Sequoia Downtown Moncton Will Move To Tannery Place This Fall
MONCTON – The Tannery Place, a mixed-use apartment complex at the edge of downtown Moncton, will be home to a Sequioa Natural & Organic store come fall.
The store, which sells organic and natural food, supplements and beauty products, will move from its current location on 114 Highfield St. The Dieppe location will remain, said Danielle Gauvin, who owns both locations.
“I’ve been downtown for five years, I don’t own the building, I just lease it, so it’s always been a thought at the back of my mind whether I want to stay there or whether ultimately I want to move,” she said.
“Ultimately, the decision came down to moving just because I’m able to grow my business if I move, I’m able to have a larger space, carry more products, have more accessibility for my customers, more visibility for my store.”
She said while there’s a lot of nostalgia for the current shop, especially as it’s located in an older home, she’s excited to design a new store from scratch. Years ago, Sequoia used to offer massage therapist services on the second floor of the current store, but that’s now used as an Airbnb by the landlord.
The new store will be around 2,000 square feet, just a few hundred square feet larger than the current store. But the shelving space it allows will be beneficial for the business.
“The thing that’s going to allow us to carry more inventory is our shelving – just up-to-date, modern shelving,” she said.
Additionally, the location, with expected drive-by traffic that’s about five times more than the current shop, is also exciting for Gauvin.
“We’re definitely expecting a growth…of course with all of the tenants upstairs, but also just being right across the bridge from Riverview, having the GoodLife gym right beside us, it’s kind of already a retail hub with the Sobeys, the liquor store and the shoppers there. So, we think it’s going to be really great for sales,” she said.
Gauvin said while it’s difficult to predict future hiring right now due to Covid-19, she did have to increase headcount from 12 to 15 part-time and full-time staff, including herself, because the business was “so busy” during the pandemic.
“We’ll probably end up growing and having to add staff,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll go towards that direction and be able to grow our team.”
Gauvin said renovations for the news store will start at the end of August or early September, and it will open to the public in late November.
The Tannery Place is part of the Junction Urban Village at the western end of downtown Moncton, off of Vaughan Harvey Blvd. It includes two towers, Tannery Place South and North, with a total of 138 residential units.
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