Poking around the now-open YooBee website brings word that the first ‘YooBee studio’ will be opening soon. “We are creating a pop-up studio, store and café in Wellesley Street, Auckland,” the company says.

Warwick Grey, Chief Marketing Officer, Renaissance has also posted a lengthy explanation of the new brand, what it stands for and how the firm isn’t planning to be the latest iteration of "box pushers".

“In New Zealand we’ve lived with Renaissance Ltd for a long time and like a favourite suit, it gets comfortable,” Grey wrote. “People get used to seeing ‘Renaissance’ - they know what it sells. YooBee is about doing something new, it’s not going to just take over the suite of brands you know. Renaissance, MagnumMac, Student IT, Insite and Natcoll are not going anywhere for a while. YooBee is a project, to see how we can make our dream happen. Someday, all of our brands may naturally fit within YooBee.”

Grey explained that Renaissance has a long history of being a distributor, which the company is proud of: “But – and it’s a big but - everyone buys IT products or services for a reason, and we’ve been looking at the item, not the reason,” he continued adding that YooBee “is going to change that”.

Forming a YooBee community is currently top of the agenda. “As we just said, we’re going to completely change our focus,” Grey said. “We want you to tell us who you’ll be, and then we’ll help however we can. That’s going to mean focusing on the people who make up the YooBee community. And it puts some responsibility on that community as well.”

So what is YooBee? “Calling YooBee just a store is not quite right. We’re not planning to be the latest iteration of box pushers. YooBee locations are going to be a mix of studio space, café, ‘open mic nights’ and exhibitions,” explained Grey further.

You can visit the YooBee website here for details about the creative courses on offer.