Congratulation to Maelyn Hurley and Goods & Co who has been named a finalist for Retail Council of Canada’s annual Excellence in Retailing Award for In-Store Experience and Design!
There’s a lot happening in the region and I think one of the more interesting and impactful initiatives is Goods & Co and everything it includes. I love the design and appreciate the minimalist, Scandinavian aesthetic, like the Oslo Opera House only less mind-bendy. In fact, I like it so much that I nominated Maelyn and Goods & Co. for the Retail Council of Canada’s annual Excellence in Retailing Award for In-Store Experience and Design. The Excellence in Retailing Awards recognize Canada’s retail superstars, innovators and game-changers. In the application you can learn more about the history of the building, the inspiration for the design, and the technical elements bringing that design to life. Retail innovation isn’t limited to big box stores and retailers making 100’s of millions of dollars. It’s happening here in Northwestern Ontario and I couldn’t prouder to share this story with the rest of Canada!
We’ve all heard that malls are dying. Hyperbole aside, traditional malls – malls that refuse to innovate and evolve – are failing. This is even more true when it comes to malls in smaller, rural towns. These spaces lose their anchor stores and experience a slow decline into obsolescence. Eaton’s was just this type of retailer, formerly anchoring the Eaton’s Department Store Centre in downtown Thunder Bay, and when it closed on October 10, 1997, the entire downtown core was significantly impacted. Traffic declined immensely. Businesses closed their doors and it has taken over 20 years to recover. In a small city like Thunder Bay, the impact of losing a retailer occupying three floors, 190,000 sq ft, employing 250+ people, and anchoring an entire downtown core really can’t be put into words. There’s a palpable sadness. The building falls into disrepair and its bleak façade drags down the entire area.
While Thunder Bay’s downtown core started to regain some vibrancy with new restaurants, boutique, high price-point retail, and a city council committed to removing bureaucratic roadblocks, it was held back by the eyesore on the corner – the bleak, empty façade commanding 300+ feet of ground-level street frontage. It was going to take an entrepreneur with the aesthetic vision, business acumen and risk-embracing personality to revitalize an 84 year-old building into a modern space that welcomed retailers and consumers back into this iconic building.
“A couple of people were in tears that it was coming, you know, coming back to life, it's been really crazy” - Maelyn Hurley
Eaton's store front Port Arthur, ON (Thunder Bay) circa 1965
Retail innovation doesn’t belong solely to major city centres and massive organizations. Good & Co Market was developed to attract a younger, trendier consumer than traditional, rural city retail caters to by creating a curated shopping destination. Similar experiences have been successful, like The Forks in Winnipeg and ByWard Market in Ottawa, and while the St Lawrence Market in Toronto caters to tourists, it’s also a staple in the community for local shoppers. This project has similar objectives but scaled to suit Thunder Bay. The Market gives tourists a reason to slow down and stay overnight by giving them an inclusive and interactive experience catering to a broad range of consumers.
Furthermore, the concept was developed as a means of commercial in-fill, rather than a new build, to align with the City of Thunder Bay’s Official Plan, focused on cost-effective development that uses existing infrastructure more efficiently and promotes a more walkable community.[1] The Market consists of 29 permanent vendors and up to 20 pop-up spaces, rotating art gallery, a common area, and the Woodside Bar.
Revitalizing an entire downtown core in rural Canada isn’t easy and takes many pieces, but for Thunder Bay, those pieces have been slowly coming back together and Goods and Co Market represents the biggest piece of all.
We are bringing an urban market concept into an iconic and unique building - the perfect combination of food, beverage and retail to provide a unique experience for our consumers. – Maelyn Hurley
It was important for the physical space to reflect a modern aesthetic while still paying tribute to the significance the building once held in the community. The interior features an art deco concept paying respect to the Eaton’s era with a modern and minimalist approach. The original terrazzo flooring was restored and refreshed. The once hidden, large concrete beams were cleaned up and exposed to provide a visual impact, and when married with the clean white walls, cement (pun intended) the minimalist Scandinavian aesthetic. The Woodside Bar was opened with floor to ceiling windows at the highest traffic part of the exterior, exposing the cool-factor to passerby. It’s a place to see and be seen. The design of the space was carefully planned to ensure that it felt spacious, modern and inspired by the Great White North.
A minimalist design aesthetic was used so that the businesses' individual brands could shine through. Goods & Co Market also brought in the concept of ‘making and creating’ on-site so that customers could experience, learn and be educated on 'the craft' of how things are made.
“Anything that was iconic to Eaton's or that was really good about the building, I wanted to restore. But I also wanted to bring this fresh, modern, really just simple Nordic vibe as well to the space” - Maelyn Hurley
A focus on boutique vendors is necessary for rural city centres. Thunder Bay knows first-hand how depending on, and then losing, a large, anchor store can have a decades long impact on the area and from this experience came the inspiration for a diversified set of vendors occupying a repurposed, multi-use space. The space was specifically designed around the pop-up experience, meaning the infrastructure supports the impermanent and experimental nature of pop-ups. This also safeguards the business from expected vendor turnover that is typically higher in rural cities with more reliance on local artisans, than urban city centres. Unfortunately, the truth is that smaller, local businesses are much more likely to fail, than established national brands.
Goods & Co. is also focused on featuring the space in creative ways and developing an inclusive community. In its first two months, the Market hosted 20 events and 10 workshops, enticing new, diverse consumers into the space that otherwise may have said “it’s not for me”. The Market also features the Co. Lab Art Gallery, opening with an exhibition organized by The Solidarity Collective. It’s about appealing to a diverse community that values new products and new experiences.
"We have about 20 BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, people of colour] artists in this exhibition, all working in different mediums," -Lara Nothway, Director
Furthermore, an astonishing 96% of the permanent businesses are female-led.
It’s all paying off. If the initial response to the Goods & Co. Market in Thunder Bay, Ont., is any indication, the future is looking bright for the future for the long-empty Eaton's building.[2] The Market is at 100% vendor capacity and traffic is well over plan. Pre-holiday transactions are approx. 250 per vendor for approx. $3500 in sales per vendor per day. This may not seem like much when compared to urban locations and big box stores, but for an iconic space the was left to the pigeons, this economic boost and its halo effect for a rural economy, is tremendous. This amounts to an additional 100k in daily, pre-holiday spending in a downtown core that has been creeping towards a full-blown revitalization for a decade now. Goods & Co is the final push this area needed.
However, in today’s digital age it’s not enough to attract unique, diverse and relevant vendors to a beautifully designed space. The space needs to be recognisable on social media. There must be a unique viewpoint that reinforces the brand image for the target market. Goods & Co. is doing a tremendous job reinforcing its aesthetic using vintage Eaton’s promotional materials and era-specific makeup and design. This is generating approx. 40 new Instagram followers per day which is a tremendous number when you consider the Market is in a small city centre and this doesn’t even include the increased follows for the vendors in the space.
The team at Good and Co. Market took a major risk in developing a large mall space in a rural market at a time when malls in urban markets are failing. It’s this type of young entrepreneur, who is willing to take risks to see their vision through, that needs to be celebrated in Canadian retail.
[1] https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/city-revamping-zoning-rules-4528145
[2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/goods-and-co-thunder-bay-open-1.6246982