How a Herring Cove coffee shop hustled to become a community grocer during COVID-19

A coffee shop in Herring Cove, N.S., has quickly rebranded so it can reopen under strict COVID-19 public health orders that have forced many businesses to close. 

Pavia Gallery reopened this week with a new mission — community grocer. Co-owner Victoria Foulger says the community part is important.

"I think the idea of having some level of social interaction during the day is as much soul food as anything else. I think it's a really important part of us as humans," Foulger told CBC's Information Morning on Friday.

Restrictions that were put in place to help limit the spread of COVID-19 forced the business to close earlier in March, but it didn't take long for the owners to brainstorm a way they could reopen during the pandemic. 

They hauled some refrigerators they already owned into the middle of the café, set up some shelves and started ordering goods.

"Like so many hundreds of thousands of people in our situation, we lost 100 per cent of our income overnight with no ability to generate more income. So we had to think quickly," Foulger said. 

"You can either wallow in your own despair or you can take what you have and build on it and do something good."

Pavia Gallery still sells coffee, tea and baked goods, but customers can now buy honey, vegetables and other food from local producers, as well as beer and wine to take away. 

One of the biggest sellers so far is a product Foulger didn't expect. 

"Little did we know but baking yeast is hot on the shopping list of people today," she said. "I think there's a lot of home baking going on out there."

Fougler said the biggest challenge now is making sure they have enough in stock. 

"One day a cauliflower is $6 and the next day it's $10 and then it drops down to $4 ... it seems price fluctuations [are] huge almost on a day-to-day basis," she said. 

Foulger said the grocer is following public health orders and has installed Plexiglas along the counter to protect customers and staff. Only four customers are allowed in the store at a time, she said. 

In the first few days, she said there has been a steady stream of people coming in. 

"We're just going with the flow. We're adapting to the change every day," she said.