New businesses at 162 Queen St. East

The Loft @ 162 Queen Airbnb located on the second floor at 162 Queen St. E in St. Marys.

By Wendy Lamond

Taylor McDonald, the owner of 162 Queen St. E in St. Marys, has been busy at work over the last few months with two new business ventures.

The building is one McDonald has known since childhood, where her father’s family business, Shackleton’s Real Estate Brokerage, operated for many years. After Shackleton’s left the space, Partners in Employment operated from there for a short period of time. It was after that McDonald began to imagine a new purpose for the heritage downtown building. With changes to the workforce during and after COVID and many businesses allowing hybrid work arrangements where employees could work from home, McDonald recognized this format gave people flexibility in where they could work, and that the home is not always conducive to getting things done.

Welcome to 162 Queen St. E, a modern professional workspace that includes two private offices with some noise-cancelling buffers on the walls and external monitors available. There is also a boardroom with access to a 65-inch television for meetings.

McDonald, along with her husband, built on their own experiences by seeing others who work from home needing a spot that gets them out of the house but provides the privacy they need. The workspaces provide somewhere that can be booked on an as-needed basis – for a couple hours, day use, or monthly – offering a convenient option as an alternative to renting a permanent space.

McDonald’s goal is to provide a helpful, flexible space that supports people professionally so their homes can remain places of rest rather than work.

She also has a love for the downtown core. With professionals working from home, the economic development of businesses is affected. By having a working space in the downtown, she is hoping to help the many businesses that are within walking distance as more people are apt to support them when out and about.

The space offers an in-person spot to meet with clients for services like counselling and team meetings in addition to being a co-working space, as well as a pop-up spot for retail. The space has even been used as a pre-wedding prep location.

McDonald has many positive plans for the space and has great support from the St. Marys BIA and Stratford and District Chamber of Commerce.

On the first Monday of every month, the business is home to the Bean Social, running from 9:30-11:30 a.m. as a drop-in for coffee, snacks and social time for business professionals discussing topics like upcoming promotions, projects and sharing ideas on work improvements.

On Feb. 25, McDonald will also host the chamber of commerce’s Business After 5 event that will bring many chamber members to St. Marys and the downtown hub from 5-7 p.m.

She is also hoping to have guest speakers, workshops and retreats utilize the inviting workspace. The idea for a retreat leads naturally into the second business at 162 Queen.

For the last 10 months, McDonald has been busy with renovations to the second-floor commercial space, making it into a beautiful, welcoming Airbnb, which could be booked along with the downstairs working environment. The bright, two-bedroom loft is what McDonald calls a true labour of love as the location and setup goes with her love of supporting, dining, exploring and shopping local.

The Loft @ 162 Queen is a short-term rental and has free onsite parking and access to the downtown from the front entrance. Bookings became available on Nov. 21 and has already accommodated over 23 guests visiting the area for events like birthday parties, weddings, work training, family emergencies and just a night away, bringing people to town from Toronto, Chilliwack, Essex, Kenora, Calgary and Niagara. The booking link for the Airbnb is http://bit.ly/theloftat162queen.

“Overall, my goal with these two spaces is to create downtown accommodations and downtown working space for the community because when you stay and work in the downtown, you then eat, shop, explore and support other downtown businesses,” McDonald said. “It will provide a valuable space to support productive work, community collaborations, flexible options for small-business owners and entrepreneurs, and those visiting our town a welcoming, cozy and inviting space to stay.”

The hours for the working space are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and it can be booked at https://162queen.simplybook.me/v2/#book. Also, anyone who wants to rent the entire space for the day, weekend or week, or for retail pop-ups, can email 162queenstreeteast@gmail.com.