Dartmouth Furniture Store Will Test N.B. Market With Pop-Up
MONCTON – The owners of a Dartmouth-based furniture retailer is coming to the Moncton market with a pop-up shop slated to open this fall.
Jackie Schneider, co-owner of One Of A Kind Furniture Décor And More Ltd., said the pop-up shop will test the market in New Brunswick. It’s set to open in early September next to Structube, at 78 Wyse Street.,
“We have a lot of customers from New Brunswick, from Fredericton and Moncton, and we figured it’d be nice to see if there would be a demand,” said Schneider.
“They love the products and I think if we were closer they’d love to buy more furniture because they’re far away and delivery would be quite expensive to Moncton. I think a lot of people want to buy but don’t know how to get it home to Moncton.”
One of a Kind will open for about three months, running from around September 6 until late November or early December.
Schneider said the exact opening date depends on when they receive furniture.
“We’re expecting it to arrive toward the end of August. That can always be pushed back, but you never know,” she said. “Who knows, later on, we might decide to look for a permanent location.”
Schneider said if One Of A Kind does open a permanent Moncton home, it won’t be at the pop-up location.
“We don’t have a prospective permanent location yet. The pop-up we were able to get for three months will be leased right after – they have someone coming in there after us, so there’s no option for us to turn our temporary lease into a permanent one at this location,” said Schneider.
She said that if there is enough demand in Moncton, she hopes to find a location and open next spring or summer.
“For now, we just want to see how many people in Moncton love our product and go from there.”
One Of A Kind specializes in a variety of artisanal furniture, with a focus on locally made pieces, bought from small manufacturers, at price points from three digits for some kinds of wooden furniture up to $6,000 epoxy tables.
Its staff includes Schneider, her husband and daughter – who are all shareholders in the company – and a family friend.
“We have a lot of local pieces; when I say local, it’s Nova Scotia at this point, and we’re hoping to bring in some local pieces from New Brunswick, as well.”
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She noted that currently, local artisans are having difficulty keeping up with demand for locally made furniture on account of high production costs from the cost of wood.
“We’re not carrying as many pieces as we’d like to have in the store for that reason,” Schneider said.
Schneider, a Swiss transplant who’s lived in Dartmouth for a decade, opened One Of A Kind during the pandemic in Sept. 2020. She has ambitions to source furniture from global destinations, as well.
“To make it really interesting, we’d like to have something from every country and culture, since they have their own style – that’s our goal,” she said.
If things pan out well and she opens a permanent location in Moncton, Schneider said she would consider Saint John and Fredericton for another store.
“New Brunswick is growing like Nova Scotia, and there are a lot of people moving to the Atlantic Provinces, and I think with the population rising, there’s rising demand for furniture too.”
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].