One of Pitt Meadows most beloved coffee shops is back open for business as the restaurant, building, and all, was moved recently.
A new 30,000-square-foot, two-storey terminal is being built where it used to reside, so the coffee shop had to relocate the trailers it calls home.
“We literally had this building picked up and moved over here,” said owner Alan Ford.
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He is proud to say it only took three weeks to get moved and re-opened for their loyal customers.
“We’ve still got some fine tuning to do,” he added, referring to a large wrap-around patio with a section fenced-off for dog owners who want to enjoy their service, they are planning on adding.
Half-an-hour into the cafe re-opening on Tuesday, many of the tables were occupied already.
“We’re a different kind of coffee shop,” Ford said.
“Our clientele is older; they come in every single day. For a lot of these guys it is their only conversation of the day.”
Mementos of customers who have passed away are on the walls of the shop.
“Most of the people we know by name,” Ford said.
“Everybody knows everybody by name; they give our staff Christmas cards and birthday cards.”
Ford said he will miss the view he used to have but is pleased about the new terminal on the whole.
“Our patio was air-side. That was our mountain,” he said, pointing in the distance at the Golden Ears range.
“That was my office view for nine years.
“But we’ve got a brand new [shop] coming [that will be located] right on the runway.”
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Robert Ellis and his wife, Ivene, have been coming to the cafe since they moved to the neighbourhood from Richmond eight-and-a-half years ago.
“Our daughter and our son-in-law – who live in Maple Ridge– found a coupon in their newspaper which basically said ‘2 for 1, new owners down at the runway,’ so we came down and have been coming down ever since,” Robert said.
“We enjoy it. We walk the dike and come in for a coffee in the mornings, and come for lunch and/or breakfast. It’s handy and it’s fun.”
Robert said they did not know what they were going to do for the period of time it took to move and reconstruct the restaurant, so were delighted to have it back.
“We were the first in this morning,” he said.
“There was another couple who followed us in and they wanted us to leave so they could come in and say they were the first,” he joked.
“But we love it; we love the staff here and we were wanting to be first and we made it.”
ronan.p.odoherty@blackpress.caLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
