Rooted in local: stories from Bountiful Farmers' Market | Stories

Bringing together local makers, food vendors and entrepreneurs, Bountiful Farmers’ Market offers Edmontonians a place to discover a diverse range of locally made products. Featuring 120+ vendors, the market is a pillar for small businesses to showcase their products, reach customers and connect with community. Bountiful, located at 3696 97 Street, opened its doors in 2019.

But markets are more than a place to shop local. They create a space for entrepreneurs to connect, build relationships and support one another. They also provide customers with a unique opportunity to meet the people behind the products they love and become part of a community that celebrates small business.

Behind every booth is a story that brought each business to life.

Bean Voyage Coffee Company

Coffee has always been more than a kick of caffeine for Michael Nystrom.

The beverage is tied to some of his fondest memories—from watching his parents pass the coffee pot around the dinner table as they connected with friends and relatives to the smell of coffee percolating on the fire during family camping trips.

“The journey towards Bean Voyage Coffee was something that developed over the years through my memories and experiences,” he says.

“The more I learned about coffee, developed a great cup and shared it with friends and family, it just felt natural to share a cup with the community.”

Nystrom’s vision for Bean Voyage expands beyond crafting a great cup of coffee for his customers. For him, building a successful brand also means building strong community ties by collaborating with other local vendors, print shops and graphic designers to supply his business.

“When someone chooses to buy local, they’re often supporting much more than just one local business,” he says.

“At Bean Voyage, we’re very focused on supporting local, meaning one purchase supports a whole chain of local entrepreneurs.”

Brown’s Curiosities

For Dale and Christie Brown, chocolate has been a powerful new beginning for their family. Christie, a talented Red Seal chef, turned her lifelong passion for the culinary arts toward chocolate during her recovery from a serious car accident in 2018. The Browns discovered that the precise repetitive techniques required to make chocolate supported Christie’s recovery.

“As it turns out, chocolate has been a great form of physical therapy for Christie, as it supports motor functions,” says Dale.

“Soon enough, we were sharing Christie’s chocolate creations with friends and family. Eventually, we decided to open a booth at a market, and that was the start of Brown’s Curiosities.”

While the Browns are always exploring new flavours, they always stay true to using whole, preservative-free ingredients.

They believe fresh ingredients make a noticeable difference in the quality of their product, so they consciously source ingredients from other local vendors such as Bean Voyage Coffee, which they use in their Coffee Break Bon Bon Bar.

“We take every opportunity we can to cross-pollinate with other local vendors for our ingredients because the quality you get from buying local is unmatched,” says Dale.

Wink Desserts

For Sheldon and Megan, opening a bakery came down to a question many of us ask: how can we do more of what we love? As a self-proclaimed lifelong “cookie monster,” with a refined palate for the sweeter things in life, Sheldon turned his personal passion for sweets into a business.

“As you reflect on your passions, you realize how important it is to follow those dreams and do what you love. For me, opening Wink Desserts is that passion and dream coming true,” says Sheldon.

While the business is built around a love for sweets, its impact reaches beyond the bakery. By sourcing ingredients from nearby vendors, Wink Desserts is building relationships with other local businesses and contributing to an ecosystem where small businesses can grow together.

“When you shop local, you have the unique opportunity to watch that small business grow right before your eyes and know that you are a part of that growth,” says Sheldon. “That support doesn’t stop with one purchase. It creates a domino effect of local support as we source from other local vendors.”

Shaping our communities

Every small business has a story. Behind each small business are people who turned their personal passions, experiences and ideas into something they share with the community. Small businesses across the city contribute to Edmonton’s unique character, strengthen our local economy and help make our communities vibrant places to live, work and play.

When you choose to shop local, you’re not just supporting one business. That local purchase is an investment in the communities you love, and for every $100 spent at a small business, $66 stays in our local economy.

The next time you reach for a cup of coffee, pick up a sweet treat or shop for something special, consider shopping local because your purchase extends far beyond one store.

Explore local businesses across the city at edmonton.ca/ShopLocal.