Year of the Fire Monkey

Today officially marks the beginning of the Year of the Fire Monkey. For those celebrating Chinese New Year, we wish you a Happy Lunar New Year and a Happy Family Day!

Some news for those of you wondering about Atelier St. George. We will be re-opening the showroom, officially, on the 15th of February, and hosting a grand re-opening party on the evening of the 18th! For those of you who haven't signed up for the Atelier St. George newsletter yet, you can do so here, to keep up to date on showroom sales and new products that will be coming in over the next few months!

In Chinese tradition, surrounding one's table and surroundings to herald the Lunar New Year will bring one's household much prosperity and good fortune. Here's hoping!
(Vignette styled with Atelier linen towels and a Janaki Larsen bowl.)

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Photograph: Issha Marie

Rogue Valentine

We are pleased to host the Rogue Florist for a very special Valentine's Day drop-in. She will be bringing in artfully-arranged spring flower bouquets into the cafe on the 13th and 14th of February for purchase. She is also taking pre-orders via her web shop, to be ready for pick-up at Le Marché St. George. She is offering two sizes, priced at $30 and $60. The bouquets will consist mostly of flowering branches and spring flowers, with some garden roses, hellebores, ranunculus, and anemones sprinkled in between.

With the emergence of these spring flowers, we are hoping spring is just around the corner. :-)

Photographs: Issha Marie for Le Marché St. George

Corner Stories

This series stems from a need to communicate the corner store as, perhaps, a cornerstone of any thriving community and neighbourhood. Following this past December’s frenzied efforts to keep our beloved Le Marché St. George up and running, we are compelled to look at the history of the corner store as a way of moving forward, and perhaps even bring on a greater discussion about what we can do to bring life back into growing cities.

The corner store is a dying breed. Many of these stores lie boarded up in neighbourhoods around Vancouver - a city constantly criticized for its ridiculously high rental prices and the unholy amount of houses and spaces that lay empty and unused.

Many artists have looked at the corner store as a departure point for their own respective viewpoints on today’s culture and society. We invite all those with stories and photographs, to share with us their memories of that neighbourhood corner store you once frequented as a child. We will post some of them here, as part of Corner Stories.*

This is Wong’s Market, on Main Street. It closed a few years back.

*submit your photographs and stories to isshamarie (at) marchestgeorge (dot) com

Online Store Update: Janaki Larsen Ceramics

A small selection of Janaki Larsen's ceramics are available for purchase at our online shop. You can shop the links below:

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UPDATES: Atelier St. George is currently under renovations at the moment. We will be posting updates on these renovations over time and when we can expect to open the showroom to the public. VANCOUVER RESIDENTS: make an appointment over e-mail to purchase items off of the website to avoid shipping charges. E-mail the operations manager: isshamarie (at) marchestgeorge (dot) com to schedule an appointment anytime from Monday to Friday, 9-5. We accept cash, VISA, Mastercard, and debit cards.

See you all soon!

Pre-Winter Solstice Sale

The coming weekend marks the last weekend our annual Winter Shop will be open. Customers who come visit us will get 20% off their purchases on the 19th and 20th only! So if you have had your eye on a couple of things, this weekend is the weekend to get those items in your wishlist.

Our online customers get the same deal as well! Shop Atelier St. George online and type in the promo code Atelier20 and you will get 20% off of your cart.

See you all this weekend!

Le Marché St. George + Atelier St. George

THANK YOU!

We will never be able to say enough Thank You's for what has happened this week!

The incredible support and dialogue that came from this event may bring significant change to the future of these little shops and particularly ours. The City of Vancouver has said that we may CONTINUE OPERATING AS WE HAVE BEEN while they work with us to sort out the zoning, by-law issues, and sidewalk safety.

This is a huge step in the right direction. We would love to see more of these little corner stores [that lay boarded up around Vancouver] being used to their full potential: no longer stifled by outdated bylaws but actively serving their neighbourhoods in a way that makes sense this day in age.


Thank you EVERYONE for speaking up! We are forever grateful.

Love,
Le Marché St.George

Happy Holidays!!!

Save Le Marché St. George!

Le Marché St George is a corner store, a café, a meeting place, and a home. It’s a husband, wife, and daughter, a sister, a best friend, an aunt, 3 chickens, 2 cats, a fish and 2 bee hives who all reside here. It's a place where everyone is welcome. It’s seeing the neighbourhood kids growing up together. It's love stories that have lead to happily-ever-afters. It’s where the mothers and fathers come to relax with their kids. It’s first dates and first babies. It's running groups and knitting groups, community vineyards, and mariachi bands. It's keeping spare keys to the neighbours houses, It’s honest people who work long hours. It’s a funky, handsome, all-crooked, old building where all of this is happening... and we want to keep it that way!

Unfortunately, due to outdated city bylaws defining what a "neighbourhood grocery store" is, we cannot be who we are and who we've been for the past 5 years. Help us change the City's mind and show them what these kinds of places mean to their neighbourhoods and communities.

The Petition

This Friday (on the 11th of December), City Officials will potentially restrict Le Marché St.George's outdoor and indoor seating and our ability to serve food. 

These restrictions would effectively close le Marché St.George because the business would not be able to generate enough revenues to stay open. The current by-laws encourage neighbourhood grocery stores to sell cigarettes, magazines, lotto tickets and junk food!

Help change these outdated by-laws by signing this petition. 
 

Dear City of Vancouver,

Please allow neighbourhood grocery stores, like Le Marché St.George, to have limited service food establishment licences, in order to succeed and serve the demands of their communities.

Respectfully,
Le Marché St.George

Some Cancellations

Due to circumstances out of our control, Santa's visit to Le Marché St. George and the fundraiser for the Syrian refugees has been cancelled. Please accept our apologies.

- Le Marché St. George