the federal store x east van boulevard gardens
Saba (Curator of East Van Boulevard Gardens) sits down with Colette (Owner of The Federal Store) to share the story of the luncheonette’s boulevard garden.
𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗜 - 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚
Colette, a self-proclaimed lover of food and coffee, has only ever worked in the restaurant industry, except for one brief office job..“I’d get teased for the elaborate lunches that I made myself in our kitchen. I kept a pepper grinder and Maldon salt in my desk drawer. They would ask why am I not working in food, and I didn’t have an answer, so I returned back to the industry.”
While working in various local establishments, including managing @sixacres in Gastown for several years, Colette was gradually working towards a Bachelor of Business Administration. After a brief hiatus in Australia, she returned to her hometown of Vancouver, where she finished her degree while simultaneously starting her first business, The Federal Store.
“I was breaking all the ‘business rules’ taught in school: Make a plan first, collect the data. Ensure it all makes sense. I didn’t do any of that! I just always knew this storefront would make a great coffee shop.”. After years of renting in Strathcona where she had a garden, Colette eventually had to downsize to afford starting her own business. She didn’t know it at the time, but she moved into a Mount Pleasant walk-up located a block away from what would become her future coffeehouse.
“My partner at the time and I walked by one day, and noticed all the windows were taped over. We took a chance and slipped a hand-written note under the front door. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one fantasizing about opening a business here - we learned that a dozen or so other enquirers approached the owners, but our hand-written note and our idea set us apart.
“We signed the lease two days later and had no business plan or any idea of what we were going to do or how much it was going to cost – it just felt right..“What my business degree offered was the perspective that I knew this would work. I was familiar with the market because I knew the neighbourhood and its demographics. In school I also learned about grants to apply for and got help with those. I presented a business plan to the head of Coast Capital and other local business owners to win a young entrepreneurial grant, which led to the opening of The Store.”
Starting one’s first small business is rarely a smooth process – but the challenges she faced were not necessarily specific to Colette’s business.
The Federal Store was preparing to open around the same time that the Marché St. George, a similar establishment in the Riley Park neighbourhood, was going through its bureaucratic battle with the City..Marché and The Federal Store both have the same “neighbourhood grocery store” zoning. This limits them to only 4 seats max, which obviously the Marché exceeded. The City was going to begin enforcing the 4-seat rule, which would make their business unviable.
“We didn’t know the owners of Marché St. George but we loved what they were doing and it was in our interest to support them”. So Colette spoke in front of mayor and council alongside the Marché to make the case to amend the zoning. They were successful and both establishments are now allowed 16 seats.
“16 seats with the business model we have helps make it a bit more viable because we are about people coming in to enjoy the space. We’re not a quick service model because we are not next to a busy bus stop or something. If we were on a main drag where people walk in, grab a coffee and walk out the door, sure. But it’s a different thing we’re going for. Trying to build community means you need to have space. Ideally that number would be higher - our garden seating area helps though.”
In this vein, Colette mentions how the City’s Arts Culture & Community Services branch has approached her for high-level talks on supporting more spaces like hers. They sought her advice since they’ve heard excellent feedback from The Store’s neighbors, and they have a mandate to create and foster more community gathering places like hers. Colette’s dedicated to helping the City achieve this cause, in the few spare hours she has between running a small business and being a single-mother to her new baby girl.
3 years after her business opened and her dreams were slowly turning into reality, the pandemic hit. “It’s a difficult business model to make profit in during the best of times, so the pandemic’s first 3 months were extremely stressful. We all have different traumatic experiences from the pandemic years. The first three months were the toughest for me. I'd be working 16+ hour days and driving and doing deliveries all over. I was extremely worried about my staff. My employees are like family. It’s a small space so we all get to know eachother well and have to get along.”
The business survived the pandemic and her long-time friend and baking manager, Cole, who has been there since day one, continues to thrive in his role. Colette’s involvement with the food and baking is a bit more "limited”, she says with a smirk. “I am not allowed to touch the baking - that’s Cole's domain". But it seems she is underplaying her contributions. "Sometimes I’ll make suggestions, like ‘what about these flavours?’ or ‘have you seen these?’ The chocolate rolls for example were my idea and are now a mainstay.”
With her interest in food and years of experience in the restaurant industry, I ask why she opened a coffee shop. “I always wanted to do this because I love coffee culture. A good coffee house is my happy place. Waking up in the morning and going to a café and having someone make you a nice coffee - the idea of knowing your favourite barista, them being the first person in the day you talk to and they know exactly what you want – it’s just really nice and offers a real sense of community.” The Federal Store’s location, one block away from busy Main St. and tucked into a relatively quieter residential block of Mount Pleasant, heightens that sense of community. Colette retuned to Vancouver after 2 years in Melbourne, which helped inform what The Store came to be.
“In Melbourne you’d see this type of space everywhere. They don’t have specific zoning to commercial streets – it feels more like Montreal or Europe to have places like this in residential areas. There’s an excellent coffee culture in Melbourne, too. I worked in a bar there but it also had an excellent coffee program. When I moved back here, I was a bit bummed-out because Vancouver had barely entered the third coffee wave. There were only a few very good coffee places like Café Artigianno and JJ Bean, and I don’t think Revolver had opened yet. These places are still around and are great, but now there are so many more new and different ones, doing such innovative and interesting things.”
Since I don’t drink coffee, I ask the coffee-connoisseur to elaborate and she provides a history lesson on coffee trends. The first coffee wave began with the dominance of bulk brew filter coffee, when coffee was commodified and everyone made it at home (think Folgers and Maxwell House). The second wave was when Starbucks transformed the scene and began serving higher quality coffee in places that encouraged social encounters rather than grabbing a coffee to go. The third wave saw coffee houses not offering as many customized drinks, because they didn’t need to be covered with different syrups, flavours or ingredients, since the focus is on the quality of the beans and the different roasting techniques.
Colette’s passion about this business and knowledge of its industry shines through. I ask her opinion about a new trend I have noticed, the "coffee barroom". These places are hybrid coffee houses and bars, like Forecast on Main St. and Mum's the Word on Commercial Drive.
She says it's interesting and salutes them – which leads to a discussion on how coffee houses are culturally important places. They are great places for people who don't drink alcohol, such as Colette herself. They are also great for people who need to get out of the house. In an expensive city like Vancouver where many live with roommates or in smaller homes, a coffee house offers a second-space for those who want to work or relax without the distractions of home.
Colette is very welcoming to customers like these. She has no objections to someone only buying 1 coffee and lingering for hours. "I would do that at places! And I’d rather have someone and their energy here than it be empty. Maybe if it's packed on a Saturday or whatever, I hope people 'get it' but it’s not a big deal for me."
𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗜𝗜 – 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗡
During a typical packed Saturday morning, when there are more than the allowed 16 patrons, the garden seating area helps diffuse the mass of coffee sippers and pastry nibblers..This enchanting area overlooks the traffic–calmed intersection of the 10th Ave Bikeway and Quebec St. Being on the corner, Colette had two strips of boulevard to transform and make her own. If there was such a thing as an urban pocket-park in the English countryside, steps away from the city, this is the closest you’d get to it.
The visual interest abounds in this cozy and free-flowing planted-up seating area: Being surrounded by custom wood planters with integrated seating and a variety of lush seasonal herbs and vegetables adds to the intimacy of this outdoor space. The entire intersection is vibrant and activated by human life and tall swaying grasses. The element that inspired this article, the boulevard garden (more on that later) is both a green frame and a backdrop for this picturesque urban scene..In this space, you can enjoy the pleasant streetscape elements around you, like the restored Romanesque Revival style heritage building across the street, the decorative acorn style street lamps, and the steady flow of pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
When the mature hornbeam and cherry blossom street trees shed their leaves, the North Shore mountains are visible, and during school-hours, you may even hear the St. Patrick Highschool choir practicing in the building located half a block away. So it should come as no surprise that even during off-peak hours in the winter, you’ll still see patrons sitting outside, bundled-up in jackets and catching some serious Mount Pleasant vibes.
This ambiance is not haphazard. As free flowing and casual as the garden and the outdoor space seem, it’s all very intentional and carefully curated by Colette, who loves gardening. “The boulevard garden started as a compromise in lifestyle. I used to live in Stratchona, but when I downsized to Mount Pleasant I lost my outdoor space. One day I realized, ‘I guess there’s this outdoor space!’ so I started gardening the boulevard.”
I had a friend who propagated plants at his parent’s house. He had various less-common plants that we used like Sea Holly, Giant Angelica, Great Burnet, and Lesser Knotweed. Colette mentions the renowned Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf in our discussion about the boulevard garden, and his influence is apparent in its year-round interest. Oudolf’s trademark is his focus on the seasonal life cycle of a plant, rather than the typical considerations like flowers or colours. The structural characteristics of plants, such as the outlines of the leaves or the shapes of the seed pods are the focal points. Practically, this makes sense as these elements are present for longer, and stay before and after a plant’s commonly brief flowering period..Even in December when these photos were taken, and half the garden was covered in snow, ornamental grasses and the seed heads of persistent perennials catch the eye.
“The boulevard garden was not planned to be part of the business. It became a little hobby and patch to tend to after I downsized to Mount Pleasant. Now I can’t imagine the business without it – It’s definitely become something the business is known for. I have met so many neighbours and other great gardeners from just working in the garden. I have gotten to know people on a more personal level because the garden is not a primary part of the business, it’s just something I love doing, so I’ll interact with customers differently when talking about the garden. That’s how I met you!” she reminds me with a sprightly smile.
𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗜𝗜𝗜 – 𝗔 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗬
Colette always knew she wanted to open a coffee shop that was also a community hub, but she didn’t imagine it to take shape the way it did. “Because of our zoning, we knew we had to have retail products. This irritated me at first, like really? How am I gonna sell this stuff? And we don’t have the buying power that bigger retailers have.”.But this unique challenge is what led to unique opportunities for this special business. “Because we were forced to do it, I’ve got to meet lots of local business owners and learn their products. Meeting these people and the friendships made because of not just serving typical coffee house things has been very fulfilling.”
Colette notes she was one of the first retailers to sell Blume Superfood Lattes, and now it’s all over North America. And there is Cultivate Tea, which specializes in Chinese tea and opened shortly before the Federal Store. “I set up a meeting because we needed a tea supplier. They have over 30 teas and they had us over one day to sample them all. Seeing Cultivate grow at the same time as us has been special, and now we’re friends - me and the owners have dinners together!”
Colette’s eyes light-up as she reminisces on a typical Tuesday in the summer months, when her neighbourhood café-grocer transforms into a mini-outdoor market. From June to October there is a pop-up market with @citybeetfarm that sells flowers and produce that are grown in nearby Vancouver backyards. “It brings such wonderful energy outside on the street”, Colette says proudly.
Establishing meaningful partnerships like these help forge community connections that spawn stories future residents and others will share. There are also many surprisingly coincidental stories chalked into this establishment’s rich history as well..Built in 1922, the corner retail space was originally a bakeshop. The architect John Coville constructed it along with several other properties in Mount Pleasant, including the Frontenac building a block away where he lived with his wife Hannah. She operated the bakeshop, and after retirement, Coville’s plan was to join Hannah and bake with her in the shop.
Since the 30’s there were a variety of owners and operators of the retail space, but it remained mainly as a convenience store until Colette, who also lived in the Frontenac building, brought it back to its bakery roots..My favourite coincidental story, and perhaps the most meaningful one for Colette and her entire family involves her Grandpa. He was a firefighter at the Mount Pleasant Fire Hall up the street, and would buy ingredients for the firehall meals from the corner store in the 50’s. A few years ago, Colette hosted her Grandpa’s 90th birthday at the Store, and some of his former colleagues from the Fire Hall joined as well.
Colette draws inspiration from the space’s rich past and her entrepreneurial drive that’s rooted in building community. It’s not easy running a small business like her’s that operates with the principles and values that she is dedicated to. Colette is grateful for her strong support network that includes her parents and amazing team who she also showers with praise..The boulevard garden reflects Colette’s overall brand: Well thought-out and authentic. It seems like it just belongs here. She makes it all look effortless but assures me that lots of hard work has gone into it. “My team member Brennan recently helped me split up a bunch of the grasses. I needed their help since I was postpartum and it was hard work – I needed someone to get down and dirty and give it some oomph.” That the team takes ownership and pride in the boulevard garden is very special.
I can’t help but compliment Colette on her success. She thanks me modestly while blushing, and explains how she really appreciates hearing that since she admits she has a bit of “imposter syndrome - Like do I really have to make all these decisions?” she half-jokes.
With the Store’s variety of products and services, I imagine it can get overwhelming, but it's the variety that Colette says keeps her going: “I am very hands-on and enjoy doing everything. I’ll get in there and mop the floor, clean the toilets, or do the dishes the entire shift. I actually really enjoy doing the dishes sometimes. It’s almost meditative to just turn off the brain and not have to make decisions or solve problems. But one of my favourite tasks of all is certainly working on the boulevard garden.”