Sector: Professional Services
Principals: Lauren Poyntz
Year launched: 2024
Unique selling proposition: The first true coworking space in Sidney.
Strategy: A vibrant coworking space designed to spark creativity, nurture connections and foster a community-centred work culture.
Website: eclectivecoworking.ca
The old jokes about Sidney being an enclave of retirees measuring out their sunset years in trips to the pub on a scooter are just that — old. Sidney has changed. An influx of young workers and their families means adapting to a new set of preferences.
Sidney’s first dedicated Work, Eclective CoWorking, opened in September 2024 and has 26 members regularly using what was the old Smitty’s restaurant site on Beacon Avenue.
Owner Lauren Poyntz was tuned in to the town’s changing demographic, but knew there’d be a bit of a learning curve getting people hip to what coworking (like Victoria’s KWENCH, theDock or Digital Desks) is all about.
“We’ve seen such a huge shift in the market here and this is a new type of business for most of our community here. The people who knew they wanted it were on it right away, but there was a bit of an education piece that went into creating the space,” she says.
Two weeks of open houses went a long way to welcoming the community and emphasizing what coworking meant.
Poyntz came up with the idea of launching Eclective during the pandemic, when she was stuck at home with two young kids. “I knew I wanted to work remotely, but when I would work from home, work was endlessly creeping into my home life and my home life was creeping into my work. I saw it in other people in this community when I was trying to work. In coffee shops, in the library. I heard it in conversations with other young families.”
She says cowork centres done well are all about good energy and collaboration.
“It’s a space intentionally designed to foster relationships and interactions where everyone feels they have a space of their own,” whether hot-desking in the open-plan communal room, in their own private office, or in one of the funky booths where private conversations and phone calls happen.
Eclective is stylish and comfortable with a coffee/ tea bar, fibre Internet, bookable boardrooms and full use of the fitness facility in the neighbouring Best Western hotel. Poyntz is hoping to add a liquor licence that will allow her to host networking and community events.
“My business is never going to be a Goliath. We’re not going to open 35 of them. I want the people who are going to get the most out of this space to be in this space and I want to be able to cater to them.”
