If you’ve visited the flagship Downtown Toronto Henry’s location lately, you might have noticed the abundance of tarps and “excuse our mess” signage throughout the store. If you’ve been to the store before, you also might have noticed that almost all of our products – normally shared between two distinct spaces – were all placed as neatly as we could in one half of the store. Well, as the title of this post implies through its clever pun (developing… photography… get it?), we’ve been doing some development of our own.
Since the mid 1970s, Henry’s has called 119 Church Street its home. Moving from a 2,000 square foot space across the street, we’ve spent the last 40 or so years in a space eight times larger. Over the years, we’ve expanded and renovated portions of the space numerous times, always making room for more products, staff, and customers. We’ve now reached a turning point where a complete redesign of the Henry’s flagship store was in order.
We didn’t want to just change the look of the store bit by bit. We came to the conclusion that a massive overhaul was necessary. Here’s what you might remember of the store the last time you saw it:
A lot has changed since then! Over the course of the summer, we’ve ripped out the familiar cabinets surrounding the store, and torn off some of the wall coverings, revealing the beautiful and historic bare brick underneath. There was a lot of build up on that brick from adhesives and paint over the years, so we cleaned that all off too! It still needed a new touch up so we decided to buy an adhesive and fix what we could, replacing what we took off. The once-covered columns in the centre of the building are now a part of its focal point, and we’ve left the natural wood look on its own.
With a whole new look and feel, our focus for the store’s redesign was on you, the customer. We’ve improved the lighting throughout the store, painted all of the walls, and even laid down brand new carpet. The carpet was a bit of a tough one because we felt it was really part of the store, as it was so noticeable throughout the whole building. We contemplated researching something like this High Wycombe carpet cleaning company that would instead be available in our area, however, we’re glad the carpet also got a refurb now! But, what you’re most likely to notice is the new camera bar right in the centre of our redesigned downtown Toronto location. With the counters against the back wall, and the front door on the other side of the store, the distance between you and the help you needed was too great. With a central camera bar, it is now much easier to find an associate to help you out, and our associates are now much closer to you.
The moment you walk in the door, you’ll notice that we’re all about giving you the best service possible.
As you can see, the lighting has definitely been improved, and I think the store shows a lot more character. As I mentioned earlier, a lot has changed since Henry’s first moved into this space 40 years ago, so our design is meant to keep up with that. With clean lines and beautiful images placed around the store, we’re showing off our dedication to art and photography even more than ever. With everything in its place, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding the product that you need, and with the central camera bar, you need not walk far to find help if you need it.
Of course, there’s some things that haven’t changed. You can still expect the same helpful advice from knowledgeable staff. Our School of Imaging is still there to give you even more instruction on how to use your new camera. The core values of Henry’s have remained the same, and we’re proud of that. We just wanted to keep our store’s look and functionality up with the times!
To celebrate the Grand Relaunching of the Queen and Church downtown Toronto location, we’re hosting an event on Saturday, October 5, 2013! We’re starting the day with a gift certificate giveaway (with the chance to receive up to $750 towards your purchase), and we’ll be having hourly prize giveaways all day. The Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk happens to be on the same day, so at 3pm we’ll be hosting our own walk (there’s only a few spots left as of this writing)! There will be representatives in store to talk about your favourite photography brands, and we’ll even be hosting free night time photography seminars throughout the day, to prepare you for the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche in the evening. Come by, check out the new store, and take part in the festivities with us!
