Although the pandemic has challenged our lives in extreme ways, we have been gifted with perspective. We are so thankful for essential workers, friends, family, and the community. At Golden Acre, the pandemic has granted us the ability to enrich your experience at our greenhouse. Along with enhanced safety in store, we’ve introduced streamlined curbside pick up and delivery options. We’ve invested a lot of time in improving the online store especially around Christmas. We’ve never had our real Christmas trees and boughs available online, and so many of you appreciated that option this year!
We appreciate your ongoing love and support. It has never been more important to support local, and so when we spotted the hashtag: #ShopLocalYYC trending, we decided to get out there and join in. On Instagram, we asked you what your fav local businesses were and then spent two weeks visiting them and purchasing goodies and gift cards. I can’t even begin to tell you how rewarding this experience has been.
We started our journey at Doodle Dogs in Bridgeland. They have locations in Sirocco and Parkdale as well! A friendly family run business specializing in doggo essentials like food, health, toys, grooming, and accessories. Colin and his dog, Jimmy Pupperino, had fun picking up treats for the doggos at the Calgary Humane Society! You can shop in store and online
To fuel our adventure, Colin and I stopped at a few cafes including Rosso in Tuxedo. This local brand can be found on Stephen Avenue, Ramsey, Victoria Park, Inglewood, 17 Avenue. Delicious coffee, tea, breakfast, and baked goodies! We also visited Higher Ground in Capitol Hill before the big lock down and enjoyed breakfast along with their 100% organic, fair trade coffee! You also sent us down to check out Hexagon Board Game Café in Kensington where you can not only grab a coffee, but also check out their selection of games and beautiful chess boards!
This #ShopLocalYYC is all about supporting our neighbours. We wanted to check in with one of our neighbours, Plantation, in Mount Pleasant! This local nursery has been open year round since 2002, and are so friendly and passionate about gardening!
Colin spent some time in Inglewood checking out neat places like Recess, Silk Road Spice Merchant, Kent of Inglewood, Spolumbo’s, The Nash, The Apothecary, and The Next Page. He not only picked up gift cards at all of these wonderful businesses, but couldn’t help grabbing a few things for himself! Local hubs like Inglewood, 17 Avenue, Mission, East Village, and Kensington make it easy to the browse local if you’re not sure what to get.
Speaking of Local hubs, I made my way down to Kensington to satisfy my sweet tooth at The Naked Leaf, Crave, Pie Junkie, and PB and J YYC. Like Colin, I got away with more than gift cards. I filled my reusable bag with fresh cashew butter from PB and J YYC, a peppermint chocolate cookie from Crave, and a Chocolate Orange Cream pie from Pie Junkie. Do I have to share? Spoiler: they were delicious!
Our adventure even took us online to businesses like Aleppo Savon, The Chocolate Lab, and Liz & Lotti where you can shop from the comfort of home and purchase e-gift cards. A great option for safe shopping this year.
I made my way down to the Beltline because you wanted us to check out Stuff4Him and Vegan Street on 11 Avenue! I definitely picked up a couple prezzies for my man friend Bradley, along with a gift card. This store was one of my favourites! They have so much variety, and the customer service was so friendly! Afterwards, I ventured into Marda Loop to explore DYP Refillery and Village Ice Cream. DYP (Do Your Part) is committed to providing you products that are planet friendly. Not to mention, the shopping experience is pretty friendly too! Village Ice Cream have a few locations in addition to Marda Loop, you can find them in Britannia, Victoria Park, and Bridgeland (Soon)! You can grab a cone or purchase a pint in their safe shopping environment, AND they have seasonal flavours like Ferrero Rocher, Crème Brulee, Gigi’s Bourbon Eggnog, and Vegan Gingerbread!
Restaurants definitely need that extra love, and grabbing take away or gifting gift cards are a great way to help them out! Colin visited some local pubs and eateries like Kilkenny, Jamesons, and Madisons for some gift cards.
Speaking of eateries, I migrated down to Ramsey in search of Red’s, one of your fav diners! Their “ninjabread” street board won me right off the bat. In addition to a gift card, I grabbed takeaway! I got the Prairie Breakfast Plate which was DELICIOUS! Highly recommend if you love perogies, potatoes, and eggs! They went above and beyond, seriously. On the bag they even wrote “Thank you for your support!”. Red’s won my heart.
These local businesses appreciate all your support throughout the year, but especially during the holidays. It can be so easy to support the community in store, online, through a gift card, or even by engaging with them on social media! Get the word out. It was such a great experience getting to know the people and communities behind these businesses.
If you’d like to view our video adventure, hop onto our Instagram page where we’ve created a highlight reel.
Thank you for shopping local, YYC. Follow the hashtag #ShopLocalYYC for even more!
Merry Christmas
– Brandi