SAINTWOODS & APT 200: KEEPING THE ‘LIFE’ IN LIFESTYLE FOR OVER A DECADE

It’s the early 2010s and Zach Macklovitch and Nathan Gannage – who from this point forward I’ll refer to as Zach and Nate – are creating a buzz in different lanes of the nightlife industry in Montreal. This isn’t the age of posting flyers on Instagram, and DICE links in bio, this is an era where mass invites were being blocked on Facebook, and physical flyers were still an important marketing tool in driving excitement. It’s the age that’d see the duo come together, using their strengths to put on an event that brought Calvin Harris all the way from Scotland and Adventure Club all the way from…down the road. 

Although it was their first exploration together, this initial party was a perfect microcosm of the world the pair have now built out. “There’s definitely some Pinky and the Brain energy between us,” laughs Zach. “I’m not necessarily Pinky but I’d say I’m more of the bridge and tunnel, connecting the city together, whilst Nate is bringing in A-list talent from all over the world and trying to take it over in the process.” Having local and global talent at their first event together meant it went really well, the two recall people coming up to them saying it was the best night of their lives. Although it was a great night socially, the financial books were saying otherwise. “The event went really well. It wasn’t financially successful, but we saw the potential of working together,” says Nate.

And divine timing it was, as away from the world of nightlife, during the day Nate was running Saintwoods, a lifestyle clothing brand that he had built up through the early days of social media, growing notoriety through “wild” parties and a YouTube channel posting vlogs. At the time at which Zach and Nate first met, Nate’s partners in the business were moving on, which again presented a great opportunity for them to work together on something that felt separate, but at the same time, connected, to their work in the nightlife industry.

The brand had begun when Nate, who was finishing up high school, and wasn’t interested in furthering his education, began throwing all-ages parties in his hometown of Toronto. “I went to visit a friend in Montreal and they took me to some crazy university parties,” begins Nate. “I did some quick math in my head: There are 1000+ people in here, and they’ve all paid to get in. Someone is making some crazy money,” he continues. After that Eureka moment, he decided he’d move to Montreal and start throwing parties too – he just needed to get into university first. “That was my first motivation in my life to do well in school, so I just focused and studied for a year,” says Nate. Alongside himself, and his friend already based in Montreal, they recruited a few other friends and all moved north, with plans to begin this company, which was missing a name. “Saintwoods is the nickname of the neighbourhood that me and my friends moving to Montreal grew up in, St. Clair West and Oakwood.” And so Saintwoods, the lifestyle brand was born. Although they sought out to do parties, there was always a clothing component, aiming to represent a blend of their interests from music, to fashion and everywhere in between.

Generating a reputation for being behind the best events in the city, the partnership between Zach and Nate had attracted attention from some hospitality groups who ran restaurants in the nearby area and wanted to work alongside the duo to make their restaurants and bars the places to be. A slightly new challenge, the pair then took on a partnership with a group that had bought a venue and tried to flip it, but they weren’t having much luck. “We told them, we don’t really fuck with that vision but if you bet on us, we can turn this place into something that really resonates with our demographic.” says Zach. And their word was their bond. In a short period of time, this modest 80-seater restaurant was going “bananas”, so six months later, the same hospitality group returned with the proposition of a second venue, which in a roundabout way ended up becoming APT 200.

“Nate and I had been travelling a lot. We wanted to bring back what we were seeing back to Montreal.” says Zach. After visiting this house party in New York, Nate and Zach got together to concept how this larger space could exist. They worked alongside a designer, taking reference points from all the cool places they had visited all over the world, that they knew would appeal to the eclectic bunch of individuals they were often servicing. “We actually wanted to name the bar something different. We took off the marquee of this building and there was a name etched in stone but there's a bunch of bullshit language laws in Montreal,” says Zach, meaning the process of calling it this initial name was not going to be as straightforward as they thought. Even when they had informed their landlord they wanted to call it the name they found, he revealed that was the name of his holding company, and offered to lease the naming rights to them. “We were like, fuck that I'm not paying you for a name. So we just had thought you know, we'll just call it the address, which was, 3643 Boulevard Saint Laurent APT 200. And we'll just tell people that it's called this other shit. The name on social media will just be a cover up.” Within a week, they learned the name was anything but a cover up. With everybody in the city calling it APT 200, the name had already stuck. “We were like, damn, I guess it really is APT 200. Thankfully that was the case, APT 200 has allowed us to be malleable as we've grown it, you know, in the last 10 years.” admits Zach.

“Owning a nightclub kinda sucks!” the pair exclaim as I ask them about how difficult it’s been to sustain as a physical space for over a decade. They speak to me about how it’s hard to get support, and how it was hard for brick + mortar owners pre-covid, during covid, and is now affecting businesses post-covid, but their love for what they do and the people they meet keeps them going and growing. “Fundamentally, a lot of people feel underserved by the nightlife offerings in their cities. The community we speak to, there’s lots of good parties around the world for them, but there’s not a lot of good venues that want the person who wants to wear 800 dollar sweatpants, a cap, and considers themselves a creative.” It’ s how they’ve managed to grow from running the show at Suwu, to now having three different APT 200 locations – Montreal, Toronto and Los Angeles – by continuing to serve that community that has grown with them.

I ask about their latest venture, Vodka by Saintwoods, which is exactly what it sounds like: a spirit. In a time where tequila is having a moment as everyone’s drink of choice, and rum is also filling up many a glass post-midnight, I asked the pair why Vodka? “We both drink vodka soda, vodka is a timeless drink, it’s not got a distinct taste. Because we drink vodka, we’re not going to start selling scotch. We don’t drink scotch – no offence to anybody who does,” Zach jokes. Existing under the Saintwoods umbrella, it helps paint the picture of the lifestyle one buys into, whether that’s attending a party, having a drink or buying some clothing. It comes from a somewhat self-absorbed place, but it’s what has enabled them to have the durability to stand tough times when they’ve come.

The bottle itself is again testament to that. Shaped like a “40” (Olde English 800 - 40oz), the drink they both used to drink back in high school, it’s very minimalistic in design, the red tab being an ode to the Virgil Abloh designed Yeezus cover that depicted minimalism in its deepest essence – something that stood out to me immediately. “That’s exactly what it is about,” Nate says, “Like if you get it, this drink is for you, the whole Saintwoods experience is for you.”