Having worked in clothing retail for several years, both at the downtown Holt Renfrew store and during a one-year stint in Los Angeles, McCormack, 36, was confident she could fill a significant void in the young women’s clothing market in her hometown. Her inspiration was pretty simple—she wanted to create the kind of store where she would like to shop herself.

“When I opened, stores like Eaton’s were closing, so there was an opportunity for smaller boutiques,” she says of her 1,100-square-foot location on McDermot Avenue.

McCormack says at least five boutiques targeting young people have sprung up since Cake opened its doors. Several restaurants have also joined the parade but perhaps none is as important for attracting attention to the area as the shop owned by local jewelry designer, Hilary Druxman.

“It’s a really great store to come to the Exchange. The space is beautiful,” McCormack says, adding she is also a big fan of the Oui Bistro & Wine Bar, the new eatery owned by WOW! Hospitality.

McCormack says the area is certainly busier than when she first began calling it home nearly a decade ago, but that it needs more young people to move there to give it a pulse once the work day is over. She’s confident that will happen, provided cool restaurants and unique shops keep popping up, and developers keep churning out interesting places for people to hang their hats.

“There’s lots of arts and music. It’s a very cultured area and there are always new things happening,” she says.
McCormack bristles at the suggestion that she’s a trailblazer or the poster child of what Winnipeg needs if its downtown is to attain the vibrancy and buzz of other major centres.

“I wanted other people to come to the area and start businesses so I sort of put my money where my mouth was,” she says. “I really wanted this area to develop.”

McCormack says it certainly hasn’t hurt that the MTS Centre or the downtown campus of Red River College have opened in the last couple of years but she says it’s the smaller retailers in the neighbourhood that are driving customer traffic through her doors. It’s not just the fashion conscious that are noticing either. McCormack has been the recipient of several awards for her entrepreneurialism, including one from the Exchange District BIZ (Business Improvement Zone).

Buoyed by her store’s success—sales have continued to grow every year—McCormack had been mulling over numerous expansion possibilities. Not wanting to search out, set up and manage more bricks and mortar in Manitoba—or anywhere else, for that matter—she opted to start her own line of dresses called, appropriately, Cake.

She designed the entire line of semi-formal wear, which is targeted towards women aged 18 to 40, and she is currently gearing up for a national launch in the fall.

She has two reps, one in Toronto and another in Vancouver, searching out distribution options for Cake dresses and she’s looking for somebody to represent her south of the border, too.

But not every day is filled with wine and roses. McCormack says her store has been broken into four times since January and some significant moves need to be made if the Exchange is to reach its full potential.

“Crime is an issue, absolutely. There are lots of panhandlers here and people don’t feel safe. We need more police officers down here. The hotels are a big problem in the area. They’re basically welfare hotels and they’re only a block or two away,” she says.
McCormack says she hopes the rumours that many of those hotels will be overhauled to target a new clientele come true: “That will make a big difference. It will get rid of some of the people who are negative to the area and it will bring in more people that are going to contribute to the community rather than take from it.”

McCormack says she doesn’t feel uncomfortable in the Exchange but she admits she wouldn’t live there if she didn’t have underground parking.

Despite these drawbacks, they haven’t lessened her resolve to live and work downtown. Relocating her business to a suburban mall simply isn’t an option, she says.

“If I moved (the business), I’d probably lose a lot of my customer base. I’m pretty comfortable here, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be."

	From the newly launched Cake line, Rebecca’s faves are based on pretty prints and flattering forms that speak to her loyal fans. For summer—a floaty floral dress, $140.
A first look at fall—a bold, embroidered dress with tulle ruffle, $170. Cake Clothing is located at 25 McDermot Avenue, 284.4854,www.cakeclothing.ca .