“Lynn Steven” Boutique Opens At Carrall Street And Blood Alley

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. Read more

“Lynn Steven”: Getting Set For City Inspection And Opening Day

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… Read more

“Lynn Steven”: Zeroing In On The Big Day After Gastown Shop Hop

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. Read more

“Lynn Steven”: Crossing Fingers For Opening In Seventeen Days

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. Read more

“Lynn Steven”: Everything Takes Longer And Costs More…

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. Read more

“Lynn Steven”: On Why Gastown Always Needed To Be The Place

by Nicole Dennis Durnin | As I mentioned in my first post for Scout, from the moment my husband and I decided to pursue the dream of opening my own boutique, Gastown was going to be the place.  I’ve never had any apprehension about Gastown being the home of Lynn Steven, but I still meet people who haven’t visited this part of Vancouver in years, believing the neighbourhood to be either dangerous or nothing but a collection of tourist shops. By opening a boutique in the area I hope to help dispel the myth that Gastown is in any way unsafe while helping it grow its reputation as a great shopping district. Read more

“Lynn Steven”: Logo Shopping & Demolition at 225 Carrall St…

by Nicole Dennis Durnin | Branding is an important aspect of any business.  It’s your client’s first impression of you, and it’s how they will connect with you on an emotional level. Branding is the sum of logos and colours and the look and feel of the store, and also the perceptions and experiences of your clients. The client experience is an aspect of the brand that I’m confident Lynn Steven will excel at. Developing the rest of the elements is where I’ve called in the experts. Read more

“Lynn Steven”: The Permit Tick Tocks And An L.A. Buying Spree…

by Nicole Dennis Durnin | Nothing new to report on the construction front over the past week. We are a little delayed as various approvals needed to be received before proceeding with the permits. Now that they are all in place I am hoping that demolition will begin within the next week.

Meanwhile there are many other aspects of the business to work on. A major part of starting and running a clothing store is the buying. It sounds like a fun job, particularly for a shopper and fashion lover like me, and it is, for the most part. I think what people don’t realise is that it takes a lot of planning and editing to find the right product mix for your store. You are not really sure who your customer is at the beginning and what they are going to like and dislike. You buy what you would wear and hope that clients like it as well. I don’t doubt that the product mix and various lines that I have bought will change once the store is open. Read more

“Lynn Steven”: A New Gastown Boutique From Start To Finish…

by Nicole Dennis Durnin | When Scout approached me about sharing my experiences opening a boutique in Gastown, I thought they were off their rocker. While I had started a blog called “Shoptalk” on my website in part to share the trials and tribulations of starting a business in this neighbourhood, I certainly don’t consider myself a writer. Instead, I’m an entrepreneur, a lover of fashion, and a passionate Vancouverite. My name is Nicole – born and raised on the North Shore – and now a long term resident of downtown Vancouver. I have worked in retail for 17 years, in positions ranging from seasonal help to managing the flagship Lacoste store on Burrard Street. It has always been my dream to open my own store. During a short, misguided stint working for a Financial Advisor (post-Lacoste), I realised that I missed the retail and fashion worlds, so after some soul searching and many a discussion with my husband Andrew (a different Andrew than Scout’s Andrew) we decided that it was the time to follow my dream. That was a year ago… Read more