Western Grocer Serving the industry since 1916
Larry’s market is one of the first completely vegetarian, organic grocery stores in Canada— offering unique, local, organic products that support a plant-based, low waste, health-conscious lifestyle.
Its 2500 sq ft store front allows those with plant-based diets to have everything they need in one place, offering a wide variety of local, organic produce, plant-based products, health supplements, toxic free household products, a full-service cafe providing quick, convenient plant-based foods and desserts, as well as carrying new and unique products such as waste-free shampoo/conditioner bars. There is also a “cold-zone” vending machine carrying non-alcoholic beers and alcohol- free elixirs. They aim to carry “items that you can’t find anywhere else” and to introduce one new product monthly, which they often discover through social media or the local Farmers Market.
The inspiration behind Larry’s Market began when the owner Ryan Dennis’s wife was diagnosed with cancer- which ultimately led to a complete lifestyle change for the family. After doing further research into foods, lifestyle and contributing factors to the diagnosis of cancer, they switched to a vegetarian diet.
At the time, Dennis had over 25 Years experience in the grocery store business working for Save On Foods as a general manager. He realized that what they were looking for to support their lifestyle was not readily available nor easy to access in a traditional grocery store. He thus saw an opportunity to create a unique store that provided a one stop shop to support a plant-based lifestyle.
“There really was not a lot of options when it comes to vegan/vegetarian foods and lifestyle” says Dennis, “so we decided, why not open a vegetarian grocery store?”
When it came to deciding on a location for Larry’s market, he always had a vision of it being in the historic shipyards of North Vancouver. His grandparents met working in the shipyards and his father, uncles and aunts all worked in the shipyard. So, for Dennis this was the perfect backdrop to open Larry’s Market.
The store is designed to provide customers with same day delivery with an efficient kitchen that allows them to prep food while also being able to greet customers—as they are committed to providing customers with a shopping experience that they do not expect from a regular grocery store. Staff is engaging and have formed strong relationships with their customers.
As a small business, the biggest challenge they faced with Covid was adapting to meet the demands of the community and balancing the increase in volume of online orders for those wanting same day delivery while maintaining their high level of customer service. The store has followed the highest cleaning standards making sure customers feel safe. However trying these times have been, Dennis feels it has ultimately made them better because of it.
Asked about some of the challenges faced in running a solely vegetarian grocery, Dennis says partnering with suppliers to provide affordable local organic groceries with comparable or better prices to standard grocery stores has certainly been one of them. Despite being a small business up against big grocery stores who can get lower prices, his hard work has paid off with a lot of happy customers.
Larry’s is committed to reducing waste by always choosing a lower waste or compostable option whenever possible. Whatever has not sold that day is repurposed in the organic cafe. Dennis admits he has a long way to go when it comes to reducing waste, but it is something they continually work towards. “We are trying to stay nimble and be quick to adapt to the changes with the environment”.
What is in the future for Larry’s Market?
Dennis plans to expand the company to serve multiple locations and be closer to their customers, providing even faster service and delivery within an hour. That may be tough to achieve but by the way Larry’s Market has been going so far, it would not be surprising.
