A luxurious lavatory with marble tile, high ceilings and silver pendant lights, tucked away in the duty free-shop of a small Ontario town on the side of a highway, has been named Canada's best washroom of 2015.
The 1000 Islands Duty Free Shop, the only nomination from eastern Canada, received the top prize in the annual best restroom contest in an annual contest hosted by the uniform and restroom supply company Cintas Canada.
Contest organizers accept nominations from the public then whittle the list down to five. The shortlist is then for the public to vote.
The winners of the national competition said their marble-tiled restrooms were designed as a "thank you" to their customers. The bathrooms feature high ceilings, pale grey tiled walls and dark wooden doors and cabinets.
The store is located in Lansdowne, Ont., approximately 50 kilometres east of Kingston. Located just north of the U.S. border, the shop is frequented mostly by travellers heading from the 1,000 Islands region back to the U.S.
"Our customers are usually travelling quite a distance to get to us," co-owner Heather Howard told CTVNews.ca.
"Once you've been in the car for several hours, generally people are looking for a washroom and I thought we should make sure that the washroom we provide our people is really special."
Howard, who owns the store with her son Jeff Butler, said the restrooms were completely gutted a year ago and renovated from floor to ceiling.
"There's a saying that when you're at a restaurant and you go into the washroom, that's kind of indicative of what the kitchen is like, so you want to make sure that it's nice," Howard said.
She said stores and restaurants often pay attention to sales floors and dining rooms, but forget to focus on the washrooms. Howard said she feels the washrooms are "just as integral" to a customer's experience.
She said the washrooms are a way of thanking customers for stopping by. She added that customers often thank employees for the attention to detail shown in the store's commodes.
"The one comment that a lot of people say is 'Wow, the washrooms are nicer than my bathrooms at home,' and I think that kind of tells it all."
The store will receive a plaque of recognition and a prize of $2,500 in Cintas cleaning products and services.
Runners-up from western Canada
The 1000 Islands Duty Free was the only business included in the top five that wasn't from Canada's west coast.
The BNA Brewing Co. & Eatery in Kelowna, B.C. came in second for its retro, backstage-inspired designs. The building was once home to the British North American Tobacco company, and the washrooms are meant as a play on the red brick warehouse's history.
The restrooms feature bulb lights, black and white checkerboard tiles and exposed brick.
In third place was Calgary's Tommyfield Gastro Pub, with a U.K.-inspired theme that extends to the water closets.
"A trip to the loo takes visitors 'across the pond' in seconds," a description on Cintas' website said. Doors are designed to look like red telephone booths, and patterns of double-decker buses, clock faces and taxi cabs line the stall walls.
Also in Alberta, the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel came in fourth, with cheery red walls, stools and counters. The nominated washroom also features black tiles, marble sinks and full-length mirrors.
The hotel's restroom has a "sealed with a kiss" theme, with a full-sized couch shaped like lips, and a larger-than-life painting of a woman's mouth.
Like the contest's runner up, Calgary's Bank and Baron P.U.B. was nominated for its nod to the building's history. The fifth-place winner is located in a reclaimed Bank of Nova Scotia, which was built in 1931. The restrooms feature original details including the ceilings and light fixtures, with art deco touches in the glass mosaics, mirrors and sinks.
The finalists were selected based on "cleanliness, visual appeal, innovation, functionality and unique design," Cintas said.
