by Andrew Morrison | I took a peek inside the imminent Lukes General Store at 49 West Hastings last night (between Acme Cafe and Save On Meats). It’s a huge step up from their old pop up digs in Chinatown. It’s small, to be sure, but they’ve managed to cram a lot of cool stuff in there without making it feel cramped. The impossibly high ceilings help. Immediately catching my eye was the vinyl collection, which is pretty awesome for a limited selection, and the Chronograph, which you’ll read about below. First, here’s an excerpt from our first story on Lukes, which was published back in August. It’ll give you the basic skinny of what we’re looking at:

“Vancouver has been really great to us”, says owner Gareth Lukes, whose family has operated Calgary fixture Lukes Drug Mart since 1951.” We love being here. There is so much great energy in this city right now and great communities with a lot of interest in the products and experiences we offer.” The move to the larger, fixed address will allow Lukes to broaden their retail offerings and table a cafe experience featuring donuts from nearby Cartem’s Donuterie and coffee from the Bay Area’s highly regarded Four Barrel. If you’re unfamiliar with the brand, it’s the outstanding stuff they brew at San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery. This will be the first time their beans will see retail action in Canada. For the shop’s shelves, Dry Goods Manager Veronika Rezucha (formerly of Lark on Main) will be bringing in bars from Mast Brothers Chocolate and products from Malin + Goetz Apothecary, Baxter of California Shaving, Juniper Ridge, Pendleton Woolen Mills, and McClure’s Pickles (to name just a few). Music aficionado Shaun Cowan, formerly of Scratch Records, is on board to manage the store’s vinyl selection.

Everyone involved (as far as I could tell) was on hand last night, stocking the shelves and putting the finishing touches on things. That includes coffee pro Laura Cummings, who was tinkering with the espresso machine, project manager Aaron Schubert, Shawn Mankowse of Calgary’s Wreck City Collective (the crew responsible for the dreamy “Chronograph” light installation above the espresso bar), and Sara Sheridan, whose origami firm Along Came The Fold designed the stunning light fixtures above the communal table.

Regarding the Chronograph, which is the major talking point in the store (until you’re faced with a Four Barrel coffee and a Cartem’s donut), the artist’s statement says it’s “a large scale analog light clock created […] It uses light and projections to show the passage of time as well as highlight found and reclaimed objects from East Vancouver. The clock serves as a tangible marker for a changing neighbourhood, and a reminder of our unfaltering future, forever influenced by ghosts of the past.”

It’ll be a cool little shop/cafe when it officially opens, which is tomorrow morning (Saturday, November 8th). The Hours are Monday through Friday from 7:30am to 6pm, and from 10am to 5pm on the weekends.

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER