Everybody knows that The Brick is a place to go for quality furniture, electronics, appliances and bedding.
With more than 220 locations across Canada, Estevan isn’t the only city where The Brick is a big part of the community.
But the company is always looking to add new products, and it appears to have found a winner.
Estevan store manager Trina Milford said the Estevan franchise is starting to see more activity in the store, and there’s been more traffic in the Estevan Shoppers Mall, where the store is located.
“We’re selling a lot of patio furniture and beds right now, and appliances are in high demand right now,” said Milford.
The popularity of patio furniture is to be expected. It’s a seasonal item, and it usually sells as quickly as it comes in. Now that summer has just a few weeks remaining, the furniture sales will be coming to an end soon.
Beds usually sell at this time of year, with young people going back to school. Appliances are a consistent seller at any time of year, but they’ve been particularly popular in the past couple of months, now that people are able to once again return to the store for purchases.
Customers have also been renovating their homes this summer, and so they’ve been purchasing TVs or new furnishings, and upgrading other items.
But a top new seller are the arcade systems for popular video games.
“They’re starting to bring back the retro gaming systems, so I’m sure that those will become a popular item coming into Christmas,” she said.
Games such as Pac-Man, Street Fighter and others can now be found at The Brick.
“They’ve come out with little arcade systems that have the games built into them,” said Milford.
She admits she didn’t see the popularity coming, but they’re a great setup and they’re likely to remain popular.
“They’re just small, little compact arcade systems that definitely bring back the old-style gaming systems compared to what the modern days are used to now. It’s nice to have a little touch of what the games were like back in the day,” said Milford.
The systems have done very well so far. They were included with the purchase of a television or furnishings, but they have also been sold on their own.
As more become available for purchase, Milford expects the systems will become more popular.
The Brick employs six full-time staff members in Estevan. Additional cleaning measures have been implemented, but they have become more frequent, with people adapting to the changes and maintaining the six-foot social distance.
“We’re usually a close customer interaction, so having to sell to our customers at a distance has been a little bit challenging, because we’re used to having a close customer relationship.”
The customers have done a great job of navigating through the changes caused by the pandemic as well, and The Brick is happy they continue to make The Brick a place for their business.