Stay The Hell Home
In such unprecedented times, if we’re not on the front line, we do the only thing we can - take a break from normal life. Sometimes the best thing to do is do nothing, and this is supported by the general advice of the moment – just stay home.
During this difficult time, we are encouraging our friends and clients to be creative and get stuck into hobby projects that they’ve been hoping to find time for. Now’s your chance! Like, for instance, upcycling those well-loved pieces of furniture that need bringing back to life. We really adore our mineral paint range, Fusion, which is a wonderful, new-generation alternative to the traditional and labour-intensive chalk paints that crafters used to love. Fusion shines brighter than most furniture paints as it’s so easy to use and is formulated with a built-in, non-toxic top coat, meaning you are also finishing the piece as you are painting. Truly revolutionary!
Rehab Squared has obviously taken a massive hit – as has everyone else in almost every industry – because of the coronavirus pandemic. Our beloved store is closed for the foreseeable future; pre-empting the Government’s orders, we’d already chosen to close to discourage any undue social gathering. Our last Saturday open was super busy – friends, family and general public needing to make the most of their freedom when it occurred to them it might be taken away any minute. Human nature at its most defiant! Our last week open was the shop’s best week since Christmas. Go figure.
Now we’re at home and being as productive as possible. Gemma is continuing the interior design side by carrying out consultations via video and spending many happy hours on her iPad. We’re trying to make sure we’re up to date with our suppliers, ensuring nothing has fallen through the gaps since the shut down. We were lucky, really, that there were no outstanding projects left hanging. A rare situation indeed, considering that Rehab Squared has completed seven commercial design projects since we launched in 2016.
Six weeks ago, Harbour Lights Café & Restaurant in Peel opened after its refurb. Rehab Squared was tasked with revitalising the café’s interior while retaining the original character of the old-fashioned tea shop. Gemma restored the best of the café’s traditional décor and contemporised it using farmhouse rustic and British seaside elements, breathing new life into a Manx classic. Though the reopening was short lived, we can’t wait for the café to return to charming Peel in its customary way over the coming years.
Conversely, a year ago, the Courthouse Club reopened following a mega update project, which Rehab Squared was delighted to have played such a major role in. Gemma came up with a dynamic design concept that combined aesthetics from classic clubbing culture with futuristic elements to create an uncompromising colour-popped visual feast. It captured the imagination of international design magazine MONDO DR which not only featured the nightclub in an issue, but also short-listed it for an accolade at their prestigious awards in Las Vegas in June. Yes – Vegas – how very tempting…
So after the excitement of recent years, the designs we’re working on currently are for ourselves - which is fortunate given the circumstances. We’re really excited about the new direction we’re taking for Rehab Squared by moving into accommodation and designing our own “invisible service” aparthotel, Loft 11, which has been inspired by our travel adventures over the past few years. Planning approval had been secured and construction work started on the building the week the pandemic hit. What timing!? Tools were downed within 24 hours of kick-off and our team are currently all at home chomping at the bit to get going. In the meantime, we’re designing, sourcing and buying, preparing for a quick turn around as soon as normal service resumes around the world – whenever that may be.
Underneath Loft 11 at 11 Castle Street is the Pop-Up Shop, a community driven initiative that we personally launched last Autumn, separate to Rehab Squared. The building has a long, interesting retail history, providing a home to some true Manx institutions such as Intersport, Betty Red and En Fin over the years. When the last tenants, Offshore Vapes, moved into Strand Street at the end of last Summer, we soon realised the long-term retail tenants were not there anymore. We feel it too – our store at 9-11 Duke Street has been a struggle to justify with rent, rates and bills to pay in a climate where most retail is now done online. Further, we are part of an industry that’s considered “luxury” on an Island that doesn’t have an abundance of big spenders. So we thought that in our empty building we would encourage small business owners to try out their offering without the ties into a long, expensive, often restrictive lease.
A true pop-up shop hadn’t been done on the high street of the Isle of Man, so we marketed it to people wanting to test a new idea. There was plenty of interest - which we knew there would be as there are so many innovative and passionate people on our Island. Our first pop-up tenant was Linda Quirk, part of the art community on the Island. Linda felt ready to move out of her finance job to try out a concept she’d been considering for some time. A few weeks after our first discussions, The Curator was opened to the public, a coffee shop and exhibition space, selling artworks, crafts and ceramics by local artists.
The Curator was a hit, with Linda finding a genuine gap in the market to make a success out of a 12-week rental period on the lead-up to Christmas. Manx artists were able to sell more easily to the general public, and Castle Street gained a handy coffee space that was open when many weren’t – Linda tested out different days and hours, organised workshops by collaborating with art groups, changed up her café offering depending on the demand… We were excited that the shop was being used in exactly the way we’d envisaged. Linda is now scoping out buying her own shop space to continue The Curator and we wish her all the luck in the world with her business that helps so many creative people in our community.
In the new year, 11 Castle Street hosted Viv Edge and a craft consortium for a series of Saturdays who set up stalls in the space for a weekend market, then Sindy Lambert who created a 5-day pop-up shop for her team of small business owners. In both cases, the shop allowed independents, who probably couldn’t alone justify renting a space, to get together and try out their products on the high street.
Though we are delighted we’ve been able to help the small business network, the creative industries, and anyone who has wondered how their idea would fare in a real retail environment, we have discovered that we would have to fill our calendar to make it pay for itself – with substantial rates and utilities to cover. To run a sustainable pop-up business while keeping the rent affordable for the temporary tenants is a difficult one, but we are going to push on in the hopes of finding a balance. And we haven’t ruled out the possibility a long-term tenant either – if we learn anything from history, it’s that people often find great opportunities in times of chaos. With this in mind, we are currently closed while we make extensive improvements to the ground floor by adding a disabled bathroom, a kitchen and staff area, plus an all important storage area at the back of the ground floor.
Those of you who visit the shop, Rehab Squared, may have also seen that we’re advertising the ground floor of 9-11 Duke Street to new tenants. We are working with our lovely landlord to plan our succession in the wonderful old Peter Luis building which is loved by so many on the Isle of Man. After a fabulous four years on the corner of Lord Street, we’ve decided to move on – for all the reasons we mention above – retail is tough (and getting tougher) but we love what we do, so we hope to continue the shop, whether that be online or in the street (perhaps we’ll even pop-up at 11 Castle Street!). Watch this space!
With time at home, we are able to start the move online. As well as investigating e-commerce on our own website (www.rehab2.couk), we have partnered with new online retailer on the Island – Quirky.im – to test out our more Manx-focused ranges such as our first American collaboration with Chicago-based Barr & Harbor - a Manx Country Living range of beautiful candles. Even if we do say so ourselves, they really are outstanding fragrances!
We’ve got so many ideas for a new-look shop alongside Loft 11 and the Pop-Up Shop, so we’re using the time at home happily and productively, continuing to design, create and brand. If you’d like to make any enquiries about our shop, products, or have any design questions, please contact us through our social media channels. We wish you good health during the next few months and we’ll be seeing you soon.
