Brick & Mortar Living is on the move – again.
The home décor boutique at 52 Sixth St. will be relocating two doors down to where Sixth Street Popup + Gallery is currently located. The move is a result of the developer, Citypoint Developments, wanting to set up a sales and presentation centre for its 33-storey, mixed-use tower proposed for 618 Carnarvon St.
The domino effect means the gallery will close its doors on Aug. 31. The under-utilized retail space had been left empty early last year, so the owners of Brick & Mortar Living thought it could serve as a temporary community hub. The idea was that until the developer had to demolish the building, the entrepreneurs would beautify the space and rent out the gallery for pop-up shows and events at a very low cost ($100 a day). It would be an opportunity for businesses that were toying with the idea of moving to the Royal City to test out the market.
“We really ran it as a non-profit in a sense,” owner Jennifer Pistone told the Record. “The point wasn’t for us to make money off it, just to make sure it had something going on, to keep the block alive.”
Pistone said a great example of a success story is clothing store Mila + Paige, which got its start at Sixth Street Popup + Gallery before moving into a permanent location across the street.
The sales and presentation centre has to be built inside the Brick & Mortar Living space and not the gallery space because the former is wheelchair accessible, she noted. In addition to the gallery space, the next unit over (40 Sixth St.) will also be used to accommodate the shop. The plan is to make the move the last week of September and have everything up and running again by Oct. 1.
“It’s been a lot of fun. I’m sad to see it go,” Pistone, who lives in Seattle and makes the trip up to New West frequently, said of the gallery. “There’s a need there. The amount of emails I get to Sixth Street Popup, even now, saying ‘I want to teach a weaving class,’ or ‘I want to teach a knitting class, I need a space,’ I could have this thing filled all the time.”
The need for an artistic space is so great, according to the Pistone, that a section of the new Brick & Mortar store will be used for workshops for up to eight students.
Unfortunately, the entrepreneur’s moving woes won’t end this fall. Brick & Mortar Living will have to pack it up all again next year when Citypoint Developments tears down the building. Asked where she’d relocate to, Pistone didn’t know. She said she’d like to stay in New West.
“It’d be crazy for us to try and re-establish ourselves somewhere else. I think it’s finding a space that’s vacant and a landowner who’s willing to work with us.”
The ultimate goal is to return to Sixth Street if the new tower is built. The building would have some commercial retail space at the bottom.
“We’re always on the move,” Pistone laughed. “We should just put our shop on wheels.”
