Starting on Sunday, you won’t need to hop in the car if you’re craving a fresh loaf of bread, forgot to pick up your favourite veg, or want to cook from scratch but have no idea what to make.
Birch Cliff is buzzing about the Aug. 1 opening of City Cottage Market, a small grocery/convenience store stocking all of the essentials plus an impressive list of locally sourced products from small-batch producers.
The store is located at 81 Haig Ave, west of Warden, just steps around the corner from Kingston Road.
The shelves will be filled with fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, eggs, butter, milk, pasta, sauces, frozen entrees, meal kits, condiments tea, coffee, snacks, and more.
It’s a dream come true for owners Daniel and Liana Naraine who live on Haig and jumped at the opportunity to open a curated local convenience store when a space came open at the top of their street.
“Our goal was always to focus on smaller brands that are local, especially, in light of the pandemic, we found that these people were struggling the most. But we also found that that’s what people want. They want to support local, just as much as we do. The main premise is that everything is sourced within 100 kilometers of here. So, we’ll be selling Ontario produce from Ontario farms, Ontario dairy, and then all of our pantry goods are sourced from local companies, mainly small businesses in the GTA,” said Liana Narraine.
In addition to fresh produce, baked goods and dairy, Liana and Daniel have sourced a delicious array of mostly local pantry items:
- Comeback Snacks – flavoured popcorn made by Emily O’Brien, a woman who crafted her business plan in prison and now supports second chances for people transitioning back into society.
- Spade & Spoon – a line of quality jams and preserves produced by third-generation farmers in Mount Forest.
- Neal Brothers – tortilla chips and salsa produced by brothers Chris and Peter Neal, who started their business in their mother’s kitchen 30 years ago.
- Stellar Eats – grain-free, gluten-free, paleo-friendly baking mixes developed by a holistic nutritionist who struggled with disordered eating for many years.
- Kozlik’s Mustards – a perennial Canadian favourite, still family owned and operated after 74 years.
- Grinning Face – non-dairy gelato made in small batches from scratch in Cabbagetown.
- Elmhurst – a line of almond milk and oat milk that’s perfect for frothing and steaming.
Aiming for a “bodega” vibe
City Cottage Market coffee nook.
The atmosphere of City Cottage Market is stylish and a step beyond a convenience store.
There’s bespoke shelving, a cozy coffee nook next to a bay window, as well as a newly constructed balcony.
Daniel and Liana are hoping to achieve the vibe of a New York City “bodega”, where you can pick up that missing pantry staple, grab a latte at the same time, and have a chat with your neighbours.
“When you walk into a City Cottage Market, we want you to feel like walking into your house,” Daniel said. We want it to feel like you’re going home. And we want you to find everything that you need in a pinch, or things that you may not have tried before that might be fun to experience.”
Investing in themselves and their neighbourhood
Both Daniel and Liana are in their mid-thirties and work in high-powered jobs. Daniel sells software to large media companies for a firm based in New York and Liana manages a team of commercial underwriters at a large insurance company.
They say they feel fortunate to have full-time jobs that allow them to work remotely and invest some of their savings in a sustainable business.
“Luckily, we had some money in the bank, thankfully,” Daniel said. “We decided, instead of investing in stocks, or anything else, we were truly going to invest in ourselves and our neighborhood and our future.”
“I think COVID really highlighted the fact that we’re both kind of tired of the grind, the high-pressure work for someone that is not us, like we don’t own the business. We wanted something that was our own that was more in line with our interests and that we’re just more passionate about, Liana added”
Entrepreneurship clearly runs in the family as Daniel’s sister, Jennifer, is the owner of the recently established Little Bugs Nursery, at the northeast corner of Kingston Road and Warden.
Daniel’s mother, Elaine, who also lives locally, will be helping behind the counter at City Cottage Market.
Banking on the future of Birch Cliff
Liana and Daniel are optimistic that their new business will succeed with the support of Birch Cliff residents who’ve been striving to improve walkability in the neighbourhood.
They’re not worried about the fruit and vegetable store that closed a few years back at Kingston and Warden because they say the demographic in Birch Cliff is changing along with the streetscape, in part because of the new condos.
They’re also not worried about Covid.
“I don’t think that’s been a part of our thought process. To be perfectly honest. We’re not trying to open it at a safe time. We’re not trying to beat a pandemic or work around it. I think we’re opening it out of pure necessity from what we’ve heard from the streets around us. There’s nowhere to walk. That, honestly, is just the whole reason we are opening it,” Daniel said.
City Cottage Market opens Sunday from 10 am – 4 pm.
During the week, their hours are 8:00 am – 6:00 pm.
Order online from their website for pick up within 20 minutes.
You can follow City Cottage Market on Instagram and Facebook.