Arthur William Knapp (May 4, 1914 - February 22, 1991), better known as Art Knapp, was a Canadian businessman and entrepreneur. Art Knapp is best known as the founder of the Art Knapp's chain of garden stores. Knapp was born in Cobble Hill, British Columbia and was the son of William Knapp and Zoe Saunders Knapp. As Knapp's mother died in childbirth, he was raised by his paternal aunt and uncle, Phyllis Knapp Jennings and William Jennings of Victoria, British Columbia. According to documents held at the Saanich Archives, the Knapp's and Jennings families, which included Frank Jennings and Elizabeth Walkden Jennings, all immigrated to Canada together from England on the ship RMS Empress of Britain (1906) in 1911. The same documents reveal that the family had an extensive background in horticulture and operated green houses in Victoria.
Art Knapp founded the Knapp's Victoria Nurseries at 716 Fort Street in the early 1940s. This store later relocated to Yates Street by 1945. He later started auctioning plants, trees and shrubs from the back of his truck in empty lots around British Columbia and Alberta in the early 1950s. He opened the first Art Knapp's Garden Spot on Kingsway in Vancouver and later sold the first franchise of the store to Bill Vander Zalm in 1953. The business continued to expand as more franchises were sold to others, including Frank Van Hest, who owned and operated the location in Richmond, British Columbia from the early 1970s. Today there are 15 Art Knapp Stores located throughout British Columbia. Knapp had 5 children and spent his retirement years in Santa Barbara, California.
The University of Victoria is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary institution established in the province of British Columbia in 1903. It was reincorporated as the University of Victoria in 1963.
Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The city of Victoria is the 7th most densely populated city in Canada with 4,405.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,411/sq mi).
The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, setting trends and creating the modern retail model that stores follow worldwide today.
Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than C$25.1 billion in the fiscal 2019 operating year. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited, a Canadian business conglomerate.
Curtis Lester Patrick was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach associated with the Victoria Aristocrats/Cougars of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with his brother Frank Patrick and father Joseph Patrick, he founded the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and helped develop several rules for the game of hockey. Patrick won the Stanley Cup six times as a player, coach and manager.
The British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) was an historic railway which operated in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Originally the parent company for, and later a division of, BC Electric Company, the BCER assumed control of existing streetcar and interurban lines in southwestern British Columbia in 1897, and operated the electric railway systems in the region until the last interurban service was discontinued in 1958. During and after the streetcar era, BC Electric also ran bus and trolleybus systems in Greater Vancouver and bus service in Greater Victoria; these systems subsequently became part of BC Transit, and the routes in Greater Vancouver eventually came under the control of TransLink. Trolley buses still run in the City of Vancouver with one line extending into Burnaby.
Greater Victoria is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It is usually defined as the thirteen municipalities of the Capital Regional District (CRD) on Vancouver Island as well as some adjacent areas and nearby islands.
Holt, Renfrew & Co., Limited is a Canadian luxury department store chain founded in 1837 by William S. Henderson. It has been owned by the Weston family since 1986, and was previously affiliated with the department stores Selfridges, Brown Thomas, and de Bijenkorf until the Weston family divested of the Selfridges Group in 2022.
IGA, Inc., is an American chain of grocery stores that operates in more than 41 countries. Unlike the chain store business model, IGA operates as a franchise through stores that are owned separately from the brand. Many of these stores operate in small-town markets and belong to families that manage them. It was founded in the United States as the Independent Grocers Alliance in 1926. The headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois.
Woodward's Stores Ltd. was a department store chain that operated in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, for 101 years, before its sale to the Hudson's Bay Company.
Save-On-Foods is a chain of supermarkets located across Western Canada, owned by the Pattison Food Group.
Brentwood Bay is a small village in the municipality of Central Saanich, on the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia, Canada. It lies north of the city of Victoria, east of the community of Willis Point, and south of the town of Sidney.
David Spencer Ltd. operated a department store chain in the province of British Columbia, Canada during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary is a nature reserve located in Saanich, British Columbia. The sanctuary includes a lake, adjacent marshy lowlands, and the Nature House, as well as a good part of the summit regions of Christmas Hill.
Fantasy Gardens, also known as Fantasy Garden World, was a former amusement park in Richmond, British Columbia that was located at the corner of Steveston Highway and No. 5 Road. The park was called Fantasy Gardens because it was surrounded by a series of stone buildings that were designed to resemble structures built during the Middle Ages. The buildings had been used as a backdrop in numerous music videos, television productions, and movies.
The Overwaitea Food Group is an operator of supermarkets, based in Langley, British Columbia. It is owned by the Jim Pattison Group. Most stores are under the Save-On-Foods banner, which it launched in 1982.
John Irving was a steamship captain in British Columbia, Canada. He began on the Fraser River at the age of 18 and would become one of the most famous and prosperous riverboat captains of the era. His father, William Irving, was known as the "King of the River" and the neighborhood of Irvington in Portland, Oregon is named in honor of their family.
Fairway Markets is a regional grocery chain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Great Canadian Dollar Store Ltd. (GCDS) is a privately owned Canadian franchise dollar store. The discount merchandiser was founded in 1993 by Bud and Vivian Walker, with the set-up of a head office in Victoria, British Columbia and opening of the first BC store in Kamloops. 126 franchised stores are located across Canada, including the Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. In 2015, Great Canadian Dollar Store was purchased by Kevin & Jane Kane of Quispamsis, NB.
George William Anderson was an English-born farmer, baker and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Victoria in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1886 to 1894.
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