Interesting Article- The first grocer in B.C. to sell only BC products

Thanks to city councilor Andrea Reimer for posting this link on Facebook.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/business/36013909.html#disqus_thread

New grocery store has ‘six-day farmers’ market feel’

By Lindsay Chung - Comox Valley Record

Published: December 12, 2008 8:22 AM

The first grocer in B.C. to offer strictly British Columbia products opened in Courtenay last week with shelves filled with produce, meat, frozen foods, baked goods, spreads and preserves, dairy products and more.

Brambles Market is now open at 244 Fourth St. at the corner of Fourth Street and Cliffe Avenue.

Owners James and Angeline Street have been working on the concept of their “all B.C. all the time” grocery store for five years.

James has been a chef for 17 years, while Angeline has spent a lifetime in retail.

“It seemed like a good combination of our skills,” and Angeline. “We’ve always shopped at farmers’ markets, and on Sundays, we take our kids berry-picking.”

As far as the Streets can tell, they are the first in B.C. to offer everything from bakery and dry goods to butcher products and frozen foods produced in B.C.

“Basically, we want it to be an adventure, and we want people to be excited about food again and know they can eat safely because we have pretty high standards in B.C. ... and feel good about eating again,” said Angeline.

The Streets are passionate about food, and with their store, they are sharing that passion with the community.

“We’re foodies at heart,” said Angeline. “We wanted to create something that wasn’t here. We have big ambitions with this. We want people to be excited about what you can get in B.C.”

People who have come through the doors of Brambles Market have been impressed, noted Angeline.

“They say, ‘I didn’t know this was made here,’ and that’s what we wanted to portray,” she said. “People are checking every single product; they’re enjoying that discovery.”

The Streets began by offering conventional foods like flour and cereal to get people comfortable with the store, and they are also offering specialty items.

“We’d rather have the perspective of a six-day farmers’ market rather than a specialty store,” said James.

The store is bringing in new products all the time.

“It’s going to change with the seasons,” said James. “We want the culinary adventure brought back to shopping.”

The Streets want people to feel comfortable in the store and to be happy to browse the shelves.

“We want to create a farmers’ market atmosphere,” said Angeline, adding they were thrilled last Saturday when people came in and stood around talking to their friends, and children played in the middle of the store.

The Streets use as many local producers as they can, and many of the names in their store are familiar ones from the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market, such as Heavenly Goodies Bakery, Estevan Tuna, Island Bison and Big D’s Bees honey.

Brambles Market is unique because it sources from dozens and dozens of suppliers, noted James.

By the summer, the Streets expect to be dealing with 150 to 200 vendors.

Fresh meat is a focus at Brambles Market, which makes its own sausages on-site, features Tannadice Farms pork, uses local beef and offers a combination of organic and conventional meats.

Butcher Mark Howarth, who is from England, brings 25 years of butchering experience and passion to Brambles.

He dry-ages local beef by giving the meat more time to age and go through natural processes to give it tenderness and fullness of flavour.

“The nice thing about it is it’s not being vacuum-packed,” he said. “It’s beef at its very best, really, like the good old days.”

Howarth is also focusing on sausages.

“I think sausages are very important for any business,” he said. “I don’t use any binders; it’s all meat and all fresh ingredients. They’re all hand-made, fantastic products. I can’t say that enough.”

Howarth, who is also working on his own line of curries, is excited to work with high-quality local meat.

“It’s actually exciting,” he said. “It’s nice to actually be working with a nice product.”

Along with James, Angeline and Howarth, Shari Anderson, who has worked at the Kingfisher Oceanside Resort and Spa, is part of the team, and butcher Daniel Day will join Brambles next week.

“We’re really happy with the team we’ve built,” said James. “We tried to create a very well-rounded team so we understand agriculture, food and sustainability.”

Brambles Market, which also offers soup and sandwich lunches, is open Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.