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We Need More: (Independent) Coffee Shops in Parks

Kafka's is landing in the new Yaletown Park. It's a good thing.

We’re spoiled when it comes to parks. Not because we necessarily have a great park system but, much like New York, we have one unbelievably great park that makes us forget how just okay the rest can be.

A case in point—did you know there’s a modest-sized park on Smithe and Richards that has been in the planning stage since 2015? But instead of looking backwards at how long everything takes in this city, let’s look forward to one aspect of this long-awaited park that we can all agree is awesome—there’s going to be a coffee shop in it. And not some lame Waves or Blenz but a new outlet from the quite-excellent Kafka’s. So people can mill about with a proper Americano in their hand, enjoy greenspace… repeat. 

READ MORE: THE BATTLE OF THE COFFEE BEERS

It’s set to open this Spring, but the announcement is below.

Vancouver B.C., March 17, 2022—Known for cultivating neighbourhood gathering places, Kafka’s Coffee Roasting is excited to be opening a new downtown café, Kafka’s in the Park, through a dynamic partnership with the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA).

Located at the corner of Smithe and Richards, Kafka’s in the Park will serve as a welcoming, engaging community space for over 10,000 residents and 17,000 employees who live and work within a five-minute walk of the new park, pegged to open this spring.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Kafka’s on board to run the café in our new park,” explains Octavio Silva, Manager of Business Development at the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. “Kafka’s is a Vancouver-bred success story, aligned with the values of the Park Board and our mission to create community hubs. We couldn’t be happier to co-create this fresh new space and work together to foster neighbourhood connection in the downtown core.”

Kafka’s in the Park will anchor the park’s southwest entrance, welcoming visitors to this lively new corner of the downtown core. The café seamlessly blends into the park space with a dramatic folding window wall that opens up to the plaza area in warmer weather, allowing seating to flow outdoors. Animating the park both aesthetically and culturally, Kafka’s in the Park provides a familiar touchstone by serving quality locally roasted fairly-traded and fresh-crop coffees, tasty house-made sandwiches and pastries, and Kafka’s own fresh house-baked sourdough bread, along with soft-serve ice cream available only at the park.

Designed by Scott Cohen in collaboration with park project’s architectural firm, Dialog, the new Kafka’s in the Park sparkles with eye-catching high-contrast graphics and rainbow-tinted lucite mobiles casting coloured light across downtown Vancouver’s urban backdrop. Custom-crafted banquette seating and tubular Marcel Breuer chrome furniture provide functional style while volcanic grey floors, finely crafted local Douglas Fir carpentry, and natural plants round out the aesthetic.