Reinventing RETAIL
Shopology is a unique retail experience. Described as a creative collection of homegrown products, it is the brainchild of Sarah Gamble and Sally Paterson and now has a very special home.
Located on the first floor of the historic, rebuilt Christchurch Arts Centre, Shopology is a retail business dedicated to showcasing a wide range of home-grown products sourced from around Canterbury. The business was built on necessity. Business partners Sarah Gamble and Sally Paterson were both running small, but growing, online businesses and looking to branch into retail – however they couldn’t make the leap to selling into existing stores.
In Christmas 2016 Sarah signed a temporary lease at Re: Start, the temporary mall built from shipping containers in central Christchurch – but the space was too big for the two of them.
They ended up filling the space with products from other selected local suppliers and had a very successful three months trading.
“It was a win for the suppliers but also for the customers as we had a beautiful selection of locally made products,” recalls Sarah.
The two Shopology owners then backed themselves to take a long-term lease at the Arts Centre, signing a lease not just for the main retail space, but also two additional spaces – a co-working space (Workology) and a pop-up shop (Popology) – the latter available for weekly hire and ideal for artists or small businesses wanting to trial retail.
“We have also joined the Christchurch Co-working Collective to help collaborate with other co-working spaces,” says Sarah. “This is a huge movement in the city and the collective is an awesome body, fostering support and collaboration.”
Six weeks after moving into the Arts Centre in October last year, with new shops opening all the time and tourism numbers building, momentum was starting to ramp up and the business already meeting expectations.
Sarah and Sally are counting the days to when the Arts Centre is back to its former glory as a creative hub and boutique shopping area for locals and tourists.
Meanwhile, they’re learning the importance of signage, because many people aren’t’ aware that the Centre has re-opened.
Are they confident they’ve made the right decision? Absolutely. The Arts Centre is well-loved by Cantabrians, and there’s a lot of pride in the old building, they say.
As for the CBD, Sarah believes it will be way better than it was before.
“The old Cashel Mall was lacklustre and the CBD, other than Ballantynes, wasn’t hugely popular,” she recalls.
“Although still in its early stages, the CBD’s redevelopment is vibrant and I believe it will be well supported.”
Like many Cantabrians, Sarah has noted the slow progress on the CBD to date – but now that stores are opening and businesses are coming back, there’s a sense that things are changing quite quickly. The re-opening of Victoria Square is eagerly anticipated.
“But the challenge will be in merging all the great new bits in the CBD together so it doesn’t feel disjointed and manufactured,” says Sarah.
“Building the character and personality of the city will take time and it’s lacking the ‘little shops’ like drycleaning kiosks and hole-in-the-wall shoe repairers.”
With brand new buildings and matching high rents, she says the danger is that the little people will get pushed out, and the place is overrun by large internationally-owned businesses.
Meanwhile, Shopology will remain a cost effective outlet for small businesses and look to grow its supplier base. The plan is to replicate the model in other locations over the next five years.
Sarah and Sally are conscious of the increasing amount of consumer spending that’s going offshore, through channels such as Amazon. “Which is why we love buying New Zealand Made and supporting local businesses. We want to encourage others to do the same.”