B&K Grocery

B&K is another old school corner store in East Vancouver who's glory days have been over for a while now. Tucked away at East 34th Avenue and Nanaimo the building has been around for over a century. It's one of those little places I wasn't really aware of until I found a used copy of Michael Kluckner's book Vanishing Vancouver back in 2008. Today a look with Street View reveals the store was probably open up until around 2010. Since then it's been vacant.



There was some good news back in 2016 as a developer had bought the property with the intention of restoring the store and then adding some townhomes. The building would have got Heritage status and would be a neighbourhood cafe. This model has proven successful with other old corner stores around the city. You can read more about the plan in this article in the Georgia Straight. The City also approved the rezoning of the property last year. But when I was by recently I saw a "For Sale" sign up which seemed a bit odd. So it looks like the original developer has had second thoughts about the project. Here's an old photo from 2009 when the store was still open.

The building apparently dates from 1918 but a realtor's info lists it as being from 1912. Either way the place has been around a very long time and it would be great to see it open again. According to the article in the Georgia Straight it had been B&K Grocery since 1968 and was owned by the Mah family who lived upstairs. Hopefully a new buyer will step up and will move forward with the development including the restoration of the old store!

Looking through the front window of the store back in 2012

March 2021 - I just thought I better post an update as work began in early 2020 on the redevelopment of the store and property. I think a new owner took over as the store and lot had essentially been abandoned for many years. The project is now called Century House and it looks like the townhouses are nearing completion!

Folkart Interiors

When it comes to funky old storefronts Folkart Interiors at 3720 West 10th Avenue near Alma Street is clearly a winner. There aren't very many shops that still bring their wares out onto the sidewalk anymore. It's also nice to see a store without their windows filled with ugly security bars. When I first photographed the place back in 2015 the little strip of three storefronts was for sale. Now in 2017 it looks like nothing has changed too much but maybe rents might have gone up.

The building dates from 1925 and the store was originally home to West Point Hardware. The space next door at 3730 was a location for Piggly Wiggly Grocery which was the first self service grocery store chain in Vancouver. You can read more about Piggly Wiggly at Miss604's Blog. I found an old photo in the Vancouver Public Library historical photo collection showing West 10th Avenue back in 1939 (VPL 25001). The storefront that is now Folkart Interiors is behind the old cars. By this time Safeway had taken over the Piggly Wiggly next door. A look with Street View finds not too much has changed on this strip of West 10th for a good long time. Let's hope it stays that way!