Vancouver, BC – On April 5, Buy Social Canada is celebrating the grand opening of the Social Enterprise Marketplace at the Bentall Centre Pop-Ups, in the heart of Vancouver’s downtown core.

The Social Enterprise Marketplace offers the community an opportunity to purchase and learn more about the Buy Social Canada Certified Social Enterprises in their community. What is a social enterprise? David LePage, managing partner at Buy Social Canada explains, “Social enterprises are businesses that sell goods and services, embed a social, cultural or environmental purpose into the business, and reinvest the majority of profits into their social mission.”

The Marketplace, located at #304 595 Burrard Street in the retail concourse between Purdy’s Chocolate Shop and Canada Post, will be open from now until May 13. Hours of operation will run Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

“What we are doing is building a market ecosystem – an integrated ‘social value marketplace’. When we learned that Hudson Pacific Properties, co-owner of Bentall Centre, had created a Pop-Up program for small business and arts organizations, we thought this was a great opportunity to showcase the Certified Social Enterprises, connect with community changemakers and share the fantastic products and services that they offer,” said David LePage.

Ashley Chandler, Program Manager for Hudson Pacific said, “We are thrilled to host the Social Enterprise Marketplace at Bentall Centre and support enterprises that are innovatively embedding social, cultural and environmental responsibility into their business models. The Social Enterprise Marketplace also fits in perfectly with our broader effort to activate Bentall Centre with exciting programming and retail offerings that our tenants and the broader community can enjoy.”

The store will feature a range of products perfect for a special gift or a personal pick-me-up,including beautiful tote bags upcycled from city street banners, gourmet food items crafted by a collective of people that face barriers to employment, and artisan reclaimed wood products from a local co-operative.

Our social enterprises address critical social, environmental and economic issues our communities face; from employment to affordable housing, from food insecurity to addressing climate change and social inclusion. This pop-up reflects just the beginning when it comes to the community building our social enterprise sector contributes to.

RSVP here to join the Grand Opening of the Social Enterprise Marketplace April 5 from 2:30 – 4:00pm.

For additional information please contact:

Tori Williamson, Buy Social Canada at tori@buysocialcanada.com.

Ashley Chandler, Hudson Pacific Properties  achandler@hudsonppi.com.