With a goal of always reducing my footprint, and supporting friends and our community, I choose to shop small whenever I can. I'll keep adding to this list because there are way more than I've mentioned here, but here are some of my favorites for casual browsing, and finding local gifts.
Kindred Homestead Supply
I believe this is Vancouver’s only bulk refillery for home and personal care products. They also have a variety of sustainable home goods, local makers’ products and artwork, and host great events such as monthly flea markets, shibori dyeing classes, and clothing swaps. I adore basically every initiative they launch.
Suburban Succulents
Crazy plant people, stop with the bananas prices at the trendy Portland plant shops, and drop in to Suburban Succulents, a hidden gem in a residential neighborhood in Vancouver. They’re by no means only succulents–in fact, Adriane, the owner, will happily try to source your wish list of houseplants at super reasonable prices. She’s also ultra-helpful in diagnosing what’s wrong with any of your suffering plants, and nursing them back to health. A wealth of knowledge and very chill individual, I’m happy to call her one of my first friends when I moved to Vancouver and highly recommend you pay her a visit.
Vancouver Night Market and Pop-Local
The Night Market is essentially a flea market of local makers hosted through the summer months in Vancouver. But, the community loved it so much, that Pop-Local is currently being launched down by the Waterfront, so we’ll have brick-and-mortar year-round access to shop small, locally made products! I’m super excited about this.
1709 Records
A broad selection in a small old-school style shop, with passionate, knowledgeable, friendly owners, is basically all you could want out of a record store. It’s clean and well-organized, this Google reviewer put it perfectly: “Prices are great for the common titles, and an abundance of rarer discs at appropriate-yet-reasonable cost. Throw in some new vinyl, cassette tapes, and shelves of vintage hi-fi gear..you've got 1709. Magnifique.”
Birdhouse Books
I will never not want real, printed books. Birdhouse has a small, cozy selection of used books, just upstairs from Rosemary Cafe. It honestly feels like perusing a friend’s book collection, and I love that intimacy. It’s definitely intended for casual browsing rather than an intentional search for a specific title. They also have poetry readings, literary discussions, and book signings!
