Secrets of Success Downtown Nanaimo

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Damsels Concept Corner

Dee Klein, owner of Damsels, Concept Corner, Heritage Mews and Knightsbridge Condominiums is a visionary. When she opened her first fashion store, she saw the area’s potential and had the drive and determination to help create one of the most popular shopping districts in all of Nanaimo.  This week she shared with us the interesting history of her Old City Quarter businesses in Secrets of Success.

DNBIA: Tell us how you got started.
Dee: To be successful at anything you do in life you have to have a vision. I knew before building Heritage Mews, Damsels and Concept Corner what I wanted and at the time the City said they weren’t ready for me, but this vision was not going to go away.  I liked the idea of a Carnaby Street style boutique which was popular then, and I found a 270 square foot shop on Fitzwilliam that had a motorcycle lying in the middle of the room, it didn’t look like much, but I knew the space would be perfect. I approached the owner who was very surprised that I wanted to put a shop in there.

DNBIA: Did you have a retail background?
Dee: No, but it was time for a change. I knew the key to success was not going to be about the circumstances I would come up against, but how I played the game.

DNBIA: Did you know right away it would be women’s fashions?
Dee: Yes, that was my plan right from the start. I found the best dresses, Joseph Ribkoff, Esprit, remember that was 39 years ago and I was the first one to carry the Esprit line in any store outside of Europe, sadly Esprit left the country a year ago. Those people could have sold to anyone else, but they saw and understood my vision, and Damsels grew with them. I don’t believe there is another women’s retail store that has been in Nanaimo that long.


DNBIA: Were the first years difficult?
Dee: It was 100% successful in its very first year. Every time someone moved out of an adjoining shop, I would knock down another wall and eventually I owned the entire building.

DNBIA: How long did it take?
Dee: It was in my third year, and  I was very happy and didn’t want to move, so I bought the building. The building is 100 years old. I loved it because if felt like you were in the old world.  When I redid the whole building, I found these beautiful old windows that were in the attic and I had them sand blasted, the arches reminded me of the l’arc de triumph in Paris. That landmark was the inspiration for the design of the store’s interior.

DNBIA: What came next?
Dee: I bought the property on Wesley Street and I had a decision to make, was I going to build condominiums or the Mews? I chose to build Knightsbridge condominiums. I had a rendering done from a vision I had. At the time I needed ten presales to make the project work. On the rendering that I used to sell the condos I did a write up of my vision and I sold fourteen to my customers and kept one for my home in the Old City Quarter! They were the ones who believed in me. Realtors couldn’t believe it. I had visions of all kinds of shops, ladies and children’s’ clothing, home wears and restaurants. All my tenants were very happy, the man I purchased the property from, he and his wife became my tenants. They saw what I was trying to build and understood the idea of downtown living. Finally I built Heritage Mews.

DNBIA: Did it stop there?
Dee: No, it was after building the Mews that I came up with the concept of the Old City Quarter.  People who own property in the area, their tax bills say “old city”. The architecture of the buildings reminded me of the French Quarter in New Orleans. I liked the idea of branding the area so you could establish where you were.  We worked with the Nanaimo Historical Society and got it recognized as the “Old City Quarter”, we even did historical walks through the area.  After the Mews was finished it inspired Kristo Zorkin to build Fitzwilliam Gate and the area just kept growing.

DNBIA: What do you like best about having a business downtown?
Dee: Everything looks quality, the Old City Quarter, the Arts District, the Waterfront area; everything is growing gently and beautifully. It was all such a struggle but we are getting there. I commend the City for standing behind us and the DNBIA for assisting with business improvements.  We have people from all over the world shopping here, local folks who bring their visitors to the area,  just today we had a call from the lingerie store telling us that a lady who had left their shop and come into ours had left her coat there.  I just love that about this community, people care.

DNBIA: What are your plans for the future?
Dee: I now spend half my year in San Miguel de Allende and the other half here in Knightsbridge when I am here working. During that time away my daughter is here looking after things.

DNBIA: What would you say made all your businesses so successful?
Dee: Hard work. I’m still working six days a week.  Also,  believing in the area. If I was in a mall I would most certainly not be there 39 years later. This location has something very special, customers become like my family. It is a reward to be able to give personal service. I have customers who are a hundred years old who are still shopping at Damsels. I love dressing people; they are all my Barbie dolls.
With the real estate side, both residential and commercial, it took a lot of courage to push it through, to fulfill my dream of having residences looking over the shops and services.  We saw the potential, we had sidewalks built, we put a new roof on the church, we added trees, had the train station rebuilt. The City is adding a new parking lot where the old Share Kare business used to be.   We came together as a community and we made it economically viable for other people to build their businesses along side of us.

DNBIA: Any other dreams left to fill?
Dee: I have one more; I want to have a sign on the bridge which says welcome to the Old City Quarter on one side and welcome to Commercial Street on the other.