Friday, 20 September 2024 09:18

Lovett & Railway, new business for Deloraine

The former space that housed the Petals & Presents business in Deloraine is under new ownership. Sisters-in-law Hannah McKinnon (holding daughter Lois) and Meghan McKinnon are the new owners of “Lovett & Railway”. They plan to open the greenhouse in May and will be working on the storefront, which will hold a pottery/art studio. The former space that housed the Petals & Presents business in Deloraine is under new ownership. Sisters-in-law Hannah McKinnon (holding daughter Lois) and Meghan McKinnon are the new owners of “Lovett & Railway”. They plan to open the greenhouse in May and will be working on the storefront, which will hold a pottery/art studio. Photo by Judy Wells

 

 

The word ‘sold’ is one people like to see, especially on storefront windows in small towns. A sold sign went up at Petals & Presents (a fresh flowers, giftware, seasonal greenhouse business) in Deloraine when sisters-in-law Meghan and Hannah McKinnon purchased the business in August. Their husbands Alexander and Laughlin were born and raised in Deloraine.

Meghan moved to Deloraine a year ago with her husband Dr. Alexander McKinnon who is a general practitioner at the Deloraine Health Centre. They have two young boys Angus and Royce.

Hannah moved to Deloraine this past summer with her husband and their infant daughter Lois.

For some time Meghan had been looking for a small space to rent in town to put some pottery equipment.

“I wasn’t thinking about Petals and Presents as an option at that time, but when we found out that Hannah and her family were moving to Deloraine, it seemed like the perfect fit for both of us.”

“Hannah has the background and skills to run the greenhouse and the storefront seemed like a great opportunity to create an artistic space that we can both use and share with the community,” said Meghan.

Meghan’s background includes working for an environmental consulting company for a few years in Winnipeg and a summer coordinating an arts festival and artist residency program in Newfoundland. The past few years she has been at home with her two young sons.

As for Hannah, for the past decade or so she has been ranching and building a cattle herd alongside her parents’ operation. At the same time she took on various seasonal jobs.

Probably her most relevant experience was in high school where she worked at a greenhouse that also had a flower shop. She was tasked primarily with the bedding plants and on the big holidays she would help out with the cut flowers too.

“I enjoyed working out there so much that I dropped a class in the last semester of grade 12 so I could work extra hours. I may have regretted that when I got to first year university, as the class I dropped was pre-calculus, but I think now I’ll be glad for that extra greenhouse experience,” she said.

Lovett & Railway will continue with the greenhouse on a seasonal basis and the storefront will become an art and pottery studio.

“Meghan is a printmaker and potter and I work with water colours and textiles,” said Hannah.

She added that current plans do not include regular business hours outside of the spring season. The aim during the rest of the year is to host maker nights, pop-up shopping and eventually offer art and pottery classes.

Hannah and Meghan plan to lead some of the workshops with the possibility of bringing in other people to lead classes or workshops in the space as well. While there are no immediate plans for classes as the building is currently undergoing renovations, pop-up shops such as fall plant sales, Christmas shopping and the like are a good possibility.

“The idea is to have a flexible space to keep people engaged throughout the year. We’re calling it Lovett & Railway after the intersection of the two streets where the building is located in downtown Deloraine. We wanted the name to be something that wasn’t tied to one business venture in particular, but something that could envelop the various enterprises the space will house,” said Hannah.

To stay up-to-date with the happenings at Lovett & Railway, people can follow along on Instagram and Facebook @lovettandrailway.

by JUDY WELLS, Recorder staff

 

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