $50 in cash, they would be able to spend that money today, tomorrow or a decade from now. Money's money.

If I gave my friend $50 in Canadian Tire Money, the same would pretty much apply.

However, if I give them a $50 gift card, they have to spend it within 2 years from the date I purchased the card or else it expires.

How can that be? How can money expire?

I'm not sure what the rationale is for companies to make their gift cards expire. Sure, most people will spend their $50 within two years, but some won't. Some will forget about the card altogether until they find it buried in their couch. They'll remember the birthday present and then go shopping at a Canadian Tire store sometime in the next couple of months - at which time they'll find the card has expired.

Of course, Canadian Tire still gets to keep the $50 if someone doesn't use the card before its expiry date. How convenient - for Canadian Tire, that is.

Home Depot also has gift cards, but theirs have no expiry dates on them.

The gift card represents another dimension of "the cashless society". The cash you spend today may disappear into the pockets of some corporation in a couple of years.

Think about that the next time you're thinking of a present for someone.

Hayakawa Kendo Club Joins KNOW it ALL Niagara

Looking for ways to let more people know about the Japanese art of Swordsmanship, the Hayakawa Kendo Club has joined KNOW it ALL Niagara.

Kendo is the art of Japanese Swordsmanship. "Ken" is Sword, "do" is Way. Kendo is practiced by millions of people around the world who value it as a workout for the body and the mind.

For more information, visit the Hayakawa Kendo Club's free listing - all non-profit organizations in Niagara can have one - and learn more about this demanding but rewarding martial art.

There's never been a better time to visit Port Dalhousie

What do most people think about Port Dalhousie in the winter?

Absolutely nothing.

It's a shame. While the cold Lake Ontario wind blows, there's some hot cooking going on at The Spice of Life Restaurant where proprietor Sue Chury is always watching over some great food.

While they've scaled back their hours to reflect the season (Thursday through Sunday for Lunch & Dinner), The Spice of Life is offering two different 50% off coupons for visitors.

The first is 50% off any Lunch or Dinner entree. The second is for those who want to take a friend out for a special lunch or dinner - again, a free entree for your friend.

Check out The Spice of Life restaurant in The Niagara Restaurant Guide.

"They serve FLAVOUR, not fire"

Sweet Rage Adds Wedding Cakes!

Well, what would you expect from the folks at Sweet Rage?

They already offer wedding favours, so wedding cakes weren't too far behind.

Lara at Sweet Rage let me know that they've teamed up with a wedding cake designer to offer discerning couples what are likely to be some of the yummiest wedding cakes available in Niagara.

Check them out, if you haven't already.

Sweet Rage - Come Getcha' Some Sugar!

It's 2006! So, what's new with you?

Welcome to 2006!

Of all the things we do, the celebration of the end of one year and the beginning of the next is pretty interesting, because it leads to the question "So, what are you going to do this year?"

Resolving to do something in the new year is something many of us do, but how many of us really follow through? Most people, when given the choice to do something different, do nothing.

I read in Seth Godin's blog that a survey 3 years ago revealed 1/3 of Americans have never tasted a bagel. Not even a bad facsimile of a bagel that we find in supermarkets.

That's pretty amazing to me. You can get a bagel at every Tim Hortons in the country, and at every Dunkin' Donuts franchise in the U.S. Yet a whole lot of people have NEVER tasted a bagel.

Why?

Because they've never chosen to. Gotta love intertia.

Isn't that really the honest truth about most things? There are so many things to choose from that faced with the options, most people stick with what they know.

Last year, The Niagara Guide switched gears and gave people new advertising options. Lots of people contacted us to get signed up. The majority didn't make it past the next step. Why? I'm not sure.

So, my resolution this year is to get people past that next step or find out why they chose not to.

What's new with you? This year, my resolution is to make The Niagara Guide an even better option for you to promote your business. Take the next step with us. It's free and won't hurt a bit.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2006!