You Can Now Shop In Sequoia Fredericton’s 3D Online Store
FREDERICTON – Sequoia Fredericton‘s physical store may be closed, but customers can still browse through a 3D version of the shop online if they want to buy products for delivery or pick-up.
“Sequioa is a store that you come in, and you walk around, and experience,” said owner Chelsey Daley. “So I needed to come up with something innovative to give people that experience.”
Sequioa Fredericton doesn’t have a traditional online store. Its website only has information about the brands it carries.
But the 3D store allows customers to explore the shop virtually, as well as the natural and organic wellness, beauty and grocery products within it. They can zoom in to see labels on the products, though information on the back of products, including pricing, isn’t available.
Daley provides that information over the phone after customers text her their order. She takes the payment over the phone, too. Customers who don’t have cellphones can call in to make orders.
“[The 3D store] had a great response. People have really enjoyed kind of browsing the store from the safety and comfort of their own home,” Daley said.
The idea came when Daley thought of real estate agents who use 3D technology to show homes to potential buyers without having to be physically inside those houses.
Her photographer friend, Andrew Kelly, had made similar 3D versions of homes through his business. So she contracted him to make her a 3D online shop, too.
“I knew I didn’t have time to put all the products online and all the prices, and I don’t know how to set up an online [store],” she said. So, Kelly came in to take shots of the store while Daley was out doing deliveries.
Daley had initially stayed open with increased sanitation measures, and options for pick-up and delivery. But over time, she says it didn’t feel right to keep it open.
“The store was actually busy one-day last week…People were not following these social distancing protocols that the government put out. They were standing way too close to my staff and my staff didn’t feel comfortable, and I didn’t feel comfortable putting them in that position,” she said.
“The fact that the store was busy, on a normal day, would make me so excited. But it made me realize that at that moment I was part of the problem. I wasn’t part of the solution.”
In her attempt to ensure staff and consumer safety, she had to temporarily lay off all six of her staff members. Daley said that was “the hardest decision” she had to make. She said many of her staff had worked with her for years and are “excited to come back when this is all over.”
Although Daley is the only one in the store nowadays, the added sanitation protocols, like wearing gloves when touching products and washing hands frequently, are still in place. Customers who come for their curbside pick-up are also asked to wait by a tree in front of the store or in their cars.
“They call me, they let me know which order was theirs, I put the order in front of the door, and then as soon as the door’s closed, they’re allowed to come and grab their bag,” she said.
“We’re taking all the precautions. But when people come and pick up, it does make it a little bit easier. One less delivery that we have to make.”
The 27-year-old mother shares delivery duties with her husband. They try to do same-day deliveries, as they take shifts to care for their toddler.
“He’s working in the mornings, and then I go in in the afternoon and fill all the orders,” she said.
So far, sales aren’t the highest but “it’s going to be okay,” Daley said, adding she had 23 orders to fill on Tuesday afternoon.
Daley isn’t charging any delivery fees right now. Instead, she wants customers to donate to the Fredericton Community Kitchen’s Student Hunger Program via a Facebook fundraiser on her business’ page.
Sequoia Fredericton is one of 17 local businesses seeking to raise $5,000 for the cause. They’ll give $2,000 worth of a thank you gift to one random donor.
“[The Community Kitchen] is really trying to make sure that the students who relied on school for food are still getting fed and they need all the help they can get,” Daley said.