A chance meeting has turned into a successful hotel venture for a former North Battleford resident.
Now, Gordon Hirschfeld and his wife, Cathy, are owner-operators of both Laura's Lodge and Refresh Inn and Suites in Saskatoon. This is their 10th year with Laura's Lodge, while the new Refresh Inn opened just recently in July.
But how they ended up leaving their nursing careers to operate the hotels is a story in itself.
The story began in North Battleford, where Gordon has deep roots. He was born and raised there and attended Lawrence School, Cairns School and then the North Battleford Comprehensive High School.
His uncles and aunts all came from Germany and had settled in the Cando/Biggar area, but most of them eventually ended up in North Battleford, and Hirschfeld still has family in the Battlefords. "My folks still live there," Hirschfeld said.
After high school, Hirschfeld left for Saskatoon where he commenced his studies at the University of Saskatchewan.
Needing a place to stay, he found a suite at Laura's Lodge, which was across from Royal University Hospital.
It catered primarily to hospital visitors and those who had loved ones in the hospital. The location proved ideal for a young university student.
The lodge was run at the time by Laura Lowen. She offered him a place in her suite, Hirschfeld said, "with the assumption that I would help her out running her business while she was out on holidays, weekends off and so forth."
He took her up on that offer, which included a break on the cost of the room.
By the time eight months had passed, he was running Laura's Lodge off and on. He liked it so much, he expressed interest in eventually taking over down the road.
At the end of the university term, Hirschfeld returned to North Battleford to work for Saskatchewan Hospital during the summer, as he had done previously.
After that both he and Lowen went their separate ways.
Hirschfeld found another place to stay for his next university term, and he ended up pursuing a nursing career in Saskatoon. His wife Cathy, who is from Prince Albert, also worked as a nurse.
It was 15 years later, in 2004, when they both happened to meet Lowen again while shopping at Market Mall in Saskatoon.
It was at that time that Lowen reminded him "you told me 15 years ago that I was supposed to let you know if I was ready to retire. Well, now I am."
They had coffee with her that afternoon and made the deal to take over Laura's Lodge. The new owners renovated the accommodations extensively, and the lodge remained busy serving a clientele mainly of those visiting the hospital for whatever reason.
"We had much less rate than a hotel, and it was right across the street from the hospital so we had a lot of people really needing our service," said Hirschfeld.
"We started filling up quite a bit and we were always at capacity and turning away a lot of people, because the service became really needed," he notes. So they started looking around for a place to put up another building.
They found that location two blocks to the east of Laura's Lodge, and that was where they built Refresh Inn and Suites located on 1220 College Drive.
He noted there had been a large demand for what he described as a "couple of higher-end rooms at Laura's Lodge" that had been sought after by visitors, even though the price was higher.
Hirschfeld realized there was a need for "a higher end hotel" for visitors, so "that was the calling card for us to say yes, there's a need for this."
The new hotel offers 23 rooms and includes an on-site kitchen where visitors can cook their own food. Hirschfeld says they cater to people with dietary restrictions including diabetics, gluten-free diets and so on. There is an on-site store as well where visitors can purchase food to cook. There are some optional packaged dinners that can be purchased as well.
The new location is already finding willing takers, including professionals who are visiting or at the university.
"What we're finding is that doctors, researchers, professors at the university are really using us a lot already," Hirschfeld said.
But he adds they do want to "keep our doors open to the hospital visitors, that's what we're there for."
All in all, this venture has proven to be as rewarding and fulfilling for the Hirschfelds as their previous nursing careers have been.
Moreover, years of experience in caring and nurturing for people in their nursing careers has proven the right preparation for dealing with the clients who use the two hotels.
Hirschfeld noted his guests have had to deal with some trying circumstances.
"We've seen babies be born. We haven't had any specifically born at Laura's Lodge but really close," he said.
"Then we've seen the other side of the coin when people get the call at night or one in the morning, and say 'you know what, you have to go to the hospital right now,'" and it is the passing of a loved one. "So it's both ends of the spectrum."
Being there in a time of need for their clients is what makes running the two hotels so special for the former North Battleford resident. "It's very rewarding, this business that's we're in, and we love it."
And it could not have happened without that chance encounter in a mall in 2004. "Incredible," Hirschfeld said.
