Image: Contributed
A Saint John-based clothing retailer is hoping she doesn’t run out of stock to sell when she opens in Moncton.
Kate Thompson is the founder and owner of Lordon. She told Huddle the difference between traffic passing the shop’s new location on 1612 Mountain Road, and the traffic passing its original, 1,500-square-foot home is “mind-blowing.”
Thompson said the original Lordon, in Uptown Saint John, sees about 50 people per day on average. She expects it to be busier when she opens Lordon’s second location on Nov. 1, in an approximately 1,500-square-foot space near Starbucks and Shopper’s Drug Mart.
“I’m expecting more, especially in the opening weeks, because Moncton’s a busier city. I don’t really know how many people to expect, but I’m expecting from 50 to 100 daily in Moncton,” she said.
Thompson came to the Hub City expecting to see a difference, noting many people she knows–and many Moncton-based real estate agents–advised her to choose the busy commercial corridor in North End Moncton as a perch for her clothing boutique.
“There’s more car traffic on Mountain Road than in uptown Saint John, where its’ more just foot traffic,” said Thompson, who’s been in the retail business for 12 years.
“There are definitely more eyes that will see me in Moncton.”
Lordon’s new location at Mountain Road in Moncton. Image: Kate Thompson
Thompson, born in St. John’s Newfoundland but raised in New Brunswick, described herself as excited and nervous to open a new location for her retail operation, which sells clothing, jewelry and gifts.
Lordon sources its clothing from a variety of suppliers, from Los Angeles to Denmark. Although such a diverse global supply chain could pose a problem for a business in a time of prolific supply chain hiccups, Thompson said it hasn’t been too severe for her.
“Our seasons have started a week or two later than normal. One thing that has changed is that before Covid, if a style sold well it was a good chance we’d be able to reorder it. Right now, it’s really difficult to reorder styles,” she said.
Thompson emphasized her own curiosity about what she’ll see when Lordon opens in November.
“This is my first expansion, so I’m very interested to see what Moncton customers will gravitate toward. Will it be the same as Saint John, or different items? It’s really interesting just to see,” Thompson said.
Lordon specializes in the mid-range women’s fashion, with a price point of between $50-120.
Thompson said Lordon generally caters to the fashion interests of women between 30 and 50, but has fashion options for everyone. Originally the Silver Daisy, the retailer rebranded in 2016 after it moved on from targeting a market of women in their twenties to a broader market skewed more mature.
“We started to have styles for women of all ages, so I felt like a rebrand was necessary,” noted Thompson.
There’s still some work to be done before the doors open. Thompson plans to bolster her staff of 11 with some part-time hires to work alongside the three full-time employees she’s already hired to work at the Mountain Road location.
Lordon is approaching this milestone strong, having weathered the pandemic better than many other retailers.
Thompson praised the number of New Brunswickers rallying to Lordon’s online sales platform when the province went into lockdown in spring 2020–a move that led to an approximate 200 per cent increase in sales.
“People supported local and really came through with online sales and local deliveries in Saint John and Moncton,” she said.
Sam Macdonald is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
