January 23, 2020
Owners of the Exchange District gallery describe the addition as a pre-emptive move
Mayberry Fine Art is opening a second Winnipeg location in the Tuxedo Park Shopping Centre (Unit 138) to expand its customer base and better serve clients now disinclined to visit the gallery’s flagship location in Winnipeg’s Exchange District.
Gallery co-owner Bill Mayberry says the decision is a pre-emptive move intended to backstop the business and alleviate customer discontent while the City of Winnipeg resolves issues which have arisen over the last two years, and proven detrimental to many Exchange area businesses, including his own.
Mayberry Fine Art was among more than 70 businesses in the historic neighbourhood that recently signed a petition calling for the City to address their concerns amidst dwindling customer numbers, declining business revenues and shop closures. (Key issues identified are inordinately expensive street parking rates combined with reductions to street parking and the elimination of loading zones -- due primarily to the addition of year-round, commuter bike lanes along several area streets.)
In the meantime, Mayberry’s 1200-square-foot Tuxedo Park gallery will open in late February or early March once renovations to the space are completed. An official opening and exhibition is slated for April.
The location will showcase a rotating selection of works by more than 30 Mayberry gallery artists and stage small exhibitions, while offering convenient drop-off and pick-up for its framing, valuation and appraisal services.
Bill Mayberry believes that existing clients who were unhappy with the restrictive, scarce and comparably expensive street parking in the Exchange will appreciate the greater convenience when accessing the gallery’s auxiliary services.
The Tuxedo location will also provide gallery staff with an opportunity to develop relationships with new customers and, hopefully, entice many of them to visit Mayberry Fine Art’s 6000-square-foot gallery in the Exchange.
Hours of operation at the Tuxedo location will be the same as the Exchange District gallery -- Tuesday to Thursday 9:30 to 5:30, Friday and Saturday 9:30 to 5:00.
Mayberry Fine Art (www.mayberryfineart.com) has been helping clients build valuable collections of Canadian art for almost 50 years. The Mayberrys opened their Exchange District gallery in 2003 after extensively renovating the historic Lake of the Woods Milling Company building at 212 McDermot Ave.
They subsequently created a satellite exhibit space in the Shops of Winnipeg Square, opened a second gallery in Toronto and launched an online and live auction house in partnership with Cowley Abbott, a specialist in that field. As the business grew, Mayberry Fine Art has tripled its staff.
Today, Mayberry Fine Art is among Canada’s premier private art galleries and considered a foremost expert in historical and contemporary Canadian fine art.