Elwood's Wood Lab to permanently close in Saint John
'Bittersweet' end for business founded by husband and wife duo Tim and Christine Cressman
Elwood's Wood Lab, a chic handcrafted furniture shop in uptown Saint John, has outfitted some of the city's hippest offices, won heritage awards, hosted live music, and been visited by at least one rock star.
But "it's now coming to an end," said Tim Cressman, who owns the shop with his wife, Christine.
Elwood's will close permanently at the end of this month.
The Cressmans, who started the business in 2015, are planning to sell off the remaining stock before the shop closes on March 31.
They plan to move back to the west coast to be closer to their children.
"My wife and I describe this as a very bittersweet sort of decision," he said.
Chasing a dream
Originally from Ontario, Cressman arrived in Saint John in 2013 to take on a job as the manager of engineering and maintenance at Moosehead Breweries.
Wandering around the city solo as he waited for Christine and Charlie— their beloved Australian shepherd, golden retriever mix— to arrive, he became enamoured with uptown Saint John.
"I had never been to the city before we moved here," he said. "I came here blind. Walking around uptown on my own, discovering the town, there were a couple of spaces that really came to mind for me.
"This building, the old Hayward and Warwick spot on Princess, was one of them."
In January 2015, the Cressmans decided to leave their corporate jobs to open a woodworking shop — a passion project they pitched to Historica Developments founder Keith Brideau, who "really went to bat for us," Cressman said.
With the support of their landlord and the community, they handcrafted unique furniture in their workshop in Brideau's brand-new mixed commercial and residential development, the Warehouse.
"We really worked hard from the beginning to put out a product that was attractive with a good price point and attainable for people," he said.
The response to the business was "incredible" he said. "Through it all, we were still supported enough in this tough economy by the gang here in Saint John to do what we did."
Several contributing factors
The decision to close came after what seemed to be a downturn in the local market for their work.
"Last year was a bit of a rough year for us," said Cressman. "We certainly saw a downturn in the economy out here."
The Cressmans had hoped to work on three different patio projects for uptown restaurants, Cressman said — but the restaurateurs failed to receive approval from the city to build the patios.
"Mid-year last year, there were some commercial projects that we put a lot of time into chasing. Unfortunately they didn't come to fruition," he said.
But the real "catalyst for the failure of our business in Saint John," Cressman said, was that he and his wife had left their two adult children, ages 25 and 30, behind on the west coast.
"[It] was our failure to pull the kids out here to Saint John," he said. "We'd worked hard to convince them to come out to Saint John [but] life, and girlfriends and boyfriends out west and stuff like that, stopped us from doing that."
"We realized that we've gotta get back to be with my kids," Cressman said.
"We've made the difficult decision to shut Elwood's down permanently here in Saint John."
New tenants needed
Historica Developments is already actively seeking new tenants for the street level of 91 Princess Street.
"It's an amazing space, about 2,850 square feet in a prime location right between Princess and King, [with] high ceilings and exposed brick," said Tiffany Mokhtari, operations manager for Historica Developments.
She said there have already been "half a dozen" inquiries since Historica posted an ad on Kijiji the first week of March.
Nothing but thanks
As for the Cressmans, they plan to return to the west coast at the end of the month.
While there are some things he'd have done differently if given the opportunity, Cressman said, he and his family are grateful for the welcome they received in Saint John.
"This has been a great experience for us," he said. "It's funny when you look at it. Didn't quite have the outcome we wanted. This is something we wouldn't have had the nerve to do in Vancouver. This was a friendly place to do it."
He's even grateful to all the folks who never made it inside the shop.
"Even the people who weren't our customers - it was so cool to me, the guy that spent most of his career inside of a dark factory or a dark brewery, to be working here in the shop of ours, with its big windows, and see just how much of a part of the neighborhood we'd become," he said.
It's amazing how many people we recognize as uptowners — they walk by, they look in the place, they nod, they greet Charlie," he said.
"Just thank you. Thanks a lot."
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