SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
For the first summer in nearly two decades, Dennis Lowing is looking forward to spending as much time as he wants fishing and boating on Great Slave Lake.
T.L.C. Marine owner Dennis Lowing is hosting the final barbecue and sale for the boat repair and motor sales business on Sunday, May 26, 2013. Lowing is closing TLC, located off School Draw Avenue on 48 Street, after 19 years in business. - Thandiwe Vela/NNSL photo
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After 19 years, he is closing his popular boat repair and motor sales business, T.L.C. Marine.
Lowing, 74, started the business after retiring from the GNWT, and ran T.L.C. for many years with his partner Forrest Krause.
"They were the two cranky old guys you went to see to get your motors fixed," said mechanic Pierre Lebel, who worked for Lowing over the past five years.
Lowing always got a lot of satisfaction from fixing things, he said, and enjoyed the growing business as T.L.C.'s customer base increased over the years.
He hosted a customer appreciation barbecue and motor sale on site every May. This Sunday will be his last.
"I had a lot of good customers. I had a good run," Lowing said. "We owe a lot to the customers. They kept coming."
Sometimes he was forced to turn customers away, as the business, which operated only during the summer months, got too busy.
"It kept us busy, us old retired guys. It kept us out of trouble," he said. "And allowed us to buy all the boating stuff we needed."
Krause, a retired government technical officer, was "very bright," Lowing said.
He died of cancer in 2010.
When Lebel came on board, he provided a succession plan for Lowing, who did not want to close up shop and leave his customers in the lurch.
Lebel has opened his own outboard motor dealership, called Bucket O' Tool, and he will be taking on Lowing's sales, service, and warranty work.
Lebel will also be at T.L.C.'s final barbecue and inventory sale event, on 48 Street, off School Draw Avenue.
Lowing plans to remain in Yellowknife with his wife Elizabeth Lowing.
