Beloved small-town Alberta specialty store closing its doors after nearly 10 years
After nine years in operation, a beloved Canmore store announced that it will be closing its doors next month.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Oct. 5, Alberta’s Own Marketplace co-owner Laura Bodell announced the closure.
“It’s not the post I expected to make. But after nine incredible years, Alberta’s Own storefront in Canmore will be closing on Nov. 15.”
The store began in a basement space in 2017 with just 35 vendors, and has since expanded into a shop featuring over 400 Alberta entrepreneurs.
The store says a staffing crisis in Canmore is the driving reason for having to shut its doors.
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“With every one of my full-time team leaving Canmore due to immigration policy changes or Canmore’s high comparable cost of living, or stepping away because of health issues, and the Bow Valley having a dire shortage of available workers, I’ll be without a crew by the end of November,” the post explained.
The store is having a closing sale starting on Thursday, Oct. 15, with the goal of setting its vendors up to financially survive the winter. While the storefront is closing, the business plans to go fully online in 2027.
“For many of them, sales from Alberta’s Own have come to represent more than half their annual revenue, and it’s critically important to me that they are taken care of as we transition to online in 2027.”
Alberta’s Own Marketplace isn’t the only business in Canmore to shut its doors. Earlier this year, a popular bakery in the town closed.