'A Shopping Experience' at A Bit of Britain
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
VANCOUVER - A Bit of Britain - a British Foods and Import store in Maple Ridge - opened its doors for business on St. Patrick's Day and has been a going concern ever since. But as many people realize, nothing just happens without a lot of preparation and hard work behind the scenes.
 |
|
A BIT OF BRITAIN Shop owner Josh Penner is shown here in one of three shops that he owns.
|
Owner Josh Penner is a young entrepreneur and a success story. He’s been running his own business for nine years and now owns three successful stores. His business expertise comes from his family background since he comes from a long line of butchers. His dad, great-grandad, uncle, brother and brother-in-law are all butchers.
When Josh was 21, he bought Meridian Meats and Seafood Store in Coquitlam from his dad. Pretty soon, he opened a second store in Maple Ridge. “We started just dabbling a little bit in some British meats and then from there it went with customers asking “have you got any Scotch pies? Or, have you got any bridies, or steak and kidney pies?
“So, we thought O.K., we’ll add some pastries and some fresh Scottish bread. Then people wanted to know if we would bring in the British groceries and soon, the orders were getting bigger and bigger, and we couldn’t believe how well it was going. That’s when I decided to open our A Bit of Britain store.”
Speaking about the products that are in the store, Josh said, “we carry all the British style meats, the haggis, black and white pudding, square sliced sausage, a variety of different British style bangers. All the different styles of bacons, hams, gammon joints etc.
“When it comes to the sausages, I get Robert from The British Butcher Shoppe in North Vancouver to help me and there’s a reason for that...he’s a master. He does a dynamite job. He imports all the spices and the recipes are authentic. He has been a big inspiration to me in this business.”
Josh said, “we sell all the different meat pies and an English baker does all our pies. We carry potato scones and fresh Scottish bread on the weekends. We also carry a big selection of British groceries, and our biggest seller so far has been the sweets.”
The Scottish inspiration in A Bit of Britain store comes from Lorraine who works at the Port Coquitlam meat market. Josh said, “she’s Scottish and she has definitely influenced the Scottish products.” Some of these include, Scottish themed t-shirts, flags and the Jimmy hats with the red hair, “we sell a lot of those,” said Josh.
There’s a blackboard on the wall at A Bit of Britain that says, “If we don’t have what you’re looking for, let us know and we’ll do our best to get it.” Josh said, “we mean that. We take down our customers’ names and phone numbers, write down their request, and as soon as it comes in we give them a call. And I appreciate that feedback because I want to know what people want.”
“This particular part of the business has been a real surprise to me”, Josh said, “because I didn’t really know what to expect when I opened the doors. I mean you can only do so much research and I couldn’t tell how many British, Scottish and Irish people lived in the area and there’s a ton!
“I thought we would hear a lot of accents, but that’s not always the case. People come in because they’ve visited Britain, or had a neighbour who was from England and always brought them back something from the UK. They come in to recapture that taste of Britain.
“When people come into the butcher shop, they are there to buy dinner for the evening and it’s a chore, but when they come into A Bit of Britain, it’s a shopping experience. They might look around for 20 minutes and they enjoy themselves...it’s nostalgia.”
*
A Bit of Britain store is located on Selkirk Avenue right behind Meridian Meats and Seafood at #5 - 22621 Lougheed Highway and right next to the Langley Farm Market in Maple Ridge. Look for the Scottish Standard flag and the Union Jack flying just outside the door of A Bit of Britain store. For more information, call (604) 463-5067.
|
