These New Businesses Made 2019 A Banner Year For Growth In Greater Moncton
It has been the year for beer, food and real estate in Greater Moncton. As 2019 comes to an end, we looked back at some of the new businesses that opened throughout the year. Here are just 13 of them:
Tire Shack Brewing Co.
Tire Shack Brewing Co. opened on 190 John St. in the fall and was instantly a hit with Hub City’s craft beer fans.
Owners Alan Norman and Jerrica Kennedy started the business after returning home from living in Toronto for around 15 years. They turned the auto garage into a chic taproom and brewery but kept the “Tire Shack” name.
Euston Park Social
Beer garden and shipping container restaurant Euston Park Social opened at 5 Euston St. over the May long weekend, offering local craft alcohol, brunch, lunch and snacks. While it’s only open between May and October, Euston Park opened for one extra weekend in December with a winter market, something owners Gene and Susan Cormier plan to host every year.
The Cormiers, who also opened a Euston Park-run canteen at Parlee Beach and fine dining restaurant Clos in downtown Moncton, are Huddle’s newsmaker of the year for Greater Moncton.
FiveFive Queen
The mixed-use residential and retail complex FiveFive Queen, located on 55 Queen St. in downtown Moncton, was completed this year, filling up its residential condos on the top four floors of the eight-storey building.
The complex also includes Gahan House brewpub and NB Liquor’s specialty wine and spirit store Experience on the first floor, Hilton Tapestry Collection hotel Canvas Moncton occupying levels one to four of the building, and Bar55 cafe and bar in the hotel’s lobby, all of which opened this year.
FiveFive Queen opened as the downtown core also sees other hotels and condominiums starting construction this year.
Avatar Food Truck
Chef Anishkumar Narayanan offers “authentic” cuisine from north and south India, where he’s originally from. Avatar served dishes like butter chicken with naan; chicken curry with basmati rice; pork vindaloo with rice; masala dosa with potato stew and tomato chutney; various samosas; tandoori chicken kabobs and beef kafta.
Because it’s a mobile shop, he was able to bring his food to Saint John and other parts of New Brunswick. The food truck is on a break now, but will be back next year for a new season.
Copper Branch
Montreal-based fast-casual vegan restaurant Copper Branch opened its first Atlantic Canadian location on 200 Champlain St. in Dieppe this year. With approximately 45 locations across the country, the Dieppe store was the first of several stores planned for Atlantic Canada.
The chain serves up an entirely plant-based and vegan food that isn’t processed, offering menu items like power bowls, sandwiches, burgers, chilli and soups, desserts, smoothies, and organic teas and coffees, among others.
Pür & Simple
Laval, Que.-based breakfast chain Pür & Simple continued its to expansion in Atlantic Canada this year, opening a restaurant in Dieppe’s Champlain Place in April, and later in the year, in Edmundston and Saint John.
The chain’s developer for Atlantic Canada, Christian Martin, told Huddle the Dieppe location, which is accessible from inside and outside the mall, gives it “very high visibility,” and it helps that TD’s Corporate Offices recently opened there as well.
Lindt Chocolate
The Swiss chocolate store opened at the Mapleton Centre on 62 Wyse St. in the fall, offering chocolate lovers a spot to indulge.
Taste of Homeland
Taste of Homeland, which sells food from Europe and Israel, opened its Moncton location earlier this month at 1201 Mountain Rd. The shop offers products including Israeli kosher food and beverages. It also offers snacks, fish products, breads, cheeses, buckwheat and other products from Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and other European countries.
Russian-Israeli owner Yulia Rubin started the grocery store and delivery business in Woodstock in 2016. That location will remain open, but Rubin and her husband now live in Moncton.
La Station
La Station owner Mylène Després launched the co-working space component of her business in October, in partnership with Porpoise co-founder Dan Gillis, who owns the building that hosts the co-working space.
Located on the second floor of 232 Botsford St., La Station is targeting community-minded entrepreneurs and organizations, including artists, with its offerings. The facility has a podcasting room, meeting rooms, white boards, standing desks, shared working spaces, and an espresso machine, among other things.
La Place
Adelin Properties opened co-working space La Place on the second floor of 200 Champlain St. in Dieppe.
“We had a large office here that we were having a hard time renting to a bigger company, and we kept being approached by people who just needed one office or two offices, or just a smaller area to work. To fit those needs, we just started dividing it into different companies and we found that the demand is very high,” La Place’s community manager Olivia Steeves told Huddle.
The company later also started a short-term rental offering at its 735 Main Street location in downtown Moncton.
Moncton KickFit
Russell Smith, Mandy McLean and Jake Darsch opened the circuit-training gym after their regular gym closed. Located on 1966 Mountain Rd., the kickboxing gym offers the concept of 35-minute workouts with no class times, allowing people to drop in at any time and always have a trainer on hand to help them if they need.
SPINCO
SPINCO is another new fitness offering in Moncton this year. Former Moncton Magic wellness coach Ali Manship brought the British Columbia-based brand to the Hub City in the fall.
Located at 1690 Mountain Rd., the gym offers a full-body workout using indoor cycling machines. People ride in the dark to the beat of the music, with the support of coaches.
K&M Saffron Tea House
The colourfully-decorated K&M Saffron Tea House opened in August, selling teas using herbs owners Kaveh Jafari and Maryam Sohbati brought from their native Iran.
The tea house offers teas made out of Iranian borage flowers, bitter orange flowers or tea leaves harvested from the mountains of Iran, served with a saffron-flavoured syrup. They also sell sweet and salty treats to go with the tea.