UPDATED - Reopening Planning Has Begun

UPDATE - May 28, 2020

We've been very busy over the past couple of weeks, and while our doors aren't open yet, we're getting closer every day. Here are some of our most important updates:

Inglewood Store (Calgary)

We've brought nearly all of our staff back to work at the Inglewood store this week, and everyone is excited to get things moving again. We are cleaning the store top to bottom—every surface has been thoroughly sanitized and every antique, display item, and apothecary has been taken down and scrubbed clean. We are even repainting the outside of the store!  Since closing, we have emptied the shelves to fill online orders, so the next task is making new batches of every single one of our blends and filling jars with fresh product. 

We are making plans to offer curbside pickup as soon as we have our spices stocked up again. In-person shopping will be next, and we'll provide updates when we know more about what that will look like.

Calgary Farmers' Market

We are very eager to get our Market stall open as soon as possible. There are rules to follow and some logistics to be worked out, but we're nearly ready. And we have staff jarring like mad to get the shelves stocked again! If all goes well, our booth will be open for regular Market hours beginning on Thursday, June 4th.

We expect to be very busy, and sadly people won't be able to browse and sample like before. We are only allowed to have one customer in the booth at a time, and we need to manage lineups in a way that allows for proper social distancing. We likely won't have our full range of products at first and may run out of a few things. And we know a lot of people would love to order and pick up at the Market, but we're not going to offer that for the first week or two until things are running smoothly. Please be kind to our staff and help keep them and others safe by being respectful of the rules.

Old Strathcona Store (Edmonton)

Right now our Edmonton store remains closed. We haven't brought back any staff yet, and won't be able to until our Calgary locations are stocked up. We store spices and make blends for all of our locations at our Calgary warehouse, so Edmonton can't open— even for curbside pickup—until we have spices ready to send to them. 

Online Ordering on Our Website

Our online orders continue to come in faster than we can fill them, and Canada Post has run into all sorts of issues that have caused shipping delays and inaccurate tracking information to appear on their website. The result is that our turnaround time continues to be much longer than normal, and at times is unpredictable and out of our control.

Please be aware that online orders may take 2-3 weeks to arrive.

We've tried just about everything we can to keep order numbers manageable, and we know that it's been frustrating for a lot of people who never seem to check the website at the right time. But things are finally improving—we've been open and accepting orders at least two days a week, and we're going to keep on opening more often and for longer.  

Keep checking back as we'll be posting updates more regularly now that reopening is beginning to happen. Stay safe, and we can't wait to finally start seeing some of you again in person!

—  Your Friends at The Silk Road —

Hello everybody!

We’re starting to get lots of curious inquiries about whether our stores might be opening soon, since retailers in Alberta are now allowed to open with a few important safety guidelines.

For now, we have decided to keep our physical stores closed to the public while we continue to assess how we can open safely.

In the meantime, we are planning on bringing some of our staff back soon to begin stocking the shelves and getting the stores organized. If you are walking by, you may see people hard at work inside. We are also thinking about possible ways that we can serve customers before completely reopening. This might include curbside pick-up options for orders placed online, and it might include a plan for curbside shopping where you could place your order at the door and come back for it in a few minutes.

Above all, our priority is to take it slowly and consider the safety and security of our staff and customers at each step of the process. As restrictions begin loosening, we will continue to move carefully towards our normal operations and make sure you can each get all of the delicious spices you need to keep your kitchens humming!