Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 19, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba B5 WEDNESDAY JUNE 19, 2024 ● BUSINESS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BUSINESS Krispy Kreme does brisk business on opening day WITHIN two hours of opening, Krispy Kreme had seen hundreds of customers. Motorists lined up past the southwest Winnipeg parking lot and beyond a four- way intersection in hopes of entering the drive-thru. Patrons began standing outside the doughnut shop’s doors at 11 a.m. Monday for the 7 a.m. Tuesday opening, the general manager said. “It’s been extremely busy, but it’s go- ing really, really well,” Larry Geraghty said as customers slowly shuffled by. He had 35 staff members working; the doughnut line began pumping out pastries at 9 a.m. Monday. Abbas Afridi left the shop, near the Seasons outlet mall, with a paper bag full of dessert in one hand and an iced coffee in the other. He’d secured 24 doughnuts after waiting for two hours. “I thought I’d come now,” he said with a shrug. “It’s Krispy Kreme. Why not?” Afridi arrived mere minutes before the countdown to the chain’s grand opening in Winnipeg. The company, started in North Carolina, has opened more than 700 stores; Afridi hadn’t been to any until Tuesday. He spent a long time observing the doughnut production line, where fried dough passes through a waterfall of glaze. Waiting customers can view the production process. Susan Morrice and her husband, Kevin Morton, hungrily waited for their turn at the till. “We miss Krispy Kreme,” said Morrice. She’s bought glazed lemon-filled doughnuts in Indiana, Florida and North Dakota. Krispy Kreme is her fa- vourite doughnut chain. The retired couple arrived at 465 Sterling Lyon Pkwy. at 7:30 a.m. Mor- rice, too, planned to buy 24 doughnuts. Geraghty was unsure how many doughnuts Krispy Kreme had sold within its first two hours. He didn’t ex- pect the line to waver anytime soon. He’s worked at Krispy Kreme loca- tions in Ontario. “This is not uncommon to happen a couple times a week.” The chain hired workers to direct drive-thru traffic in anticipation of opening day lineups. Those who stood and waited received paper Krispy Kreme hats. The 4,600-sq.-ft. site can churn out 50,000 doughnuts daily, Geraghty said. Krispy Kreme opened its first Can- adian store in Mississauga, Ont., in 2001. It has unveiled 15 franchise shops across the country since then. Krispy Kreme confirmed in January 2023 it would open a Winnipeg store. gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com GABRIELLE PICHE MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Doughnut fans endured long lines and rainy conditions Tuesday morning to be some of the first to purchase Krispy Kreme products during its grand opening in southwest Winnipeg. ‘Come and listen’: family-run Altitudo Audio seeks to put customers on centre stage SOUNDS OF SERVICE W HAT started as a hobby has turned into a full-time en- deavour for the owners of a high-end audio equipment dealer in the Wolseley neighbourhood of Winnipeg. After years of setting up stereo sys- tems for their friends, brothers Leonid and Viktor Yamborko started Altitudo Audio in 2019. The brothers sell a variety of media players, amplifiers, speakers and ac- cessories. They also build stereo and home theatre systems to meet an indi- vidual customer’s specifications. “We’re like audio doctors,” said Leo- nid. If that’s the case, the Yamborkos have been practising medicine since they were teenagers. Born and raised in Shyrokolanivka, a village in southern Ukraine, the broth- ers were enamoured with their father’s stereo. They set it up for optimal sound while listening to music with friends. The brothers immigrated to Winni- peg with their family in 2001. Leonid had earned a law degree in Ukraine and Viktor was studying agriculture, but in Manitoba they found work in con- struction to support themselves. In 2008, they started a spray foam and polyurea coating business. It was successful for more than a decade, but work started to dwindle when the COVID-19 pandemic started. The brothers shifted their focus to Altitudo Audio, which they had started earlier on the side. They set up two listening rooms in a North End warehouse to display their wares. When a storefront became avail- able at 545 Telfer St. S., Altitudo moved there in early 2023. (A third Yamborko brother, Sergiy, also works at the store.) The location is advantageous because it’s a few steps from Portage Avenue and because it can potentially catch the eye of people visiting Advance Electronics, which is less than 100 metres away. If someone can’t find what they’re looking for at one store, they can look for it at the other. “They do send some customers to us and we send some customers to them,” Viktor said. (Rob Olynik, president of Advance, could not be reached for comment.) When a reporter visited the store, the brothers played a 60-year-old blues re- cording on a $10,000 CD player hooked up to an $11,500 tube amplifier and a $120,000 pair of speakers. While he once sold a stereo system worth $150,000, Leonid says he can put together great-sounding systems starting at $1,500. There’s no one-size- fits-all approach to audio equipment — recommendations depend on what the customer wants. To that end, customers are invited to spend as much time as they need in the store’s two listening rooms. The Yam- borkos even ship equipment to people’s homes so they can try it out there be- fore making a decision. That dedication to customer satisfac- tion made an impression on Steve Lam- bert, a retired airline captain who has bought stereo equipment from Altitudo Audio for his cottage in northwestern Ontario. The cottage can only be accessed by boat, but that hasn’t stopped the Yamborkos from bringing Lambert a variety of amplifiers and speakers and setting them up to demonstrate per- formance. “Leo will go to just about any length he can to help you out,” said Lambert, who has been an audiophile for 15 years. “I’ve never experienced that before.” Lorrie Kirshenbaum, a Winnipeg audiophile who has been an Altitudo Audio customer for a year-and-a-half, agrees. Kirshenbaum is impressed not only by the amount of time Leonid spent with him while figuring out what to buy, but also with the way he followed up to make sure the customer was happy with his purchase. “It’s nice to see a locally run business where the owners really take pride in what they sell and their customer ser- vice,” Kirshenbaum said. “That really is one of the selling features of that store.” Due to the store’s online presence and the Yamborkos’ appearances at audio festivals in Toronto and Montreal, most of Altitudo Audio’s customers are from Ontario and Quebec. Leonid hopes that changes and more Winnipeggers discover the store. “To have the best understanding of what we do, come to our showroom,” he said. “Come and listen.” aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca AARON EPP MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Sergiy (from left), Viktor, and Leonid Yamborko among the audio components on display at their Wolseley neighbourhood business (545 Telfer St. S.). MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS The owners and staff of Altitudo Audio, a high-end components store in Winnipeg, ‘really take pride in what they sell,’ says customer Lorrie Kirshenbaum. Boeing CEO defends safety record, spars with senators BOEING CEO David Calhoun defended the company’s safety record during a contentious U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday, while lawmakers accused him of pla- cing profits over safety, failing to protect whistleblowers and even getting paid too much. Relatives of people who died in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jetliners were in the Washington, D.C., room, some holding photos of their loved ones, to remind the CEO of the stakes. Calhoun began his remarks by standing, turning to face the families, apologizing “for the grief that we have caused” and vowing to focus on safety. Calhoun’s appearance was the first before U.S. Congress by any high-ranking Boeing official since a panel blew out of a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. No one was ser- iously injured in the incident, but it raised fresh concerns about the company’s best-selling commer- cial aircraft. The tone of the hearing before the Senate investigations sub- committee was set hours earlier, when the panel released a 204- page report with new allegations from a whistleblower who said he worries defective parts could be going into 737s. The whistle- blower is the latest in a string of current and former Boeing em- ployees to raise concerns about the company’s manufacturing processes, which federal officials are investigating. “This hearing is a moment of reckoning,” subcommittee chair- man Sen. Richard Blumenthal said. “It’s about a company, a once iconic company, that somehow lost its way.” Sen. Josh Hawley placed the blame squarely on Calhoun, say- ing the man who became CEO in January 2020 had been too fo- cused on the bottom line. “You are cutting corners, you are eliminating safety proced- ures, you are sticking it to your employees, you are cutting back jobs because you are trying to squeeze very piece of profit you can out of this company,” Haw- ley said, voice rising. “You are strip-mining Boeing.” Hawley repeatedly mentioned Calhoun’s compensation for last year, valued at US$32.8 million, and asked the CEO why he hasn’t resigned. “Senator, I’m sticking this through. I’m proud of having taken this job. I’m proud of our safety record and I’m proud of our Boeing people,” replied Ca- lhoun, who has announced he will step down by year end. Hawley interrupted. “You’re proud of the safety record?” he asked with incredulity. “I am proud of every action we have taken,” Calhoun responded. Senators pressed Calhoun about accusations Boeing managers re- taliated against employees who reported safety concerns. They asked the CEO if he ever spoke with any whistleblowers. He re- plied he had not, but agreed it would be a good idea. The latest whistleblower, Sam Mohawk, a quality assurance in- vestigator at Boeing’s 737 assem- bly plant near Seattle, told the subcommittee “non-conforming” parts — ones that could be de- fective or aren’t properly docu- mented — could be winding up in 737 Max jets. Potentially more troubling for the company, Mohawk charged Boeing hid evidence after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration told the company it planned to in- spect the plant in June 2023. “Once Boeing received such a no- tice, it ordered the majority of the (non-conforming) parts that were being stored outside to be moved to another location,” Mohawk said, in the report. “Approximately 80 per cent of the parts were moved to avoid the watchful eyes of the FAA inspectors.” A Boeing spokesperson said the company got the subcommittee report late Monday night and was reviewing the claims. The FAA said it would “thor- oughly investigate” the allegations. — The Associated Press DAVID KOENIG ;