When Shelby Leonard-Watt was a kid, her favourite thing was “playing store.” She’d raid her mom’s closet and hang up all the beautiful clothes. Then she’d sit, in the middle of her display, waiting for imaginary customers, while smoking a fake cigarette.

Now there’s no time for Leonard-Watt to sit, and her ever-increasing number of customers are the inspiration and the reason for her S.O.S. brand expansion.

S.O.S. (Save Our Soles) was opened 12 years ago on George Street in downtown Peterborough. The shoe and lifestyle boutique was a spin-off from PLUSH, the fashion-forward destination shop she was running with her husband Mike Watt. Over the years, the energy of S.O.S. just kept growing.

Leonard-Watt built S.O.S. with small, well-edited collections that focused on events and with a deep understanding of the local retail market and downtown community vibe.

Proudly identifying as a “Townie,” Leonard-Watt grew-up in Peterborough and says she loves running her shop on George Street.

“There’s an energy to the people downtown,” she explains. “We were feeling this fun, giddy energy in S.O.S. It was a place where girls were just hanging out.”

But as more and more people started connecting with the boutique, it started to be a problem.

“There were times we were so jammed, people couldn’t come in to the old store,” Leonard-Watt reflects.

So, with S.O.S. bursting at the seams and with a feeling that PLUSH had run its course, the decision was made to move the men’s collection from PLUSH to Mike Watt’s new Hunter Street West shop, Providence, and for the PLUSH space to be re-launched as the new, expanded S.O.S. retail experience.

Besides the usual chaos that comes from running multiple retail locations and the challenge of insane winter weather over the past few weeks, the move has been going well and S.O.S., now re-opened at the former PLUSH location at 384 George Street, can start a new chapter as a female-focused space.

“It was time to make this change,” Leonard-Watt explains. “It was time to go back to the experience that people and customers want. It’s about being able to have an interaction in the store with a stranger about a pair of shoes that you’re trying on. It’s about having fun with clothing.”

Leonard-Watt says this is what she’s always loved — having fun with clothing.

She has a real thing for shoes, heels in particular, but now with three kids and shop swaps and with constant running around, you’re more likely to find her in a pair of sneakers. She smiles, remembering the days when she could be a bit more expressive with clothing.

“I don’t go to my kids’ school in elbow length gloves and a fur hat,” she laughs. “Fashion is where you can push your comfort and you can feel good and you can feel confident.”

And with the new female-focused space, she’s planning to put even more emphasis on this notion of women empowering women — something that Leonard-Watt has had success with in the store and through social media.

“My voice was heard and wanted to be heard on Instagram,” she admits. “I let myself have my own voice and I share what’s happening in the moment, good and bad and funny.”

Social media has helped S.O.S. grow and the store’s brand is anchored through Leonard-Watt’s ability to be loud, empowering and, at times, proudly irreverent. She’s focused on the strength of women and how much better life is when women do great things for each other.

Again, this translates into the George Street fashion hub. With high ceilings, lots of natural light, and bright, even on a dull day, the store is filled with girly fashions, pops of colour, and a wall of shoes that are both fashion-forward and wildly nostalgic.

Customers of all ages wander into the store. There’s great conversation, fun music, and an unspoken understanding that a great outfit can absolutely fix a bad mood.

“If you’re having a shitty day, we’ve got $10 earrings that can help,” Leonard-Watt says. “If you need a pick-me-up, it doesn’t have to be a third cup of coffee.”

These insights are what Leonard-Watt will be growing the new S.O.S. with. That and her ability to buy great pieces for her faithful customers and for those who are just discovering the downtown space for the first time.

“Our market can be casual and gravitates towards easy dressing, events, and must-haves, but I will always buy what I consider to be something special,” she says about choosing pieces for her store. “If I get excited for a style, I’ll buy it.”

The expanded S.O.S., now open at 384 George Street in Peterborough, offers women’s clothing, shoes, fun lifestyle items, fashion fixes, and absolute empowerment. There will be a clearance sale in May at the old S.O.S. space (388 George St. North, Peterborough) that will feature S.O.S. footwear and clothing from the former PLUSH boutique.

“It’s going to be a slash-and-burn clearance sale,” Leonard-Watt says. “It’s all about the new growth — and people love telling stories about the deals they get.”

S.O.S. is located at 384 George Street in downtown Peterborough. For more information, call 705-741-4326, email info@sossaveoursoles.ca, or visit www.sossaveoursoles.ca (where you can buy products online). You can also follow S.O.S. on Facebook and Instagram.

VIDEO: S.O.S. “The little shop that could.”

As we approach Earth Day, on April 22, 2018, consider attending one of the many annual litter clean-up events in the City of Peterborough. This is a great way to help and protect our natural environment.

“Kudos to all of the community groups who organize clean ups every year,” says City of Peterborough Parks and Forestry Supervisor Phil Jacobs.

“Groups organize events at Jackson Park, Crawford Trail, Beavermead Park, Rogers Cove, Millennium Park, the trail behind Lansdowne Place, and the Rotary Club organizes a citywide clean up.”

If you are interested in organizing a clean up of your own, Jacobs says “City of Peterborough Public Works can provide you with latex gloves, clear bags for recycling, and garbage bags.”

The City is also willing to pick up the waste that groups have cleaned up, including garbage, recyclables, and large items such as tires or furniture.

Recently, GreenUP got things started early for Earth Day, while partnering with 100 staff members and students from King George Public School to clean up the northwest side of Armour Hill and Rube Brady Park in East City, Peterborough.

This clean up was organized based on feedback from the adjacent Curtis Creek neighbourhood that is participating in GreenUP’s Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods (SUN) program. SUN is also working in the Kawartha Heights neighbourhood to work with residents to improve the environmental and social environments of both neighbourhoods.

Many of the students who participated in the recent clean up on April 5th live nearby and walk through the trails at Armour Hill to get to school, so the clean up directly benefits them as well as the wildlife living in and around Armour Hill.

Grade 3/4 teacher Nicola Jennings explains the motivation behind the clean up.

“The kids care about the woods and they get upset when they see all the litter. When we go for walks on the trails and in the park, we bring bags to pick up the garbage.”

These students have a keen understanding about litter and its harmful effects on the environment and on wildlife.

“I think it’s important to know that litter can choke, hurt, and poison animals,” says Mikayla, a Grade 5 student at King George Public School. “Everything we put out [into the environment] affects their life and habitat.”

According to the Global Earth Day Network, the worldwide focus for this year’s Earth Day is End Plastic Pollution. Plastics are prevalent in many of the materials we use on a daily basis, including in food packaging and candy wrappers, and in many single-use products such as grocery bags, plastic water bottles, and even cigarettes.

It is important to note that very little of the plastic we discard is recovered through recycling programs and it actually ends up in landfills instead. It is estimated that one-third of all plastic ends up in soils or freshwater, which eventually cycles to the oceans.

New research suggests that common plastics such as water bottles and take-away containers never fully degrade. Instead they become smaller over time, eventually becoming microplastics. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that are less than 5 millimeters long, or about the size of a sesame seed.

In the environment, microplastics can look like food to animals, which can fill their bellies without providing any nutrition. Additionally, microplastics affect soil conditions. For example, when earthworms consume microplastics, their burrowing behaviour is inhibited, which results in degraded soils and reduced plant health. Ending plastic pollution is no small feat, but it would have considerable benefits for our water, soil, and air, and all the animals that share the planet with us.

Short of banning plastics, however, the second best approach is to ensure that we dispose of our waste properly, rather than littering.

André, a Grade 4 student at King George PS, offers some advice for people who litter around Armour Hill.

“I don’t like what you’re doing. I want the animals to be safe. Nature should be beautiful, not gross! And I want the people that are doing this to stop and be better people.”

While noticing the signage in the park, André added, “People aren’t obeying the signs. They say Smoke Free Park and Stoop and Scoop but we have cleaned up a lot of cigarettes and poop bags today.”

Students who participated in the April 5th clean up are hoping to be an example to other users of Armour Hill to dispose of litter properly and respect the local environment.

If you would like to get involved with an organized Earth Day event this year, join GreenUP’s Recycle Rangers at the 11th annual Super Spring Cleanup hosted by the Rotary Club of Peterborough on Saturday, April 21st. The cleanup starts at Confederation Park, across from City Hall, at 10 am.

For more information on how to reduce your own waste in the community, visit recyclerangers.ca or email danica.jarvis@greenup.on.ca. If you would like to engage with the SUN program, visit our website at greenup.on.ca/sun, or contact Jenn at jenn.mccallum@greenup.on.ca.