Celtic Treasure Chest Celebrates First Anniversary With a Focus on Selection and Quality
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
VANCOUVER - If product knowledge is 90 percent of retail sales, then Steve McVittie would win hands down. Steve and Lil McVittie are the proud owners of the Celtic Treasure Chest at 5639 Dunbar Street in the Kerrisdale area of Vancouver. The shop is hard to miss with all the flags of the Celtic countries flying outside their door. You can even purchase one of these hard-to-come-by flags at the unbelievable low price of $19.95. No wonder they’re flying off the shelves!
STEVE AND LIL MCVITTIE are the proud owners of The Celtic Treasure Chest
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The McVitties have just celebrated their first anniversary of the opening of the Celtic Treasure Chest and The Celtic Connection was along to see what had been added over the past year...and there was plenty!
The shelves are full of lots more and interesting stock. The range of teas is mind boggling. For instance, there are eight different bulk Earl Grey Teas, to say nothing of the packaged Earl Grey’s, there is even a green Earl Grey.
There is a tea blend called Monk’s Blend, a vanilla and grenadine combination, which is a relaxing tea experience and tastes just out of this world. But no need to worry, Steve will explain all the different teas and tell you which ones would be ideal for breakfast, lunch, dinner and an afternoon sip.
He even has samplers where he can take off the lid to let you have a smell and if you can’t make up your mind which one you would like to try...then for a dollar, you can get to sample a cup.
“People come through our door and it’s a trip down memory lane,” Steve said, “they look at our shelves and say, ‘I remember that, I haven’t seen that in 30 or 40 years.’ We’re getting a lot of support from second and third generations, even more so than the original Celts, in that they come in and say, ‘ah, I remember treacle, grandma used to make gingerbread men with them, I’ve got to try some. Or, ‘Oh, look they have, walnut whips and snowballs, grandpa used to give me those.’ We hear so many people’s stories and family histories, their past and where they came from, it’s just been a real joy.
“We get people coming in to the shop who have just returned from England, and they will look at our merchandise and tell us that it’s more reasonably priced here than in England. And the reason is that imported goods are marked down more than goods being sold over in England to retail stores. So, even with transportation costs and other costs being what they are, we do have a slight price advantage on some goods.
“For instance, I am working with two exporters out of the U.K. and both of them said that they give a better shelf life for merchandise leaving the country and also better prices because of the competition and high overhead in the U.K. So, it gives us some advantages in many ways.
“We get a lot of people from all over visiting the shop. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve had people from California, Washington, Ontario, Alberta, the Okanagan and the Kootenays. We have also shipped several items to various parts of Canada and the United States.
“At $19.95 our flags are a big seller, people are putting them in their rumpus room and just generally showing off their Celtic pride. We have hard-to-get flags from the Isle of Man, Welsh, St. George’s, Scotland’s Lion Rampant and the St. Andrew’s flag, Irish, St. George’s, the Union Jack, Ulster and Erin Go Bragh. Our flags are a large size – 36 by 60 – so they’re a real price advantage.
“What we have done here at the Celtic Treasure Chest is go for selection, we want to have as wide a selection as possible. For instance, where others may carry one type of shortbread, we carry about eight or nine types. We carry a wide range of cheeses and a full range of meat pies and scones. This fall we will be carrying the Golden Harvest chips from Scotland and the Irish Tato chips as well.”
Steve McVittie was the Parade Marshal at last year’s very successful St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown Vancouver, and he has been asked to again repeat his winning performance at the bigger and better St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2005.
If you’re looking for a special gift or have a hankering for the taste and smell of home, then pamper yourself and drop in to the Celtic Treasure Chest and take a stroll down memory lane as you check out the treasure of items from the old country. Then sit down and treat yourself to a meat pie or a pastry and savour the moment with a relaxing tea experience from the wide selection of tea chests at the Celtic Treasure Chest.
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