Small Business Tag

Bike To Shop returns this summer from August 7 – 22nd.

Hub Cycling’s Bike To Shop event is back this summer kicking off on August 7th – 22nd. Local businesses in 20 neighbourhoods across Metro Vancouver are offering free coffee, snacks, sweet discounts, and more to people who visit their shop by bike.

Get on your bike and come join the Bike to Shop movement with us! As always, registration is 100% free. 

Register before July 30 for a chance to win a $50 Compass Card from TransLink so you can explore even more Bike to Shop neighborhoods this summer.

Register here and find the full schedule including all participating businesses here..

Visit these Strathcona businesses during Bike To Shop for great deals and delicious freebies.

Map of Itinerary

VV TAPAS LOUNGE

Free glass of wine or nonalcoholic cocktail with the purchase of food.

HARKEN COFFEE

One free coffee to those who participate and ride to the shop.

CONTAINER BREWING

Free pork crisps, happy hour beer pricing ($2 off full pours), 10% off any take-home orders. Enter a draw to win a $100 gift card.

ENTERPRISING WOMEN MAKING ART (EWMA)

Free coffee/iced tea and/or button. Plus enter to win an original art item from the EWMA Store with each purchase.

LUPPOLO BREWING

15% off pizza with purchase of a beer (DINE IN ONLY),  $10 Margherita with purchase of a 4Pack (TO-GO ONLY).

LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS

Free 10 oz Soup with purchase of a sandwich or an entrée salad.

COASTAL EDEN CAFE

One free baked good with a purchase of any drink. Until sold out.

STRATHCONA BEER

Buy a pint of beer and get an order of our garlic bites for free. While quantities last daily.

LANDYACHTZ

Free air & oil, plus high fives and bike advice all week.

Register at bikehub.ca/biketoshop

Hello, summer!

What better time to take advantage of our beautiful Vancouver weather than to plan a tour through some of Strathcona’s historic and colourful neighborhoods. 

For moments when friends or family visit from out of town or you’re craving to do something a little different without going too far, we have a list of some self-guided and guided tours for you to choose from. Find a few of our favorites below!

Curated Tastes – Gallery Tour

Curated Tastes is Vancouver’s first and only art mediation company that creates fun and engaging tours for anyone looking for something different to do in Vancouver. No previous art knowledge or experience is necessary! 

• Discover 2 art galleries in Strathcona
• Learn about contemporary art
• Learn how to appreciate and talk about art
• Meet curators, artists and gallerists 
• Discover a new face of Strathcona 
• Make new friendships over a sample beer or wine (depending on route) at one of Strathcona’s iconic breweries. 

• Price per person: $ 33 (early bird) / $36 (regular)
• Saturdays 12pm-2pm 
• Social distancing and masks in indoor spaces are recommended
• Groups will be limited to 12 attendees + 1 tour guide

Powell Street Walking Tour

Uncover the hidden history of Vancouver’s pre-war Japanese-Canadian community. 

It is not common knowledge that prior to the Incarceration, Displacement and Dispossession of 1942, the Powell Street corridor was once the home to 8000 Japanese Canadians and over 400 Japanese-owned businesses. Today, there is an abundance of remaining history and architecture that tells the story of a community that thrived in this unique area of Vancouver!

• $10 for the general public | Free under 18 
• Masks and socially distant spacing will be required.
• Groups will be limited to 8 attendees + 1-2 tour guide(s)

Tours can be offered in Japanese. 

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/historic-powell-street-walking-tours-vancouver-bc-tickets-152774682187

Strathcona Mural Tour 

If you’re looking to plan or head out on a spontaneous self-guided mural tour Strathcona is the perfect start. The Strathcona neighbourhood is filled with the city’s second-highest concentration of murals within walking distance of each other, with a few delicious stops on the way. Head East on Cordova St. towards Campbell Ave. to catch some great street art then loop around to Hastings to stop for a cold drink or bite at Strathcona’s favourite The Heatley. 

There are also some special guided tours happening this year as part of the Black Strathcona Resurgence Project (BSRP). The Black Strathcona Tour runs 10am Friday, Saturday, and Sunday every week from Aug.4-22. Discover the BSRP Year 1 murals and the cultural history of the Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood led by Vancouver DeTours guide Alasdair Butcher, BSRP Curator Krystal Paraboo, and a special guest expert from the Black community. Tours are by donation.

Sunday August 22, the BSRP Bike Tour is happening. Jump on your wheels and experience the magic of murals produced by Black artists across the city on a special bike route. There will be multiple group riding slots throughout the day and an opportunity to learn about the history of the Strathcona neighbourhood.

Download the Vancouver Mural Fest app or visit their website for a full map of murals throughout Strathcona and the remainder of the city. 

Brewery Tour

Are you really experiencing Strathcona if you haven’t taken in one of our many breweries? We have you covered. Get your squad together and take a tour to a few (or all) of our fabulous breweries – there are a total of five to choose from! 

To plan your own self-guided tour through Strathcona’s breweries visit our website for a full list of locations 

For a guided tour through Strathcona Brewing and Luppolo Brewery and a few other East Vancouver breweries visit Canadian Craft Tours. 

We can’t wait for celebrations again.

It’s been a challenging year for Vancouver and the rest of the world. One that has kept us distanced from almost everyone we know and missing the times when we could get together, eat, laugh and celebrate with our family and friends. 

A year of doing our part to flatten the Covid-19 curve has left nearly every planned event resulting in cancellation. Weddings and birthdays were reduced to small bubbles or postponed all together, baby showers and other accomplishments were and still are being celebrated virtually. As vaccines roll out and we hope to slowly get back to our normal lives we’re keeping our spirits up for an end to restrictions on gathering with loved ones. 

Strathcona is home to a number of companies that work to help special events of all sizes look and feel their best. Whether you’re planning a small celebration with your close circle or a big, fat, post-Covid bash these four businesses can help bring the “wow” to your upcoming festivities. 

Check out our list below to learn more about these local Strathcona businesses.  

Please remain aware of B.C’s current restart plan and restrictions before attempting to plan an event or celebration outside of your bubble. All businesses mentioned are currently operating while following B.C’s mandated health and safety measures. 

Four Strathcona Businesses to Hire for your Next Small Event.

Meyer’s Floral Company

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about taking any celebration decor to the next level is flowers. And as most of us can agree that the foundation of every special event is the decor.  

Meyer’s Floral Company has been distributing wholesale flowers to Vancouver and the lower mainland for over 30 years. Located in Strathcona at 1209 Adanac Street in Strathcona, Meyer’s creates some of the most beautiful bouquets we’ve seen on this side of the viaduct. Consider this Strathcona small business when planning the flowers for your next wedding, celebration or other event. 

The Garden Strathcona

A hidden gem in the heart of Strathcona, The Garden is a cozy and lush space to host your next local small event. 

A 1200sft space with large, bright windows that can be rented with amenities such as sound system, banquet tables, chairs, catering and more. The studio can also be rented alongside the accompanying downstairs cafe for small weddings, events, film shoots and more. A unique space to rent for your next event or just to grab a coffee and take in the vibes.

Cocktails & Canapes

The star of the show at any event is almost always the food, so impress your guests with some of the yummiest catering Strathcona has to offer. From canapes, to food stations, to fine-plated dinners, Cocktails & Canapes specializes in creating a culinary experience with their world-class cuisine that’s sure to elevate your next celebration. To extend their business offerings during COVID they now also feature a delivery brunch box for special occasions like Mother’s Day.

Debut Event Design

Take your event dreams and bring them to reality. 

Debut Event Design is a Strathcona-based business and a must-have for the design of your next celebration – big or small. If you’re planning a wedding then you’re in luck, Debut Event Design insists on creating a unique and memorable design that you’ll never forget. If you’re just looking for help with rentals such as furniture, backdrops, and more they do that too. There is no limit to the event goals you can reach with this Vancouver company. 

We all have a role to play.

We all understand the importance of having a clean and safe community with proper resources and programming to help keep our neighborhoods accessible, beautiful, and thriving. Taking action to tackle our climate emergency and lower our carbon footprint is an essential part of keeping our communities thriving. From an organizational level to an individual level, we all have a role to play in creating a sustainable and flourishing planet. 

At the Strathcona BIA, Environmental Sustainability is one of our six core values. It’s a lens that informs our programming and placemaking work, including things like community waste management, transportation advocacy, or implementing granting programs for our members that promote sustainable choices. As individuals, adapting small things in our daily routines like composting or opting to ride our bikes to work instead of driving are the little things that add up to a whole lot if everyone gets involved.

Doing our part to change some of our less eco-friendly habits not only contributes to a more sustainable planet but can actually help to restore our Mother Earth. Yes, we said restore the earth! 

It seems like a huge job, we know, but with 7.5 billion people sharing this planet and all making the extra effort, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched when you really think about it. Combining actions of individuals and bigger systems changes, together we can #RestoreOurEarth to build a better future.

For Earth Week we want to highlight some of the ways Strathcona contributes to a sustainable community. We also want to offer resources on what more you can do to help restore the earth.

For more information on how you can help be apart of the change visit earthday.org

Five Ways Strathcona Contributes to a More Sustainable Community

Reducing your carbon footprint can be as simple as discarding your old items the right way. Strathcona is home to North Star Metal Recycling, a company that will buy, sell and recycle scrap metal and other materials like batteries, wire, and cables. Located just off Powell Street near Clark Drive, North Star Recycling will take unwanted items ranging from appliances and household scraps to vehicle rims, motors and industrial metal. They will then repurpose the materials saving them from a potential lifetime in a landfill. 

Did you know that producing steel from recycled materials compared with virgin material saves 75% of the energy needed? We also learned from North Star that the 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million. Someday, we’ll be mining our landfills for the resources we’ve buried. 

For more information (and cool facts about metal recycling!) visit: northstarmetalrecycling.com

What does a custom awards producer have to do with sustainable energy? In our neighbourhood, a lot. 

Eclipse Awards is a business located in the heart of Strathcona that makes eco-friendly awards, plaques and trophies that help people feel recognized, appreciated, and celebrated. They have also dedicated their East Vancouver rooftop to solar panels that power their business. If that’s not incredible enough, all of the excess energy the business doesn’t use goes into the city’s power grid. 

For more information visit: eclipseawards.com

Owner, Toby Barazzuol, has not only established sustainability initiatives at his business, but helped pioneer sustainability programs within the Strathcona community as well. During his time as Strathcona BIA Board Chair, Toby helped establish a sustainability committee that looked at ways we could help businesses reduce their energy consumption, divert waste from landfill, and implement greening initiatives in the community. One of our long-standing programs that came from this work is Recycle in Strathcona, a community waste management program. 

Recycle In Strathcona is a comprehensive and cost-effective recycling service provided to SBIA members by Recycling Alternative and Shift Delivery. The program offers waste management services at exclusive rates for Strathcona BIA members. If your workplace only produces a small amount of waste, a zero-emissions trike pick-up option through Shift Delivery is available.

Other benefits include education and support for your staff, no long-term contracts, and flexible bin sizes and collection frequency to fit your needs. The more members that join this community recycling program, the more optimized the pick-up routes can be, lowering carbon emissions and the amount of truck traffic we see in our lanes and streets.

For more information visit: strathconabia.com/member-programs/recycle-in-strathcona/

The Strathcona Community Garden is located near Hawks and Prior Street and is a volunteer-managed space. The garden sits on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and is a space that is operated by the Strathcona Community Gardeners Society, a non-profit and leader in community-run ecological stewardship. The garden provides the neighbourhood’s residents an opportunity to grow their own plots of food, herbs, and flowers locally. The space provides rare inner-city habitat for wildlife. With over 200 individual plots, a greenhouse, a bee shed for bee-keeping, orchard, and wildlife habitat area, the space is a green oasis in the city.

For more information visit: strathconagardens.ca 

We know that a big part of tackling the climate crisis is changing how we move around the city and our communities. Strathcona is an eclectic mix of industrial spaces, hidden retail gems, and community spaces in the heart of East Vancouver, so it’s no wonder that a focus on accessibility is kind of our thing.

Walking, biking, or taking transit, are all great modes of choice for getting around in our well-connected community. Nine bus routes run through Strathcona, and it is considered a “walker’s paradise” with a walking score of 95. Strathcona also has some incredible bike paths throughout the district that will smoothly lead you to the rest of the city.

Resources and Opportunities

Check out some of these links to learn more about how you can make an impact and contribute to a sustainable community.

For Citizens

• Get inspired around all the ways you can take action this week and beyond at earthday.org. There will be plenty of live-streamed virtual events with a focus on this year’s Earth Day theme: Restore the Earth.
• On a local level, check out the City of Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Action Plan, and learn how to get involved.

For Small Businesses

• Do you strive to create a positive impact in the world through business? Learn about how to measure your impact using impact assessment tools at an upcoming free B Corp 101 workshop by the BDC and Vancouver Economic Commission. Workshops dates are May 13 or June 10.

For Innovators

• Vancouver Economic Commission recently launched Project Greenlight, a program that connects enterprises with big challenges to innovators ready to build and pilot sustainable solutions. Learn more here.

For Industry Associations

• The Climate Change How-to Guide for Industry and Professional Associations is a great in-depth resource by the BC Council for International Cooperation with best practices for addressing climate change at the industry level.