For this week’s edition of #ThrowbackThursday we go back exactly five years to the beginnings of The Pie Shoppe at 1875 Powell Street.

It’s been half a decade since the French sisters took over the pie-slinging address and showed me around the old space. The move from their original, tiny location on Gore St. in Chinatown gave them more much more room and natural light to bake with, not to mention the ability to actually seat guests.

Here are some of my notes from that day, plus a bunch of photographs…

Sisters Stephanie and Andrea French opened the original back in late 2012, a hole in the wall in Chinatown that took them nine days to build. The new space – which at 1,200 sqft is four times the size of the original – is going to take a little longer to put together; they’re hoping for a June launch.

“There’s so much space I don’t even know what to do with it all,” laughed Stephanie when she showed me around the other day, pointing out where things will go. It will end up being fleshed out with sixteen seats, and its own coffee bar with beans supplied by Panoramic Coffee Roasters (the sisters’ own operation that roasts small batches in Kits).

The Pie Shoppe has built up an great reputation for quality and consistency in their first three and a half years, so I trust this new, expanded iteration will be a hit. Though best known for their chocolate pecan and apple pies, they’re looking to add new things to the mix by taking advantage of their added production space. In addition to the usual goodies, we can also expect meat pies and empanada-style pasties and hand-pies. If things go well, they hope to supply many of the nearby breweries and perhaps even some grocery stores with the latter. They also hope to host pop-up dinners galore in the new space. The Frenchs are good friends with habitual pop-uppers like Juno Kim and Annabelle Choi, so expect the occasional bout of evening deliciousness too. Check it out…

The Pie Shoppe

Neighbourhood: East Vancouver

1875 Powell St.

604-338-6646

WEBSITE