A Guide To Our Favourite Local Businesses in Calgary

This year more than ever, we'll be making an effort to shop local and support small businesses. When you shop at locally owned businesses, more money is kept in the community, the environmental impact is reduced and more jobs are created. Plus you're helping someone grow their dream and there's no better feeling than that!

To celebrate some of the fantastic stores and services that Calgary has to offer, we thought we'd create a guide of our favourite local businesses - where to eat, where to shop, where to get a brand new website made... a little bit of everything!

Apparel

Friday Sock Co. - Made from high-quality materials, each pair of socks is purposefully mismatched with different but related prints (think bacon on one sock, eggs on the other). We actually designed our own socks with them to celebrate our 25th anniversary and we love them! Back in Spring 2020, Friday Sock Co. created a pair of 'pandemic-inspired' socks; 100% of the profit went to Canadian Food Banks and they were able to raise over $40k for the community. https://www.fridaysocks.com/

The Livery Shop - Home and workshop of Camp Brand Goods & Coutukitsch, the Livery Shop in Inglewood carries products from not only these two brands but other local artists in our city. They offer same-day delivery on orders within Calgary City limits, but also deliver across the country and even internationally. https://theliveryshop.com/

Local Laundry - One thing is for certain - the folks at Local Laundry love our city. You likely will have seen their popular X-grid YYC apparel around and they regularly collaborate with local organizations to create branded products (you may remember we created a limited edition sweater with them). Each month, 10% of their monthly profits go back to a local charity and they also have a 'Give Back' collection, where 'a certain dollar amount from each piece sold goes right back to an organization that builds community.' https://locallaundry.ca/

Services

The Know Show Trivia Company - If you've ever been to a CCC trivia event, you'll know this next company! Run by our good friend Doug, the Know Show Trivia Company provides the best trivia nights in the city. He'll be joining us once again to host our Trivia Nights during the September Games. Contact him on Facebook if you were interested in a customized trivia event! https://www.facebook.com/knowshowtriviayyc/

First On Colour - Located in the East Village, this is our go-to place for all of our printing needs. They deliver great products and service every time, all while being very reasonably priced. They were a real hero for us when our office printer broke down in the middle of the Games one year and we've been using them for our printing ever since. https://firstoncolour.com/

Regal Cat Cafe - A cafe, a shop and a place to play with cute cats all in one! The Regal Cat Cafe partner with the MEOW Foundation to house up to twelve adoptable cats in their Kitty Kingdom - 'a separate room from our cafe for you to relax, cuddle, and play with our resident kitties'. Since 2017, they've found homes for more than 500 cats and they show no signs of slowing down! The drinks and desserts in their cafe are delicious and they have a great range of fun products for pet lovers in their store. They have adapted really well during this pandemic and at the time of writing, they are limiting their cat visits to one household per time slot, so you can enjoy your visit without being in the room with strangers. https://www.regalcatcafe.com/

Field - Remember our old website from a few years ago? It was... not pretty. Calgary-based digital product consultancy Field came in and built us a whole new, clean, streamlined website and made it so much easier to use. They've worked with some big names (KLM, Bow Valley College, Calgary Folk Music Festival) but still give that small business care to each of their clients. They're in the process of making some big changes to our site and we're excited to see what they come up with. https://builtbyfield.com/

Daughter Creative - Working in the same building as Field are our good friends at Daughter. The team at this design agency created our logo and helped give our brand a fresh new look. During the pandemic, they created a fun window decal and the 'We Belong Together' gift certificate - a great way to support local businesses, while also donating to the Calgary Foundation’s Pandemic Recovery Fund. They're always coming up with creative ways to make your brand shine and they are a joy to work with. https://www.daughtercreative.com/

Food

Vegan Street - Starting as a food truck in 2018, Vegan Street has quickly grown and has become Calgary's very first full-service vegan restaurant. The staff are friendly and the restaurant has a warm, cozy atmosphere. Even meat-lovers will enjoy these plant-based offerings! Don't believe us? Check out their reviews online then try it for yourself! https://www.veganstreeteats.ca/

Sweet Relief Pastries - One of the greatest things about our new office in the Kahanoff Centre is how close it is to Sweet Relief. It might also be one of the most dangerous things, because now it's way too easy for us to stroll over every lunch break for some of their chocolate-covered Oreos or Calgary-Os (seriously, try one - you won't regret it)! They take custom orders and always do an amazing job, even that time we ordered a cakelette based on the Rainbow Sponge Lady video for Jacquie's birthday... don't ask. http://www.sweetreliefpastries.com/

Alforno - Situated in the heart of Eau Claire, this bakery and cafe offer only the finest ingredients to their customers. Their breakfast menu is one of the best in town and all of their sides/"small stuff" options are delicious. https://alforno.ca/

Jelly Modern Doughnuts - The only time Hayley has ever walked into a store and said "I'll take one of everything!" was at Jelly Modern (she did share them but we wouldn't blame her if she'd kept them all for herself, they are delicious). They have a different range of doughnuts every day of the week, so you may have to go in a few times to work out which one is your favourite... sounds like a pretty sweet task to us. http://jellymoderndoughnuts.com/

Crème Cream Puffs - These are not your standard vanilla cream puffs (although if vanilla is your thing, their Birthday Cream Puffs with smooth vanilla pastry cream are very good). With flavours like salted caramel, lemon square, coffee and even bubble tea, these are fancy! Just take a look at their holiday menu - Bailey's Hot Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Candy Cane, Eggnog and Gingerbread. Need we say more? https://cremecreampuffs.com/

Village Ice Cream - If you follow us on Instagram (and you should!), you'll know how much the CCC team love Village! Whether you go in to try one of their seasonal offerings or stick with an old favourite (Dave always gets the Salted Caramel!), you can't really go wrong. You can pop in for a scoop or use their curbside pickup to pick up a pint or four - no judgement from us! https://villageicecream.com/

Breweries

Our team have done Happy Hour on Zoom every Friday since we've started working from home, so we wrote a post on breweries, cideries and distilleries that were offering home delivery. You can check out the post here, but we wanted to include a few more brewery options in this guide:

Eighty-Eight Brewing Co. - Last year, Taylor would constantly tell us how much she loved Eighty-Eight so we all popped in for a drink and now we see why she's such a fan. They have a great selection of beers - Taylor's favourite is the Tiffany!  https://www.eightyeightbrewing.ca/

Born Colorado Brewing - They have a really good variety of beers (Chelsea recommends the Chapter 11 NEPA or the Earl’s Ale) but if you couldn't pick just one, they have flights of 4 or 6 available so you can try a few and pick your favourite! If you decided this is your new favourite brewery, you can join their 'Mug Club' for some cool perks! https://www.borncoloradobrewing.com/bcbhome

Cold Garden - This is a great spot. Always a fun time, good beer, does a lot for the community and the most dog-friendly place in Calgary! If you go, try out Dave's favourite - the Red Smashed in Buffalo Jump. https://www.coldgardenstore.com/

Home & Hobbies

Milk Jar Candle Company - Specializing in coconut soy candles with natural wood wicks, this company was started in Calgary back in 2016. $1 from every milk jar candle is donated to a local not for profit organization that supports youth with special needs. All of the scents are amazing but Chelsea really recommends the Suede Candle and the French Laundry Diffuser. Quick tip - bring your finished milk jars back to their workshop and receive $1 off the purchase of a new candle! https://www.milkjar.ca/

Steeling Home - If you wanted a one-stop-shop for all of your Christmas shopping, this is the place to go! They have a bit of everything, so you can check everyone on your gift list off in one order. They offer free delivery on orders within Calgary over $75 and curbside pickup is also available. Be prepared to spend a few hours browsing through their website - there are some real treasures on there! https://www.steelinghome.ca/

LDN Art - For modern, affordable prints, check out Lindsey's shop. She specializes in watercolour mosaics and paints beautiful works, mostly of woodland creatures or plants, but she can also create custom works. Delivery is quick or you can arrange for pick up in the SW. https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/LNDart

Plant - No explanation necessary here! Located in Inglewood, Plant is known for offering a unique, well-curated selection of products and designs. They do have an online shop but if possible, go into the store for the full experience. The team are very knowledgeable and will help you find the perfect gift, whoever you might be shopping for. Our team often buy plants as thank you gifts and this is always the place we go. https://plantshop.ca/

Scrapendipity - We first heard about this store through our BDO Bingo Challenge and we're so happy that it exists! The store is a gem for anyone who is into scrapbooking - they have every kind of supply you might need and they also offer weekly classes. Scrapendipity won a Calgary Herald's 2020-21 Readers’ Choice Award in the Craft Store category; visit one of their locations (NW/SE) to see why! https://scrapendipity.orderz.ca/

Local Independent Bookstores - We wrote a blog post over the summer about some of our favourite places to buy books - find out recommendations on our Shelf-Isolation post!

Roasteries

Devil's Head Coffee - If you're the kind of person that is constantly running out of coffee, this is the place for you. They have a very reasonably priced coffee subscription so you'll always know when your next bag is on the way. Plus, they offer free home delivery within Calgary, so it's easy to pick up a bag from the comfort of your home! Jacquie really enjoys the Rwanda Coffee, but if you wanted to try a few, their sample pack is a great way to go and would make a good gift for the coffee lover in your life! https://devilsheadcoffee.ca/

Phil & Sebastian Coffee - They offer same-day delivery within the city and free shipping across Canada for all orders over $40. If you were interested in learning more about coffee brewing, they have cool books for sale on their site. They also offer corporate gifting, so you can get your own branded coffee for the office! https://philsebastian.com/

Analog Coffee - This is one of Hayley's go-to places if she needs to work from a coffee shop. For the only non coffee drinker on the team (we don't understand either. How she survives on just tea, we will never know), Analog has a great selection of alternative drinks - matcha, chai, all kinds of other tea, even beer and wine! The rest of the team really rate their coffee too, which you can buy from their online store. https://www.analogcoffee.ca/

If there are any local businesses that you love and we missed from the list, share them with us on Twitter!