Shop embraces local goodies

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This article was published 22/03/2019 (2571 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s no secret that South Osborne is becoming a destination for new business.

Co-owned by Angela Farkas and Alana Fiks, Black Market Provisions (550 Osborne St.) is the latest addition to the neighbourhood and opened its doors to the public on March 21.

Black Market is a general store and market carrying “good food to go,” vegan ice cream, locally sourced pantry staples, handcrafted gifts and housewares, and Fiks and Farkas’ handmade Pop Cart frozen treats.

The shop — in the former home of Pollock’s Hardware — isn’t a bakery, though they stock fresh bread from Hildegard’s Bakery and organic sourdough from Eadha Bread, Fiks said. It also isn’t a deli, or an ice cream shop, though there’s plenty of that on hand.

“We’re kind of all of those things,” she explained. “We decided we want to sell tasty food and cute things, and we’ll only sell things that we would either eat or buy ourselves, or buy for someone else.”
“Everything that is in here are products that we’ve used, products that we’ve eaten, products that we have in our house,” Farkas added.

Black Market Provisions is also the new home base for Pop Cart, a mobile frozen treat cart founded by the couple in 2015.

Over the years, Farkas and Fiks have been making their ice pops — destined for sale at farmers’ markets, festivals, weddings, and events in and around Winnipeg — in shared kitchens adjacent to roaring ovens. Aside from the conflict of creating frozen food alongside baked goods, the task of moving their numerous pieces of equipment from one kitchen to another was also becoming cumbersome.

“It was either going to be the end of Pop Cart, or it was going to expand into something else because we were tired of not being in our own space,” Fiks said.

“This was obviously our big dream that we wanted to do,” Farkas added.

The 700-square-foot space with a commercial kitchen in the back provides the facility for their vegan ice cream and ice pop production, and has allowed Farkas and Fiks to expand their menu to include handmade fresh and frozen soups, in-house made fresh and bound salads, sweet and savoury baked goods, parfait cups, pita chips, croutons, and granola.

Also on the shelves are artisanal pantry items like Smak Dab Mustard, Amola infused salts, Redpoll Farms preserves, and Decadence Chocolates.

“We’ve been really lucky with Pop Cart that we get to interact with a lot of other makers and a lot of other food businesses because we do a lot of farmers’ markets and other events,” Fiks said. “It’s nice to be able to collaborate with them and source things from them, so we can full circle support each other in our business endeavours.”

With the arrival of Black Market Provisions, South Osborne continues to build on its reputation as a destination for sweet treats. Farkas said she’s excited to join BDI, Park Line, Chaeban, and Mama Joe’s in serving up ice cream and cold comfort.

“We’re happy that everybody is doing their own thing and nothing is very similar in that way,” she said. “We embrace the fact that this is a cute little ice cream hub.”

For hours of operation go to blackmarketwpg.com