Our New West End Main Shop
Great news! Construction is underway at the new west end main shop.
FAQs 1. What is the exact address of the main shop? Yet to be disclosed. Please sit tight! Perhaps read a good book? Or enjoy a tasty meal at an Italian restaurant? or, specifically, a little Italy-an restaurant?? Hmm??? 2. Why the secrecy? We are nervous people! Lots can/could/already has gone wrong. We don't want anyone catching us with our metaphorical pants down. I don't think anyone wants that. There's a lot that goes into making a sausage. 3. When are you opening? Unknown - first week-ish of May. We're out of our Leslieville shop by the end of April, and we're hoping to take the first few days or week to set up and get ready to go. We are tentatively hoping to have our grand opening Saturday, May 5th, but stay caught up with us for a soft opening earlier that week for a sneak peek and maybe a few deals. 4. When is your last day in Leslieville? Saturday, April 28th. 5. Are you going to be having any sales? We may! Who knows! Stay tuned. More announcements and details on our celebrations of three wonderful, beautiful years here. 6. What's going on with the east end studio? WHO KNOWS. We continue onward in our slog through permits and zoning. At this point, your guess is as good as mine. Mine is approximately mid-summer, and that's based on absolutely zero actual knowledge. 7. What's the difference between the west end main shop and the east end studio shop? You mean, other than the fact that one has an actual timeline to open? The west end main shop will be everything you already know (and love?) about our Leslieville shop. With our warehouse in the back, it will have the bulk of our stock and receive most shipments. You'll be able to browse our full lines of ink and pens and try out nibs and attend calligraphy classes and more. In our new east end studio shop, with extremely limited space, we'll only have a curated selection of pens and inks and supplies. In our east end studio shop, we may have occasional new products or lines that we're testing, photographing or getting feedback on. 6. Where will Chicken be? Chicken will be at the east end studio shop. So we're off! Walls are coming down! Water-damaged plaster is being scraped off! Lights and wiring are hanging down somewhat dangerously! When Jon first looked at the space and then brought me to take a look, it was difficult to envision how space was going to look. The space had been split up into different units and rooms, connected to other spaces in the building, and drop ceilings had been put in, covering different things and lowering the ceiling significantly. There's still a lot to be done over the next few weeks, on the outside facade, plumbing and electrical, installing lights, paint, flooring, cleaning it all up, and that's all before we even begin to consider the move, with the big metal shelving and packing tables, and all of the shop furniture and stock. There's going to be so much dust and dirt flying about, we're dreading the big clean! We've heard that there some pretty good commercial cleaning services Dallas offer so we might use one to save us getting on our hands and knees and scrubbing the place clean. It'll also be nice walking into a fully furnished and gleaming shop once this is all over too. Jon and sometimes I have been traversing the city to pick up lighting or supplies or to meet with someone. A friend of ours recommended getting in some commercial painters to do the painting for us, it's a great idea but we'll see how we get on! Someone is currently using the front of our new shop to store their barrels of used cooking oil, so some lucky Joe (or Jon) is going to have to take care of that, too.
Jon and his contractor/therapist/life coach.
My favourite thing about this space is that although the ceilings are actually fairly high at the front of the shop, it really opens up as you walk towards the back, because there's this huge skylight. The skylight had originally been covered with this frosted plastic sheeting that you couldn't see through, so opening it up was nerve-wracking: what would be unveiled? broken glass? garbage? dead animals?? Of the many surprises we've had since undertaking the renovations of the two shops, the tented framing of this massive skylight has been absolutely one of the most delightful. We're not sure how much light will be let through throughout the day, so we're thinking of looking into skylight tinting professionals, this way the natural lighting can be controlled a little more when it's at its brightest. Things may truly work out for us. On one side of the skylight, our contractor opened up part of the ceiling and discovered an area over which he's going he's going to build a ledge, which is perfect for plants. Can you just imagine a few vines snaking over the grate? If you'd like this kind of set up in your property, you may want to look into Skylight Replacement options that could give your property an amazingly natural feel. One of the very few advantages (advantage? is that really the right word here?) of having an extremely limited budget in this very expensive city of skyrocketing rents is that you're forced to look at unconventional places, and use a little bit of your imagination. It's hard to picture exactly how things are going to go when walls are up, and ceilings are so low that you have to stoop through tunneled areas to get to other walled off rooms with water damage coming from the ceiling. But then you take down some walls, take off some dusty, cobwebbed plastic sheeting from the ceiling, and look at what you find.
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Comments
Anonymous said:
I’ll keep my fingers crossed you’ll make it Toronto sometime, and that you’ll have time for a visit! The internet has opened up many, many doors, but there’s nothing like being able to say hello in person. Thanks for the good luck – we’ll need it!
Anonymous said:
Can’t wait for your visit! We are keeping fingers crossed for May 5th, but I hesitate to say anything on the internet for fear of jinxing things. Stay tuned, and hope to see you soon :)
Anonymous said:
Thank you so much! We’re excited to start exploring the neighbourhood and to get to know the community. Can’t wait for your next visit :)
Lillian Chen said:
Congratulations! Such a great location, equidistant between so many great neighbourhoods. Looking forward to seeing you in the new spaces. Love the skylight!
John Meadows said:
Looking forward to checking out the new space when I get back from Calgary! (If your grand opening is the 5th I’ll be back in time!)
Anonymous said:
Thanks, Dad!
Anonymous said:
We would love to see you! We are hoping to announce more details soon. The new shop will be in Little Italy, in the west end. Once we get closer to the end of April, we’ll have a better idea of how renovations are coming and how long it will take us to get set up, and fingers crossed everything will roll on wheels the last few days of April and first days of May and we’ll be set up for your visit before you leave!
Anonymous said:
We are pretty excited ourselves! Yes, our new west end shop will definitely be a lot easier coming from Etobicoke. Hoping to see you soon! It’s been a thrill to hear from people who live on the west end or west of Toronto, and hopefully it will be easier for you all.
Chicken may pop up every once in a while! But for the most part, he will live in the east end. :)
Anonymous said:
Thank you! Us too!
Anonymous said:
We will have no pets living at the new west end main shop! However, we do have dogs (usually on leash but sometimes not) visit us. If it’s just our cat, it’s no problem to ask one of the staff to bring him to the back!
Lisa said:
Meant to add – very excited about the west end shop! Congratulations on the new space!
Lisa said:
Possibly dumb question about the new shop – will it be with or without pets?
I have dog/cat allergies …
Thanks!
Michael Simon said:
Fascinating but a bit intimidating. Best of luck with the renovations and move. Hope I get to Toronto some day—feel as if I know the whole family, including Super and Chicken, and would love to visit the new shop(s).
Sharon said:
Would love to squeeze in a visit on my trip to Ontario in the first week of May but without a date or location, kind of hard to plan transportation to get there. Hopefully, soon?
Anonymous said:
You guys are totally amazing, changing shops fasting than me changing cars : )
No doubt, the best is yet to come…. All the best!
Nells said:
Hello my most favourite store of all! You guys are moving to the west end. I am so excited! I live in Etobicoke and coming down to Leslieville was always a bit tricky for me. Now that you’ll be closer, I may visit more often. I can’t wait to see what an amazing community will gather around your new west-end shop. I will miss Chicken too. But maybe, you guys would consider a puppy? :)
Anonymous said:
We’re looking forward to moving! Coming soon…
Anonymous said:
Oh, haha! Yes, I did misunderstand. I’ll be looking forward to your visits, then! :D
EAB said:
Oh, I think you misunderstand! I used to live in Little Italy, just a few doors from your new location. The view out your storefront window gave it away… I would recognize those houses anytime! I’m now near Dundas West, so I will definitely be stopping by more frequently! Just perhaps not as frequently if I were living next door ;)
Shahed said:
Looking forward to the new digs, Little Italy is a great location to shop in….
Anonymous said:
Perhaps one day your travels will bring you this way! :)
Anonymous said:
Glad to hear it! You know, Chicken is extremely well-loved by visitors and customers and people who see pictures of him, but I suspect it’s largely because they don’t have to put up with him scrambling around and crashing into walls at night, or knocking over bottles of ink, or drinking out of water bottles, or…
Who knows, perhaps we’ll keep our fingers crossed for mice at the west end shop! (Just kidding please don’t.) :)
Anonymous said:
We’d love to stay here! It’s all the familiar things that make up a community for us, but onward, they say. I hope you’ll still end up visiting and saying hello every once in a while :)
EAB said:
I used to live down the street from your new location and walked by it every day. I’m glad that you’re moving back to the west end (so much closer!) but also kind of glad I’m not next door anymore… I’d wind up buying far too much ink… ;-)
Sully said:
Since you are going to keep Chicken at the East end shop, can we have a new cat and name him/her “Ducky”? ;). The shop will never be complete without a mascot, lol.
I’m so excited you are coming to the west. I live on the West end so yeah you will see my face more often.
Peter said:
Excited for you guys, too bad I live in Calgary