Shop different when visiting Kentville this fall
New and niche shops add to the vibrancy, charm of downtown
As people visit Kentville each fall to take in fall activities, they also stop in for shopping, food and fun.
Despite the pandemic being hard on business, new and niche shops have been thriving in the town and are offering something different to shoppers of all ages. Kentville Business Community executive director Genevieve Allen Hearn says
it’s a great time to visit the town.
She says storefronts are filling up and getting ready for fall and that many shops are hosting Pumpkin People displays in Kentville’s downtown core, while restaurants and cafes will be offering pumpkinthemed dishes.
“In the last decade or so, we’ve seen a shift back to that local economy model that Kentville was known for,” she says. “New and niche stores are opening up as people don’t want a ‘one-stop shop’ anymore.”
So find a good parking spot and bring your walking shoes so you can enjoy exploring downtown Kentville, including the following shops ...
TIDES CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY 36 Cornwallis Street
Tides Contemporary art gallery will have a Pumpkin People display on Creative Corner — Cornwallis and Webster Streets — this fall, and will also feature floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall art displays at the gallery. The gallery will also distribute an art gift from Jack Vander Wal, whose estate asked the gallery to repurpose and paint over his remaining 1,400 canvases to support school and community art.
“Every inch of the painted images on every canvas must be painted over, and the resulting blank canvases offered in support of school and community art classes, emerging artist encouragement and community promotion of regional artists,” says gallery coordinator Bob Hainstock.
FREEDOM MINIATURES 45 Webster Street
Shelley Acker says her Freedom Miniatures store, which offers products, materials and supplies for miniature world creators, is “well and truly a nice business” and the only such business inside the Atlantic bubble.
The store offers its customers dollhouse miniatures, model train layouts, table-top gaming figurines and dioramas, as well specialty paints, pigments, landscaping supplies, lighting, wood and tools — which can be hard to find elsewhere, according to Acker.
“For many of these items, I am the sole source in the Valley,” she says.
Acker is also set to launch a renovated website and will tie that launch into the shop’s second anniversary, Oct. 18, on which date it will begin offering sales and featured items for 22 days, until Nov. 8, 2020.
FRESH-O
19-17 River Street
In addition to their already famous chicken shawarma menu staple, Fresh-O will add a new beef burger to its food offerings this fall. COVID-19 hasn’t been the only hardship for the restaurant, with its location being just down the road from the ongoing bridge construction in Kentville, but owner Case Rahim says their loyal customer base in Kentville has kept them going.
“We are happy to have support from Kentville to keep us going, and for shoppers coming to Kentville. It means a lot to a small family business owner like myself,” says Rahim.
SABLE SHORTBREAD 437 Main Street
The baking team behind Sable Shortbread is gearing up for fall. Mother-and-son co-owners Lorraine Pike and Duncan
Pike will be offering customers pumpkin spice shortbread baked goods through the month of October, and will also be making other cookies shaped like pumpkins.
The store will also have a giant pumpkin-shaped cookie for sale, which Lorraine says should not be eaten alone. All of their offerings are listed on their website and online store, too. She and Duncan are excited to welcome locals and visitors alike to the shop and to see which baked goods they choose to try.
“We’re really looking forward to celebrating pumpkin season with our customers,” says Lorraine.
DRALA 19 Aberdeen Sreet
Kentville is now home to the second location of Drala, which shop owner Rosy Narula says is all about promoting spirituality and other elements to help people ground themselves in their daily realities.
Narula says she already feels at home in Kentville, where the shop has been welcomed with open arms, and open minds, and is excited to share with town residents and visitors how to derive power from their surroundings. The store will be a new and niche addition to the town, and one Narula hopes people will venture into this fall.
“Most things we carry are about self-development, healing and wellness and are always about the empowerment of human beings, but ultimately the power is within,” she says. “This is what our focus is on.”
NEW SCOTLAND CANDLE CO.
381 Main Street
Mark Beaudry and Erin Wilson are the co-owners and husbandand-wife team behind this candle shop in Kentville, which will be offering limited-edition scents Bourbon & Spice, Winter Nights and Clove Pomander for this fall and winter only.
The owners feel fortunate to have opened a store in a supportive community such as Kentville, where they can sell their handmade products alongside those from other local producers who may not have had other avenues to sell their goods this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancelled craft shows.
“We’re very much looking forward to welcoming customers, both new and old, into our store.”