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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Inspired has opened in a new location, to the delight of its co-owner.

Lisa Tesar said the store, which opened in Yellowknife four years ago, is in a much better area when it comes to generating foot traffic now that it's located in the Centre Square Mall beside Gary's Barber Shop.

Lisa Tesar, co-owner of Inspired, said new customer traffic has grown considerably since the store moved from 50 Street to inside the Centre Square Mall. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

"We're in a great location," said Tesar, speaking from the floor of the new Inspired, in front of a display of dinosaur archeology kits for kids. "We've got what we call the three towers: the Yellowknife Inn, the Northern Heights and the library tower. That's, accumulatively, at least 4,500 people a day walking past our store."

Tesar said the old location, located beside Subway on 50 Street, served the business well in that it allowed it to grow, but that after a while, it was decided a move was necessary.

"Our lease was coming up for renewal," she said. "We decided that in order to have more walk-in traffic, we needed to be in a more visible position."

She said staying close to the downtown core, even when other businesses like the Bank of Montreal and L'Heritage are planning moves uptown, was essential to the move.

"The highest consistent flow of traffic during the weekdays is in the downtown core of Yellowknife because of the workers that work here," she said. "I think it's imperative. We're the heartbeat of the capital of the Northwest Territories. We have to keep it going."

Since moving three weeks ago, it sounds like the move has paid off, attracting both regular customers intrigued by the change of scene and new customers who never discovered the store in its former home.

"For at least 40 per cent of the people who have come through our store, they asked, 'Oh, when did you guys come into town?'" said Tesar.

While the size of the store has remained relatively the same, there's now more space for Tesar to work in the back creating gift baskets and custom wrapping gifts, her specialty and passion.

There are other changes afoot.

Starting Nov. 6, Inspired will serve tea-to-go in the left corner of the store, an addition that especially excites Tesar.

"You'll be able to get tea and a biscuit, or tea and a truffle," she said. "We're going to serve 10 of our most popular teas for now."

Introducing the tea was precisely one of the opportunities the business was missing out on while it stayed at its former location, she added.

"Where we were before was not the right area," said Tesar. "We did a lot of growing there, really thought about how we were going to take Inspired to the next level."

Renee Wiseman, a new employee at Inspired who worked at the old place for a couple of days, said she much preferred the new store.

"It was definitely a little cluttered," said Wiseman. "Here it's more spaced out and more presentable. It looks really sharp."