Dynasty Bathrooms Winnipeg Logan
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This article was published 2/3/2017 (1739 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Stepping into the shadow of the big box competitors is not a decision to be made lightly. But if a business is going to do it, Tina Driscoll says, some flair is required.
"We didn't want to just be a little speck in the south (end), we wanted to make an impact. That's why we went with the 5,000-square-foot showroom, right across from the IKEA — we wanted to make that statement," the vice-president of Dynasty Bathrooms said of the company's new location at 3-966 Lorimer Blvd.
It is the longtime Winnipeg bathroom renovation company's first expansion. Driscoll's father, Ken Onsowich, started Dynasty 33 years ago in his basement and the company's 10,000-square-foot showroom/warehouse at 369 Logan Ave. has been its home base for decades. (Onsowich remains president of the company, which has 18 employees between the two facilities.)
It is a plan roughly eight years in the making, which is when Driscoll rejoined the business (her first job as a youngster was "cleaning the showroom"). Even though Dynasty is well-known in the North End and has a large footprint (it currently has an installation team working on a renovation project on a home in Portage la Prairie), establishing a visible presence in the city's burgeoning south end was, in part, fuelled by Driscoll's experience as a Linden Woods homeowner.
While doing work on her own home, she discovered her neighbours were interested in what Dynasty has to offer: full-service bathroom renovations from planning to product selection to installation.
The notion was further supported by the company's customer input. "We heard it from our clients," Driscoll said. "For the last year, we've been surveying our customers... (who said), 'Wish you guys had a location in the south.' So we listened to our clients."
TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Driscoll and her father, Ken Onsowich.
In the search for the right second location, Dynasty looked at buildings ranging from Pembina Highway to the RM of Macdonald. But landing where it did — with long-established neighbourhoods such as Linden Woods and Whyte Ridge to the south and Tuxedo and River Heights to the north, as well as large-scale housing development in the south and new condo builds just down Sterling Lyon Parkway — the business implications were clear.
"There's a lot of need for what we have... Going to find something in this area other than clothing or a car is quite tricky," Driscoll said of the rapidly expanding Kenaston Boulevard business corridor. "You can go to (the big box stores), but... you can yell out your name in there and just hear echos. It can be hard to find someone to help you, let alone find the product you want or need."
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As a smaller company entering a business neighbourhood dominated by the likes of Home Depot, Rona and IKEA, Driscoll said do-it-yourselfers will always be welcome and supported at Dynasty but its target market is people looking for someone to do the majority of work for them.
"What I'm finding in my three weeks (at the Lorimer location) is clients want our expertise. They want to come in and say, 'This is my budget, I have this wish list. How do I make this happen?'
"And that's not something a box store can facilitate... To do a full renovation, I think folks know a box store is not going to be your go-to."
For Driscoll, the key to Dynasty's successful expansion lay in providing personal service and customization and letting customers get hands-on with the products that may be the centrepiece of their bathroom for years to come. To that end, the Lorimer showroom (which has its public grand opening celebration March 11) is full of fully functional displays.
"Kick off your shoes... and get in a tub. You can actually feel the pressure (of) a showerhead. You can feel the aeration of a hand wand," Driscoll said. "(We want) clients to come in... and engage with the product, because it's not just a faucet, not just a bathtub. For some, it's a getaway."
scott.emmerson@freepress.mb.ca
Dynasty Bathrooms Winnipeg Logan
Source: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/local-business-building-a-dynasty-415179894.html
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