We have some big news to share: Reimagine Co is going to be leaving our current address on King Street at the end of January.
All good things must come to an end
We feel hugely blessed and extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to spend Reimagine Co’s first year and a half in the magnificent, historic former Novack’s building at 211 King Street in downtown London. Now, it is time for the next step in our journey. At the end of January 2020, Reimagine Co will be moving out of our current location.
Why now is the time to move on
One of the benefits of our current space, as well as the location and the beautiful historic building, is the low rent. As we explored extending our lease for 2020, our landlords informed us that the rent would increase to market rates for a downtown retail space. We decided to take advantage of this opportunity to step up our search for a more permanent location of our own.
When we moved in last July, we had initially planned to stay at 211 King Street for just a few months. We are grateful that we could stay longer, but now feels like the right time to move on. We can’t share many details now, but we intend to move into a beautiful new space in Fall 2020. We’re looking forward to sharing more details about the space we've found in the new year :)
It has been hard work starting this new venture when we are new to retail and had first one, and now two, young babies. It will be good for us to have a break while we rest, take stock, and plan for our next big adventure. We have such big dreams for what our new space could become, and we need time to reflect, fundraise, and figure out which of our dreams to turn into reality.
Extended Holiday Opening Hours, Holiday Break, and our Last Day
Reimagine Co is going to have Extended Holiday Opening Hours starting from December 10, then we will be closed for 12 days over the New Year, and re-open on Monday, January 6. We don’t yet know exactly when our last day will be, but we think it will be towards the end of January 2020.
Reimagine Co Extended Holiday Opening Hours
🎄Tuesday, December 10: 10 am to 7 pm *
🎄Wednesday, December 11: 10 am to 6 pm
🎄Thursday, December 12: 10 am to 8 pm *
🎄Friday, December 13: 10 am to 6 pm
🎄Saturday, December 14: 9 am to 5 pm *
🎄Sunday, December 15: 11 am to 5pm *
🎄Monday, December 16: 10 am to 6 pm
🎄Tuesday, December 17: 10 am to 6 pm
🎄Wednesday, December 18: 10 am to 6 pm
🎄Thursday, December 19: 10 am to 8 pm *
🎄Friday, December 20: 10 am to 8 pm *
🎄Saturday, December 21: 9 am to 6 pm *
🎄Sunday, December 22: 11 am to 6 pm *
🎄Monday, December 23: 9 am to 7 pm *
🎄Tuesday, December 24: 9 am to 2 pm *
* denotes extended hours
December 24 to January 5: closed
January 6: Regular store hours resume (Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5)
Pop-ups, online sales & work in the community: our plans while the store is closed
You will still see Reimagine around, even after our current store is closed. Don’t worry - we are not going away :) We are planning to pop up in different locations around the community.
We will also be putting more energy into online sales, our work with schools, businesses and community partners, and building our internal capacity.
You can still buy our products online and in the community
We are planning to pop up in different locations around the community. If you know of a place where you would like to see us, please get in touch! Let us know about markets, schools, community centres, social clubs, places of worship, anywhere where lots of people gather. We would also be open to selling our products in other local stores - if you run a store or know a store owner, please get in touch!
You can also buy many of our products online at reimagineco.ca. We deliver not only in London, but anywhere in Canada! We are going to be offering even more products in our online store, and are looking at ways of delivering Refillery products within the London area, too.
Plans for future workshops
We are currently not planning to offer any workshops in January. However, on Monday, February 3rd we are going to host a Zero Waste 101 at the Central Library! We are very excited about this workshop. Please RSVP here to reserve your spot and share the Facebook event to help us spread the word.
We are exploring possibilities for hosting workshops in different places, too. If you know of a school, business or another place in the community where we could host a workshop, please get in touch and let us know.
What to do about Gift Cards and loyalty points
Any Gift Cards you have purchased in-store will still be valid in any of our pop-up locations, and also in our new store. You can also contact us to convert your in-store gift card to a gift card to use on our website. If you prefer, email us and we will refund your gift card by e-transfer or cheque.
If you have any loyalty points (even a few cents worth), contact us to exchange that for free shipping off your first purchase in our online store!!! Alternatively, hold onto your loyalty points until our new store opens towards the end of 2020. If you have more than $5 in loyalty points, we can also send you an e-transfer or cheque for your balance if you wish.
When we will be reopening
We intend for our new store to open in Fall 2020. We can’t tell you where it is yet, but we can tell you that it is still in downtown. We hope you like it as much as we do! It is not in our nature to be secretive, so you can be sure that we will share more details as soon as we are able to do so :)
It’s essential to us that there is lots of community input into the design of our new space and what will be offered there. We want this space to be co-created by the community, and will be hosting community engagement sessions in the Spring.
To be sure you’re receiving all updates, please follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
We want to hear from you! Please share your feedback
We would love to hear from you! What do you think of these changes? What questions do you have? To share your feedback, please visit reimagine2.co
Please know that we are very busy over the holiday season, so we won’t be able to reply to all correspondence right away, but we will read everything that you send us and will respond when we can!
To share your feedback, please visit reimagine2.co
Please get in touch if you:
- have suggestions for places where we could host pop-up shops or workshops
- own a store or know a shopkeeper who is interested in selling our products
- would like to exchange gift cards or loyalty points
- have any questions or comments about anything at all!
Thank you for supporting us on this journey
When we started Reimagine Co less than 18 months ago, we didn’t really know what we were doing. We still don’t. But whatever it is we’re doing, it feels like it’s working! We are looking forward to doing more of the same in our own, permanent space. What began as a pop-up now feels like it’s here to stay!
Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for shopping in our store, coming to our workshops, thank you for spreading the word and for growing the zero waste movement in London and beyond. Without customers and supporters like you, none of this would have been possible. We hope you’ll stick around and co-create the next chapter of this story with us. The future’s unwritten: it can be anything we want it to be.
With love and gratitude
Kara Rijnen & Heenal Rajani
Co-founders of Reimagine Co