An Okotoks business owner never envisioned her grand opening would be entirely online.
When Christina Mazur and her husband, Derek, bought Monkey Mountain Toys & Games in January, they had one goal in mind: to turn the store into a community space where children could visit, discover new things, find something exciting, and be overwhelmed with a sense of “wow.”
By the time they were ready to open their doors in March, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and they weren’t able to have people physically visit the store. A lot of creative projects were put on hold, and the new focus became getting inventory online.
“We had to focus on going online rather than doing the ‘wow’ in-person with the creative stuff,” said Mazur. “It all had to stop. It’s a really beautiful warehouse we’ve opened here.”
It was a steep learning curve for Mazur, who has never worked retail or designed a website. She said she got by with help from friends – including the previous owners of Monkey Mountain, who have provided help entering data to the website and giving advice.
So far, the contingency plan has been working very well, she said. People are ordering online or over the telephone and even via email, after they connect to ask questions and see photos of items. The store has adapted to accept e-transfers from customers in addition to credit card information over the phone.
Even their grand opening ended up being online on April 5.
“I picked a date and time and did a Facebook Live for the first time ever,” said Mazur. “We just gave people a tour and showed them what we brought into the store and what some of the details are that we’ve been able to finish so far.”
The video is still available to view on the Monkey Mountain Facebook page.
Mazur said they’re doing more than just offering online shopping – they’re also trying to provide smiles for children who will suddenly be missing out on birthday parties by having their mascot, McRae the Monkey, deliver gifts purchased by friends and family to their homes.
“We’ve even had some kids come to the store for curbside pick-up,” said Mazur. “They come with their parents to get out of the house, and they stay in their vehicle and McRae puts their gifts in the car.
“It would be so sad if I was a kid and it was my birthday, so anything that makes them a little happier and maybe like, ‘Okay, this is pretty cool, I got McRae for my birthday.’”
As far as opening the doors for real, Mazur said that future is undetermined.
There are a lot of immune-compromised children and she said opening too early – even when non-essential businesses are allowed to invite the public again – could pose an issue for them.
“Parents could be worried about buying anything that maybe someone else has been in contact with,” said Mazur. “So I don’t know how quickly we’ll be able to do that.
“Right now this is going really great. Obviously I’m not planning on staying as a warehouse – we want people to come in and look and get that ‘wow.’ But we’ll see what happens.”
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She said there are a lot more ideas in the works for the store that are now being fine-tuned as online endeavours to add to what Monkey Mountain currently offers and there will be big announcements coming soon.
For Mazur and her family, it’s about keeping the store alive and coming out the other side. In fact, that’s why they bought it from their friends in the first place. It was something they’d considered in the past but always wrote off as too expensive, too much of a time commitment, and too risky with young kids.
“I couldn’t bear to see it close,” said Mazur. “As the business was for sale and no one was really coming forward to purchase it, at the very end – within a week of them closing – I said, ‘I can’t let it go. I’ve got too many amazing ideas and I just have to give it a try.’”
The business plan hadn’t included a pandemic, but she said they’re taking it in stride and working hard at keeping it fun, which is what she set out to do from the get-go.
She wants to develop Monkey Mountain into a destination location where the experience of being inside means more than the actual shopping itself. It’s what she’s looking forward to most once COVID-19 has passed.
“Seeing everyone’s faces when they come in and seeing how excited they are, the exploration that’s going to happen, just being in the space,” said Mazur. “It’s so fun, it’s so great, and it’s going to be a place where the kids can be involved and the community can be involved.
“I feel like if we can survive this, not being allowed anyone in the store, we can survive anything.”
Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca
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