Downtown Courtenay has been buzzing this month about the exciting arrival of a new store on Fifth Street.

Red Living, a boutique that sells high-quality vintage collectibles, tableware, furniture and home d茅cor, has moved from its former location on Cliffe Avenue.

Red Living is the perfect retail fit for downtown Courtenay, a unique shopping district made up of small locally-owned businesses that are a part of Courtenay's heritage. The owners are excited to be the new face downtown and to join a network of shop owners that value the face-to-face relationships they share with their customers.

Since the new location opened this month, Red Living has had a steady flow of new customers, many clearly surprised and impressed by the quality and diversity of the store鈥檚 merchandise.

As its name implies, Red Living offers a selection of vintage treasures that bring a spark of vitality and excitement to home decorating and interior design. Shoppers looking for a bold and exciting centrepiece for a room, the mood and style of a bygone era, creative lighting ideas, or the perfect accent piece for the patio, can find what they're looking for at Red Living.

The tasteful and creative way the inventory is displayed make these treasures easy to recognize and a sense of pleasant reminiscence invites shoppers to linger and imagine a place for these treasures in their own living space.

With a diverse and well-travelled background that includes visual and interior design, partners Anthony McCloskey and Joseph Davies started Red Living in 2009 with the shared vision of preserving great design and quality furnishings from the past.

鈥淢any pieces from the past have such great design and quality that they look just as comfortable in a modern d茅cor,鈥� says McClockey. 鈥淲e love to share ideas with our customers and make suggestions on how pieces can work together.鈥�

Acquiring vintage inventory for Red Living is a more personal process than simply placing an order, which adds to the dynamic experience of Red Living. Each piece is intentionally chosen and has its own story.

Over the past three years, Red Living has become a regular stop for treasure hunters who find unique gifts (often for themselves) as well as for interior designers and stylists looking to tell their own stories with a great find, and a great price. They know that beautiful vintage treasures don鈥檛 stay on the floor long, so stopping in at Red Living on a regular basis to see what鈥檚 new often pays off.

As the owner of any great vintage piece will tell you, the most wonderful finds involve being in the right place at the right time.

For downtown Courtenay shoppers, Red Living on Fifth Street offers the right place to look for the unique, the classic, or the unusual, and there鈥檚 no better time than now to repurpose great design.

Red Living is located at 238 Fifth Street and can be reached at 250-871-1325,www.redliving.ca or on Facebook/redliving.

鈥� Red Living