Bill Comrie has been back in town with more frequency in the last few months than ever since he sold the Brick furniture retail chain (by taking it public as an income fund) for $400 million in 2004.

Company founder Bill moved his family to California, but remains one of the Brick Group Income Fund's biggest unit holders.

The economic slowdown has been devastating to the Brick Group Income Fund, which ceased making monthly dividends and has seen its unit price plummet from a high of $14 in 2005 to $1.40 today.

Earlier this year, financial magazines reported the Fairfax Financial company and Comrie himself recapitalized The Brick to the tune of $100 million from Fairfax, another $20 million from Comrie.

CEO Kim Yost was replaced in July by corporate turnaround specialist (i.e. somebody who comes in, turns around a company's fortunes, then departs) Bill Gregson.

Bill Comrie, naturally enough, is rather interested and involved in the company given he still has millions upon millions at stake, not to mention his own personal pride in not seeing the company he built from nothing to a Canadian retail giant go under.

One quick result of the new Brick regime is a return to the Brick's former "personality" which had disappeared in the Yost years.

An older but still high-volume Michael Bell is back on TV as the Brick's pitchman.

No, there's no truth to the rumour that Bill Comrie and the Brick were going to be partners with Daryl Katz in the new downtown arena ... as long as the Oilers offered Bill's hockey-playing son Mike Comrie a long-term, no-trade contract!

(Do you remember the great Edmonton extended family crisis, when then-Oiler Mike Comrie demanded a trade and great bitterness erupted between former friends Oiler GM Kevin Lowe and Bill Comrie. It's said to be much of the reason that Bill - who raised millions of dollars for the Mazankowski Heart Institute - decided to fully exit Edmonton despite his deep roots.)