The newest addition to the Montrose Cultural Centre had its official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday afternoon. Jeffrey’s Cafe & Catering Owner Lance Warkentin hopes their new location in the centre of the Montrose Cultural Centre will play a part in creating a community hub.
“From newcomers, new citizens, to people who have lived here their whole lives,” he says. “We have young families coming to the gallery to hang out, it’s a place of arts and culture… it’s really great.”
Taking over from former tenant Esquires, Warkentin says while they may have two additional locations already in the city, the latest is a road less travelled for his staff, as they’ve never worked in such a small space.
“It’s definitely a bit of an experiment… we’ve always done full service, so to do counter service and more of a kiosk and in a different format and see where that leads and what kind of opportunities that lends to us down the road as well.”
He believes the smaller space will help greatly with patrons, with not only library and gallery guests, but surrounding buildings including City Hall, the RCMP detachment and provincial building all potentially adding to much-needed foot traffic.
The space is leased out by the City of Grande Prairie. The tenant will also be responsible for catering events at the Montrose Cultural Centre. The first Jeffry’s location in Grande Prairie opened in 2001.