by Nicole Dennis Durnin | Like an early Christmas present, we took the paper off the windows and officially opened Lynn Steven Boutique on December 23rd. The last few days have been equal parts exciting and relieving.  It seemed like it took an eternity to get to this point, but everyone that has dropped in to say hi has mentioned that the store sure seemed to go up fast.  We’ve been warmly welcomed by the neighbourhood, both by local business owners and residents alike.  And especially for that we are very grateful.  The feeling of community is what led us to Gastown, and it’s been great to see that vibe personified in visits from Mark, Erin, Curtis, Arthur and Victor.

When we first toured “The Old Hunt & Gather Space” with the landlord, we could see that it had potential.  There were some hesitations regarding location, and we weren’t even quite sure it would be suitable for the sort of boutique we envisioned, but we loved the history and feel of the space.  We were confident that together with our Designers (Mcfarlane Green Biggar Architecture) and Builders (Kingdom Builders) we could create a unique, exciting boutique that we could be proud of.

The current consensus is that half of the space at 225 Carrall Street was once outside, the hexagonal tile welcomed patrons to one of a young Vancouver’s more rowdy establishments – The Bodega Hotel.  Keeping the original tile floor was a necessity, as was reflecting the historic nature of Gastown, but we also wanted a modern vibe to the space.  And we feel that that’s exactly what we have.

When we took possession, the space had a full bathroom and kitchen under a mezzanine, all behind a big pink wall.  All that had to go.  Of course we still needed a bathroom in the space, but we could do without the full sized bathtub.  We also didn’t want to move the plumbing too much, both because of the potentially fragile nature of the plumbing in the building and to conserve costs.   MGB came up with a novel solution, pun intended.  The bathroom and a change room are housed within a metal cylinder wrapped with a layer of paperback books, stacked and mortared (with glue) like bricks.

The lone non-brick wall has been given a modern facelift, with bright fluorescent lighting and a giant backlit mirror, and a 40 foot cabinet system running the length of the space.

The brick wall has been uncovered and is now completely visible from the street.  We’ve also kept the gas fireplace, just giving it a fresh coat of paint.  It warms this space up both aesthetically and physically.

Our hanging system is a bit of a work in progress.  We currently have a combination of custom metal hangers on which to feature particular items, as well as a traditional wood and metal rod system.  Over the next few weeks we will be refining it resulting in a more cohesive merchandising system throughout the store.

Also left to finish is the afore mentioned book-clad cylinder.  Have a look in a few weeks to see what four more feet of books and some new lighting do to complete this apparent crowd favourite and conversation starter.

We’re thrilled to have the store (just about) finished, and we’re looking forward to settling in.  There’s still much organizing to do, as well as a little painting, but with the welcome we’ve received from our neighbours we can tell that the future is bright for Lynn Steven Boutique.

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by Nicole Dennis Durnin | We are in the final days of building Lynn Steven. It is funny how everything seems to come together towards the end of the project. For the last two weeks the team at Kingdom Builders have been working double shifts to try to get the boutique open for this weekend. Drywallers have been working until 1am (sorry neighbours!) to finish the ceiling and feature wall. We had a crew of family come in over this last weekend to clean up all the dry wall dust to prep the space for painting. We then spent nine hours on Sunday painting the space to have it ready for the shelving that went up on Monday.  Part of the art installation went in on Tuesday, electrical work is starting to wrap up over the next couple of days, phase two of levelling the floor is happened Wednesday and finally plumbing fixtures, the hanging system and carpet were installed on Thursday.  Over the weekend we’re bringing back the family for a fresh coat of paint, we’ll iron out some inevitable wrinkles and take care of the final touch ups.  Hoping for a City Inspection on Monday and at last we’ll be open for business! Photos and more after the jump…

So far the only major mishap was an overflowing dishwasher in the unit above the space.  Thankfully the resident was home and the Kingdom Builders Drywall crew was onsite and able to minimize the damage.  The ordeal cost us half a day, which seemed like an eternity.  Especially because it occurred to me that we might not be open in time for Christmas.  Thanks to the hard work of the Kingdom team we’re back on track.

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The countdown is on! Although the space doesn’t look like much now we seem to be on track for a soft opening on December 18th (fingers are still crossed, maybe legs and toes as well!). To say my stress levels are high is an understatement. As any retailer knows Christmas is key and at the rate we are going I will be missing a huge portion of the Holiday shopping season.  Not wanting to miss out entirely, as I mentioned in my previous post we created a pop-up shop for the Gastown Shop Hop on December 3rd. Although it was a ridiculous amount of work to set up a store for just for one day it was a great success and it was nice to meet many people that live and work in the area. It was reassuring to hear that people were aware of Lynn Steven already; I even overheard someone mention that they’d been reading about the boutique on Scout.

Before I started the process of building the store, people warned me that with any type of construction I should be prepared to double the cost and double the timeline. Having not received the final bill yet I cannot comment on the budget part of things but it certainly has taken longer than I expected. Permits, approvals from landlords and Stratas, approvals of designs and budgets, scheduling various trades and helping out with construction wherever we can, it has certainly been a juggling act. Andrew and I have done everything we can to make sure we don’t cause any delays on the project, so far so good.

The biggest part of this project was the electrical, but as of last Monday the lights are up and the drywalling has begun. We are getting prepared to prime and paint the space this weekend, so if anyone feels like helping out, let me know!

Things will be in full swing over the next few days and I should have lots of pictures as the space transforms from a construction site to a boutique. Let’s hope my next post is 5 days and counting to opening.

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We’re back in action! Things are moving along again after the slight design change. Projected open date…December 17th. Just in time to do some last minute Christmas shopping. You can come and take a sneak peek at Lynn Steven when we do a “pop-up shop” for the Gastown Shop Hop on December 3rd at 330 West Cordova, everything will be 20% off.

It has been a hectic week for Andrew and me. We have been busy transitioning the website from the old to the new logo; still need to make some adjustments but it is coming along. It was a week full of holiday merchandise deliveries which I am super excited about. We also have been getting ready for the Gastown Shop Hop when we’ll be making our debut to Vancouver. Over this past weekend we were testing our carpentry skills by putting together some cabinets for the store. Well, I was delegating while family and friends helped out, isn’t that a sign of a good Manager?

We hope to see many of you supporting the local boutiques in Gastown for the Shop Hop. Make sure to stop by and say hello.

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by Nicole Dennis Durnin | I honestly thought that once we started demo on 225 Carrall Street we would be full steam ahead. Not so much. Once the interior walls were out, I did a walk through with the team from McFarlane Green Biggar (MGB). Being in the space with no walls, we could start to visualize how we wanted the space to look and feel. After coming to the conclusion that some alterations needed to be done to the original design, MGB drew up new plans to give to the contractor. Unfortunately, during this time no construction could be done until the team at Kingdom Builders had a chance to review the new plans. So we are a little delayed. I’ve learned through this process that everything takes longer and costs more.

Since we’ve started to receive merchandise, I didn’t want to miss out on the upcoming Gastown Shop Hop. I needed to come up with a plan. I recently learned of a space at 330 West Cordova that the tenant sub-leases out at a daily rate. She calls it “Pop-Up…The Shop”.  A European mainstay, “Pop Up” stores – aka “Guerrilla” stores – are an innovative way to reach a hip consumer market directly – quickly drawing crowds, generating media buzz and then disappearing, all the while staying fresh.  They’re also starting to become popular in New York, where you will find Mackage, Alice + Olivia, and even WIRED pop-up shops over the Holidays. I thought this was a perfect opportunity for people to get a sneak peek of what Lynn Steven is all about. So, I will be at 330 West Cordova (MAP) on December 3rd all day and participating in the Shop Hop from 5pm to 9pm. Come by and say hello.

In the meantime MGB has been working on the new Lynn Steven logo. A huge departure from the original logo, we’re very happy with what they’ve come up with and we’re in the process of transitioning our website, business cards, etc.  We find it simple, timeless and more of a reflection of what we’re trying to accomplish with the design of the space.  In fact you’ll get a glimpse of it once we get a “Coming Soon” poster up in the window.  Yeah, we’re aware it should have been up months ago.  Kinda thought we’d be open by now.

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