After living on Shirley Street for more than 30 years, The Mermaid Gallery is building a new home at a brand new location on Riverside Drive.
Tammy Plante, who purchased the business just over a year ago, has also owned the local Benjamin Moore store for about five years. The purchase was a no-brainer for Plante, who was looking to expand and wanted something that would complement her business.
“Once we bought Mermaid, we knew we wanted to merge both under one roof,” she says.
Plante says they had originally planned to build their new store before stumbling across the building they are in now. They began renovations in November of last year and opened the store at its new Riverside Drive location on Jan. 2.
“We thought it was a good fit to complement both companies. We wanted to make it a one-stop shop for our customers to come in and have the shopping experience where we could provide them with everything under one roof,” Plante says.
“We have everything from flooring, to kitchen fixtures, to bathroom fixtures, paint, backsplashes, tiles. We have everything here,” she says.
The store is still a work-in-progress, according to Plante, who has big plans to draw in new customers. The new location is a start, now in a relatively high-traffic area in comparison to the original building on Shirley Street.
“Mermaid has been around for many, many years, but a lot of people didn’t know of us. People come in and ask how long we’ve been here,” Plante says.
“It’s been on Shirley Street for 30 years, but your drive-by traffic is quite a bit different here versus over there,” says Marcie Fairhurst, a sales and colour consultant at Mermaid.
“There’s a lot more exposure here which is nice,” Fairhurst says.
“Our vision is to bring in more stuff for our customers. I think the location and the move was a huge endeavour that’s going to be a good fit for our customers,” Plante says.
Plante plans to have a working kitchen where they can hold cooking demonstrations, as well as other events for potential clients.
“Our goal is to generate a lot of traffic here, even doing demonstrations with a chef coming in. I’m going to have a live display of the shower systems so that customers can see them working. I want to put on a lot more events for the community, even if it’s just little workshops to help people learn how to paint, how to tile, stuff for the DIYers to assist our customers,” Plante says.
The new store houses several other services under one roof, including kitchen designer and installer Curtis McCharles General Carpenter (CMGC) and Fast Track Construction, owned by Plante’s husband.
“We have a lot of skilled people under one roof. I think combined we have 40-50 years of experience,” Plante says.
“You’ve got a complete team that can build right from the ground up,” Fairhurst says.
While winter is a slow time of year for business, Plante hopes to have a grand re-opening event sometime in the spring, as well as possibly hosting some charity and family events in the summer.
The Mermaid Gallery is now located at 1185 Riverside Dr.
