Colleen White has big plans for the Princess street retail space in downtown Kingston that used to be home to the Gap.
She’s relocating her five year-old business, Glow Skin Care, there — expanding her services.
“Compared to where we’re at now, we’re sitting at under 2000 square-feet, so this space here, we’re looking at over 7,500 hundred square feet,” said White.
Demand for her services has been growing, she said, and even more so since the pandemic was declared almost two years ago.
“Anybody in this industry … we’re doing 50 % better than what was typically predicted … so COVID has definitely driven this business a bit further and faster, not just my business, the whole industry,” White told Global News Kingston.
Downtown Kingston BIA Executive Director Marijo Cuerrier, says despite challenges, many businesses in the downtown core remain healthy.
“We’ve seen over 20 new businesses downtown, just in the last year, all very successful,” said Cuerrier.
At least some of that activity is due to the pandemic leading people to reassess their goals and aspirations, he said.
“A number of people have changed careers or opened their dream store or retired early, or taken up a second pet project,” said Cuerrier.
Cuerrier anticipates that trend to continue and expects retail space in the downtown area could become scarce.
“We don’t have that much vacancy,” said Cuerrier. “Come the summer I suspect we’ll have close to zero vacancy.”
White says renovations at her new downtown location should be done over the coming weeks. She hopes to open her business in the new location near the end of March.
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