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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - For Chris Flannagan, owner of Harley's Hard Rock Saloon and its sister store Shirt Shack, there was nowhere to go but up.

When the owners of Pan-Asia Gourmet House closed their shop on Franklin Avenue this summer, Flannagan called the property owner immediately and snatched up the restaurant's former space, thereby realizing a long-time dream of his.

Chris Flannagan, owner of Shirt Shack and Souvenir Shop, said moving downtown makes it easier for him to co-manage the shirt store and Harley's Hard Rock Saloon. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

"It was always a goal to be upstairs, too," said Flannagan, who works 50 to 60 hours a week Monday to Saturday, managing both Harley's and the shirt store, previously located off Franklin at 4919 49 St.

Flannagan said having both his businesses so close together is principally a matter of convenience.

"It stops a lot of the jumping back and forth between locations," said Flannagan. "It's right above the bar."

Moving the shirt store came with a downside but it was worth it, according to Flannagan.

"The new store is actually a little bit smaller, but location, location location."

Flannagan spent between $20,000 and $25,000 redoing the interior of the store, which took a lot of "sweat," he said.

"I had to renovate everything," he said. "I took out all the floors. Redid the walls. Everything. Right down to the beams."

But Flannagan, who sports a ZZ Top chin beard and dresses in biking regalia, said his work ethic comes from his grandmother.

"My grandmother always said, 'If you want something done right, do it yourself.' Smart lady. You can't blame anyone else if you did it yourself," said Flannagan.

Flannagan, who started as manager of Harley's (named after the daughter of the original owner) but now owns it himself, started selling Harley's T-shirts in the bar. But demand eventually convinced him to open a store.

Besides offering custom embroidering and doing special orders for construction companies and other groups, Flannagan offers a bevy of hoodies and shirts.

He's glad to have the new store open and running with full signage now.

"I just got my signs up a couple of weeks ago," he said. "It's kind of hard when there's no signs up on the building. Customers are starting to come around."

While he likes being downtown, it does have its obvious downsides, he said.

"Some of street stuff is brutal. Drugs, alcoholism. You see it all here," said Flannagan. "I have a couple of people who clean up in front and in back of the building, every day, just to try and keep it half respectable."

John Marz, a frequent customer at Shirt Shack, said he liked the new digs and said it offers the store more visibility for newcomers to Yellowknife

"It's more available," said Marz. "For people out of town, it's more accessible, as opposed to being off the beaten track from Franklin."