Vancouver‘s Gastown area, once the main city centre, still housing a plethora of old buildings, contains a wide variety of great designer stores: both clothing and furniture/home goods. On a wander through the area (it is on the way to downtown proper from where I live, so I walk through it a few times a week) the other day, I was pleased to see that the long-empty storefront on West Cordova Street had finally been occupied.
Gastown’s newest store Old Faithful is just my kind of place. The owners Walter Manning and Savannah Olsen have carefully selected goods from small manufacturers from the UK, Boston, France and Japan, to name a few. With floor to ceiling shelving, school-house ceiling fixtures, old brick walls, hardwood floors, and wood-topped tables, Old Faithful is a comforting space where spruce incense burns and a sweet little dog can be seen sitting in the back of the store.
