Noreaster Apparel blew into our lives in 2018 featuring iconic East Coast sayings on t-shirts and other apparel. Over its 7 years owner Jay Hiltz has grown his business to include pop-up markets, Mercantile on Duke retail location in Chester, and now a new spot in downtown Halifax.
How long have you been in business?
I have always been self employed. That has been a 27-year adventure. The inception of Noreaster Apparel came in fall of 2018. We launched our first website. Before that I was freelancing in marketing and branding.
While freelancing I was working with an ecommerce specialist and we asked ourselves, why aren’t we doing this for ourselves? That conversation catapulted the idea of sitting on a beach while orders came in. That hasn’t happened yet.
What was the inspiration for the East Coast Sayings going on T-shirts and apparel?
It was a bit of an evolution. It wasn’t where the t-shirt brand started. I wanted to build a clothing brand more like Club Monaco, more minimalist, focus on the name and quality products. At the same time, I had started making some of our tea towel products from our cottage rentals. I wanted something unique. Guests started asking where they could buy them. That’s when I saw there was a market for this. Cut to we created a towel that has some 80 different east coast expressions and towns on it, that went viral. My brother said why aren’t you putting these on clothing. I said does somebody want to wear a t-shirt that says “Frig Sakes”? It turns out lots of people do. Then we built more of a brand message and positioning around it where these items are celebrating a sense of home.
During COVID, when people couldn’t get home, that’s when the Noreaster brand really took off because they could buy something that reminded them of home. That put our clothing line on the map.
Do you have a fun story from your clothing trailer days?
It was all fun. After a couple of years of doing the farmers’ market circuit from Digby to Truro, it was exhausting, but the fun thing was great exposure. We now get customers coming into the store saying I brought from your trailer x amount of summers ago. The connections that we made.
Is all printing done in-house in Martin’s Point?
Yes, all printing is done in-house. My goal is not to lose or change that. I like creating jobs in my community. I want to prove you can build the life you want without comprising where you live to do it. If I can strengthen to local business landscape in our little community of Martin’s Point, that is so exciting for me.
How many people do you employ?
We currently employ 6 full-time employees. If things continue to grow exponentially, we may have to look at our production model. Currently, It lets us be flexible and nimble. We can quickly produce as needed. For the foreseeable future production will stay here.
What was your reason for expanding to Mercantile on Duke?
We experienced the growth of our business during COVID. That really shaped a lot of consumer behaviors during that period. There was a push for shopping local because we couldn’t get regular supply chains. We created a network of over 150 small scale local makers that we were supporting through outdoor markets. When Chester came about it was a much bigger space than I anticipated for our first store. I said let’s round out the concept and bring in some of the vendor products that we love. Then we have a platform to support them year-round. That is still a large part of our merchandising strategy is to work with local vendors producing unique and quality products.
What was the inspiration to add non-alcoholic beverages to your store?
I saw a niche in the market. We also work really hard to keep the Mercantile a unique destination, we try not to stock products that anyone else is carrying. We brought in some canned product lines last summer and they sold really well. As we got closer to opening our Halifax location, I was seeing more consumer shift towards a non-alcoholic lifestyle. I said lets just blow the lid off and go bigger. It has blown me away the demand and amount of products we are going through. We then increased our offerings in Chester as well to include wine and spirit options. There is a larger audience in Nova Scotia than I thought. The demand is big for many reasons. In Halifax it is creating so many spin-off opportunities.
Where can people find you in Halifax?
2443 Agricola St, in the Northend, closer to downtown Halifax.
What is been one of your biggest challenges?
Storage space. I underestimated the volume of what we would need to stock for inventory. Growth and expansion. Also finding the right balance between calculated risk and taking a risk on faith.
What has been one of your biggest wins so far?
My team. I have been so lucky. I have had hiring experiences in other businesses that were not amazing, that was my biggest fear in scaling up. The universe has brought about the most amazing people at the most poignant time. Hiring has not been a struggle. We’ve found awesome people that believe in what we are doing and capture the vision. I strongly believe in treating my employees well and respecting their time in the hopes that that gets reciprocated. That seems to be working. I could not do any of this without my people around me.
Will the pop-up markets be continuing?
Yes. Our team is bigger than ever this year. The plan is to continue. They are so sought after. We get thousands of people that come out. People love the quaint quirkiness of our backyard in Martin’s Point.
