TRURO, N.S. — When Sue Stanfield heard that Truro’s hallmark department store Margolians was closing in 2012, while pregnant with her second child, she decided to plunge and take a risk.
The entrepreneur had always wanted to have her own business and found that she loved casual chic apparel, especially as a constant traveller. To her, having quality, versatile, but fashionable clothing suitable for the outdoors, was attractive.
“I love apparel, I love outdoor adventure and I love small business, so it was a great opportunity to kind of combine all those things into one,” said Stanfield. “I think adventure fuels your soul. I believe in nature because it’s so great for mental health. I believe that being outside can reset or refuel you, depending on what you need at the time.”
Read more
Opening alongside other retail stores in the old space, Take It Outside started with outdoorsy and fitness-based clothing, said Stanfield, before shifting more to lifestyle and casual fashion. Their lines fit into the outdoor casual chic style that was just starting to pick up at the time and filling a gap in Truro, offering a variety of price points for young professionals, also picking up some of the former Margolian’s lines.
The business expanded – fast.
“I don’t even know how it happened,” she said.
Recognizing Dartmouth Crossing as a great fit for a lifestyle store, she opened there just one year later. In 2017, she was approached by the owners of The Trail Shop to purchase the prominent Halifax outdoor gear business and it joined as a fitting smaller sister store to Take It Outside locations.
“It’s so complementary because we’re already promoting outdoor active lifestyle and we’re promoting casual chic and quality goods and sustainable brands,” said Stanfield. “It was just an extension of what we were already doing, so, it made sense.”
Just in the past year, she opened a new combined location in Moncton, and last May, the Halifax waterfront store closed and reopened alongside the Trail Shop as Take It Outside Elevated on Vernon Street in Halifax.
Originally from Dartmouth, she had loved Truro ever since she moved for work and eventually settled down with her husband, Jon Stanfield of the underwear company Stanfield’s. She said it is a supportive community and describes Inglis Place and the downtown district as a “whole little gem.”
As a small business, Stanfield loves the genuine feedback customers provide.
“I love that the apparel we sell looks great on different body sizes, different body types,” said Stanfield. “It really helps elevate people’s moods … we love that people feel good in what they’re buying from us and that’s been our core value since day one and it’s really what we live for.
“You want to feel good in what you’re wearing, whether it’s in the woods or it’s on a date night or it’s hiking the Camino or Mount Kilimanjaro, whatever it is – we’ve outfitted people for almost every experience.”
Staff members said they love working with each other so much that it’s often like they can read each other’s minds. They have been amazed watching the transformation of the brand, along with the Trail Shop and Elevated store, grow under Stanfield’s leadership.
“Seeing a woman around our age being so successful, kind of gives you high hopes, like ‘I can do this’ … she’s showing such a great example to her daughter and her son,” said Truro co-manager Karen Davis.
Stanfield said that representation of female entrepreneurs has “gone a long way” since she first started, with mostly male owner-operators at the trade shows. She also had to overcome the misconception of people assuming it was her husband’s company with her being the face of it.
“Ten years seems like a long time, but it also seems like you’re just getting started.”
– Sue Stanfield
“I think it’s gone away a bit more now, because I think people are viewing women entrepreneurs as what they really are now,” said Stanfield. “It’s so much better than it used to be … and there’s a whole amazing network of women businessowners in Nova Scotia.”
As a business family, balancing work and life constantly “ebbs and flows,” said Stanfield. Her 12-year-old daughter loves to work the floor and her son is often around as well. She is proud of her team and credits them for stepping up to help.
After working at The Children’s Place in the Truro Mall until its closure, Davis and Melissa Markie found the employee-boss relationship at Take It Outside was completely different.
“When you support a small business, you support a dream,” said co-manager Markie. “So it’s different than working for a big corporation, like you have a little bit more say and you can almost get more personable with the customers.”
Travellers from far and wide make a point to stop into the store and end up discovering items from their favourite brands that are hard to find elsewhere. As well, quite a few locals with a fondness for the squeak of the old floors still recall memories from Margolians decades ago, said the employees.
While COVID has “been a rollar coaster,” the transition to outdoor adventure and casual workwear has been a boost for the business.
“It’s amazing that Sue’s business just was able to grow,” said Markie. “The fact that she was able to open two new locations after COVID when so many other small businesses just didn’t make it through, it’s amazing.”
After a decade of rapid growth, Stanfield said she is looking forward to focusing on awareness of their current stores and lines while staying in tune with their values and the communities they serve.
“It’s crazy because it was so fast and so slow at the same time,” said Stanfield. “Ten years seems like a long time, but it also seems like you’re just getting started.”