ESTEVAN — The Brick, located in the Estevan Market Mall, celebrated its 15 years in Estevan as well a grand reopening under new ownership on July 22.
A busy day started with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, coffee and cake and, of course, many great deals. The day also saw a barbecue lunch for the community and fun activities for the whole family.
New store owner Amarjit Bajwa, who relocated to Estevan from Calgary to take over the local franchise in December, said it's great to complete the renos and welcome customers into the renewed space.
"It feels amazing. We've been doing this work for the past month, putting everything together, bringing the new products for the customers. So, it feels amazing to have a fully renovated, brand new store," Bajwa said.
He noted they wanted to renew the experience to celebrate their 15 years of history at the Estevan Market Mall.
"We wanted to celebrate with the people of Estevan and decided to do a full grand re-opening and full renovation for the store, bringing lots of new products for the consumers," Bajwa said, adding that they went with the new generation look for The Brick.
The store states they are nationally priced, but locally owned and serviced, which is another reason to shop there. Bajwa also noted that their renewed store has many advantages, making shopping locally an even greater experience.
"The Brick is very digitalized. Everything is simplified, the price tags are simplified, so it's pretty straightforward to find and buy what you need," Bajwa said. "It's also very simple to buy online. So, we wanted to do this as much as our corporate stores do it, as this is a franchise. That's why you see a big change in here."
The updated store has entrances through the mall and from the south side.
Bajwa also noted that the supply chain is finally improving, and they now can get most orders in no time.
"Supply chain is getting so much better. In our distribution centres, we have 85 per cent of the products that we carry in the brand catalogue. So, we have pretty much everything in stock," he said.
With a big storage area, the Estevan store will have the capacity to bring in more items and have them readily available for customers. Bajwa noted that it might be especially helpful for those outside the community, who need to travel for their furniture and appliances needs.
"One of the reasons we did the renovation is we wanted to make the warehouse bigger, so we can stock up that fridge or that stove, or whatever the customer is purchasing, so we can get that loaded for them right away," Bajwa explained. "Because a lot of consumers come out of town ... it's hard for them to drive back and forth to pick up that freezer that they ordered. So it'll be easier to have it here. They can purchase it right away and take it home."
Bajwa also underlined that while The Brick doesn't have a north entrance anymore, they operate as usual, which correlates with the mall hours.
"If consumers are coming in, we don't want them to be afraid that we're closed at the front here. We're not closed. We did put a sign at the front that shows that we have mall entrance, but that's the only big change," Bajwa said.
