Building ‘fabulous buzz’ on Fort Street Bread Box bake shop brings longtime tastes of Fort Garry Hotel to general public By: Aaron Epp Posted: 5:45 PM CST Friday, Feb. 27, 2026

Ida Albo is on a roll.

After opening a yoga studio and then a skincare clinic at 280 Fort St., the Winnipeg entrepreneur has added a bake shop to the building. The Bread Box had a soft opening on Wednesday and celebrated its grand opening on Thursday.

The menu features items served in the Fort Garry Hotel, located one kilometre south of the shop, where Albo is an owner and the managing partner. The menu includes the hotel’s organic sourdough bâtard and country loaf, made using a 13-year-old wild Manitoba grape starter.

Guests have booked stays at the hotel specifically to stock up on the bâtard (an oval or oblong loaf), Albo said, adding she’s excited to finally share the Fort Garry’s food beyond the hotel’s walls.

“We thought maybe we can help animate downtown and … open up a little bakery and extend our offerings more to the general public,” Albo said.

The 500-square-foot shop employs two people and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Items from the shop will be available on online food delivery services soon, according to Albo.

Hotel staff have been making bread by hand for more than three decades. Bagels, baguettes, focaccia and croissants are a few of the items available for sale, plus cookies and muffins that were previously only available at Ten Spa in the hotel.

The first two days in business have been good, Albo said Friday morning. “We have some very, very loyal clientele and they’ve been popping in.”

Customers have also come in from the neighbouring businesses Albo owns — Yoga Public, which opened in 2012, and TenSkin Rx, a skincare clinic that opened last year. The Manitoba Métis Federation owns the building.

“We thought maybe we can help animate downtown and … open up a little bakery and extend our offerings more to the general public.”

“The space has a fabulous buzz right now because now we’ve animated the whole main floor,” Albo said. “We have a café on the left; we have a facial and manicure-pedicure bar on the right; and then we have a 15,000-sq.-ft. yoga studio right behind. We’re really excited.”

Albo’s employees have added signage bearing a tagline that she says reflects all three businesses: “Wellness lives here.”

“We’ve got a few more ideas up our sleeve along that line and we’ll slowly trickle out those ideas through the rest of the year,” she said.

The Manitoba Métis Federation is happy to have Albo opening another business in its building, said Lorne Pelletier, MMF senior economic adviser.

“It’s really important to be activating the space through different service offerings, different businesses,” he said. “And so Ida is a tremendous partner in that regard.”

The MMF purchased the building from Albo a few years ago for an undisclosed amount. The federation is looking for tenants for the building’s second and third floors, Pelletier said, whether it’s government agencies or private businesses.

“(We’re) always looking for our partner tenants in the business community to bring forward activities and offerings that create and contribute to a vibrant downtown Winnipeg,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Bread Box isn’t the only new offering Albo has in the works. The first floor of the Fort Garry Hotel is currently undergoing a $1-million renovation that is scheduled to open in April.

Albo describes the “executive floor” as a five-star hotel within the four-star hotel. Once completed, the first floor will include 12 guest rooms, three suites and an executive lounge with bar, table and lounge seating for 36.

The executive floor is accessible only to guests staying on that floor and has its own concierge.

Although not officially open yet, Prime Minister Mark Carney and his security team spent two nights on the executive floor during the Grey Cup festivities in November.

“There was an opportunity in the market for a kind of next-level experience for people that were looking,” Albo said of the decision to upgrade the first floor. The security and the amount of space makes it ideal for private events and group retreats, she added.

The Fort Garry Hotel opened in December 1913. Approximately 80,000 people stay at the hotel annually, according to Maria Cefali, marketing director.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca