By Janhabi Nandy
On November 4th, Renée Lévesque closed her store on Dalhousie Street to return to New Brunswick. Before leaving, Renée shared reflections on her career—which she loved—and her time in Ottawa.
After starting many successful businesses in New Brunswick, Renée opened her eponymous store in Montreal as well as a wholesale production line to sell her jewelry across Canada. She opened a store in Ottawa because there was a demand for her jewelry here, and eventually closed her other businesses to focus on Ottawa and on what she loved best—making jewelry and getting to know her customers.
“The jewelry was the creative, the clothing was the business.” she explained.
A unique aspect of her career and a big part of her business has been her custom jewelry work. Renée worked with clients to bring to life custom creations to commemorate their special occasions. But it can be challenging to make a business out of what you love to do. Expanding her jewelry business to include clothing and accessories was essential to her success. She would split her time between the store and making jewelry in her atelier.
“Start smaller than you think—and bigger is not always better.” Renée observed that her current small store has been one of the most profitable, compared to bigger stores she ran over the years. While having multiple stores was good business, having one store to focus on was more fun and allowed her to get to know her customers.
“I had the best customers. A really special clientele. They would bring me banana bread, bring me cookies. A lot of my customers became my friends. I’m very grateful. It was fun! Thank you, Ottawa.”
