CAMBRIDGE – A favourite women’s apparel and accessory boutique which closed its brick and mortar shop in March 2023 will return to Galt for a three-day pop-up shop featuring appearances by style icon, Lynn Spence.
Women’s International Gift & Gallery – or, WIGG – a social enterprise operated by YWCA Cambridge which closed the doors to its physical store in March 2023 will be hosting its first pop-up shop event this September.
The three-day pop-up takes place Friday September 22 to Sunday, September 23 and will feature popular North American brands such as Sympli and Bryn Walker, as well as Italian designer, Paolo Tricot and other favourites. Style Icon and frequent CityLine guest, Lynn Spence will be on hand throughout the weekend to provide free consultations to shoppers. All proceeds from sales will support YWCA Cambridge’s free violence prevention programming across Waterloo Region.
YWCA Cambridge operated WIGG for more than 12 years as a way to raise unrestricted funds to support its free community-based programming which have no stable source of funding.
The boutique quickly went online at the beginning of the pandemic lockdowns, expanding its reach across North America. The move online became a double-edged sword when managing the store became too cumbersome for staff to manage off the sides of their desks without putting at risk YWCA’s core programming. The online store remains live while WIGG continues selling off older inventory.
“It was a difficult decision for us to make,” said YWCA Cambridge CEO, Kim Decker. “This store has been a labour of love since day one, and I know its closure was a sad loss for many shoppers across southwestern Ontario and beyond.
“However, when it became clear that the store was no longer supporting our work, but becoming our work, we knew it was time to step back and rethink how we can use this critical source of unrestricted funds. That’s when we decided to test out two pop-up shops in 2023-24.”
In addition to brand new fall inventory, the pop-up will feature a fashion show by Lynn Spence, refreshments and significant sales on past seasons’ inventory. Stay tuned to wiggonline.com for sneak peaks at incoming inventory and other details.
For more information, please contact Roz Gunn at r.gunn@ywcacambridge.ca.