My Space: Greytown bicycle makers Blackwell and Sons.

For Adam Blackwell, CEO of Blackwell and Sons, his bicycle emporium is a special place

Describe the space: It’s situated in one of Greytown’s most beautiful Victorian-era buildings on Main St. It was the council chambers, a library, a reading room, and an antiques shop, and in 2018 was earthquake strengthened, restored and renovated to become Blackwell and Sons. It’s essentially a retail gallery but we have tried to make it a fully sensory experience... It creates a strong sense of romance for a lifestyle our customers aspire to; a workshop from a bygone era. It suggests a picnic in the country with the person you love and it reminds us that a slower sense of pace is the one that enables us to enjoy life to the fullest. What inspires you about this space? My wife Millie and I created the space based on our travels and actively studying what the best current retail experiences feel like. It reflects our personal values around sustainability, reducing waste and slowing down the pace. And it is inhabited by products we have road-tested personally. We don’t want to preach our values in a way that seems a bit forced, just giving people the option to pick up a product we know meets our own very high standards gives us the satisfaction of knowing our values are shared... It feels like humanity has reached a turning point. We’re excited for the future of our environment if we proceed at pace. And we hope our store and the story we tell helps advance that. What feelings does the space evoke? Millie and I love the excitement of creation and bringing the space alive in a new way each season. It is a very theatrical space and we know that we are essentially putting on a show for our customers when we change out lighting, displays, products and even the orientation of our structural spaces within the store. Everything we have learned in our Greytown emporium will be applied to new stores opening throughout 2021 in Christchurch and Cambridge. Localising the space in each town is important to us... no one wants a cookie-cutter experience.