NEWS RELEASE
TAKE A HIKE + TAKE 2 BOUTIQUE
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THUNDER BAY --- Last week, the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce announced, on-line, that Take A Hike + Take 2 Boutique was the winner of this year’s Clean, Green and Beautiful Award for improvements made to their new store location on the corner of Miles and McKellar Street. Over the past two years, Take A Hike purchased two older properties on the doorstep of the Fort William Gardens hockey arena and transformed them into a beautifully updated commercial space, surrounded by beautifully maintained green space.
Diane Petryna, owner of Take A Hike + Take 2 Boutique, is not new to renovating older properties and giving them new life. In a prepared release, she said that, “With vision, motivation and investment, we are able to turn neglected spaces in our community into ones we can all be proud of.”
Initially award recipients were to be announced in April at a Gala Dinner hosted by the Chamber of Commerce but because of the pandemic, a new virtual presentation format was developed.
In 1996, Petryna opened Take A Hike, an outdoor lifestyle store on the corner of Victoria & Brodie. In 2010, she moved her business to a renovated space on Bay Street across from the Hoito restaurant. In 2017, to better promote her womenswear collection, she rebranded the business to the Take 2 Boutique. In 2018, she purchased a century-old home on McKellar Street next to the Fort William Gardens, and after extensive renovations, moved her store once again. The business now operates as Take A Hike + Take 2 Boutique.
Take A Hike received a number of Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce awards in past years including: Small Business Excellence Award, Medium Business Excellence Award, Quality Management Award, Customer Service Award, and, on two occasions, the Looking Good Award.
Take A Hike + Take 2 Boutique on McKellar Street remains closed to walk-in traffic, however, Petryna welcomes phone orders and offers friendly and safe curbside pick-ups. “We’re discovering that our beautiful outdoor space and new off-street location is a real asset. In addition to fun curbside chats, we’ve hosted a few outdoor markets in our parking area earlier this fall. Next spring and summer we hope to take even more of our business outside,” she adds.
Since early May, Petryna has also been doing weekly, Thursday evening, Facebook Live virtual shopping shows. The shows, called “Shop with Diane”, are recorded live in the store and are growing a huge new audience of viewers and shoppers. Recordings of the shows are later posted on Facebook are receiving up to 5,000 views. The store’s Facebook following has grown from 1,300 at the start of the pandemic to over 2,000 people today. According to Petryna, “We’re trying to connect with our customers in an authentic way and in doing so we may very well be re-inventing how people shop in the future.”
The link to the store’s Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/take2boutique.takeahike/
Petryna’s leadership in the broader retail industry has not gone unnoticed. In 2012, she was inducted into the Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Hall of Fame and, in July of this year, InStore magazine did a 5-page profile of her because of her continually re-inventing of her business. The article was headlined, “Industry Leader”. She has since been invited to write a column for the national magazine. Petryna’s first column, called “The Passionate Retailer”, will appear in next month’s edition. In it, she will offer her views on what’s needed to help rebuild the independent retail sector across the country.