Brant Basics Winner of DBIA's Downtown Halloween Window Contest

Brant Basics was declared the winner of the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) best window for this year’s Downtown Halloween Window Contest, announced on Tuesday.

(From left to right) Katrina Favron, Kaitlin Burley and Kayla Peters celebrate their win in front of the Brant Basics shop window. Photo courtesy of the DBIA.

Days after the DBIA’s Spooktacular Halloween in the BOOOro, the annual spooky event included a dark forest-themed window decorating challenge for shop owners.

Over 20 businesses participated in the window challenge to creatively transform their shop windows into captivating displays.

Locals voted for their top three Halloween window displays throughout the contest period from Oct. 13 – 31, casting over 1,000 votes online.

K C Costumes and Studio East were runner-ups with 230 votes and 125 votes respectively.

The top three winners will be receiving $300, $200 and $100 for their winning windows.

“Our team is so excited to win this year’s contest! All the businesses who participated did such a fabulous job and we can’t wait to see the downtown light up again for the holiday season,” said Katrina Favron of Brant Basics. “We all came up with different ideas and worked as a team to transform our window, it was a such a fun project to work on together and we will definitely be treating the staff to a nice dinner from one of our amazing local restaurants to celebrate.”  

Brant Basics winning Halloween window display. Photo courtesy of the DBIA.

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube and LinkedIn. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for our newsletter here.

Local Office Supply Business Brant Basics Expands With New Furniture Showroom Space

The new showroom floor is open for Brant Basics as they had a ribbon-cutting ceremony of their new furniture showroom during an open house on Thursday.

(from left to right) Susan Sharp, Brant Basics Co-Owner, Marketing & New Business; Sarah Budd, Chamber of Commerce; Mayor Jeff Leal, Terry Guiel, CHamber of Commerce; MOrris Cox and David Cox, Brant Basics Co-owner during the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new showroom space located on the upper floor of the building. Photo by Brad Wood.

It showcases a range of furniture, office appliances, employee work space and more. The open house was originally scheduled for Dec. 15 but was postponed due to weather concerns.

Brant Basics celebrated its 58th year in business last year. The showroom was a way to help employees be excited about working in the office building again after working from home for several months from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We could really show employers to invest in their spaces to make them attractive and make them more attractive for when the employees do return to their workspace,” said Jeff Cox, Brant Basics president and co-owner.

Cox mentioned that lots of new technology for workspaces, offices and at home wanted to be a focal point of the showroom and its look had to replicate the modern products they wanted to sell.

“It was due for a facelift,” he said. “We wanted to showcase more Canadian product, made in Ontario. We wanted to have more space to focus on that and show a lot of the newer products that have some out now to help out with collaboration in the workspace.”

Brant Basics has operated since 1964 and is a second-generation store. It employs roughly 20 people at their downtown Peterborough location on 296 George St.

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.