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Red Brick Cafe celebrates 10 years as community space

Dragged down Douglas Street by her frisky dog, cafe owner found her dream location

About 12 years ago, Shelley Krieger’s young, rambunctious dog lead her down Douglas Street in Guelph. That’s when the Guelph café owner saw her future.

In search of a change from her profession as an English as a Second Language instructor in Toronto, Krieger took a little road trip to Guelph to see if a café vision presented itself. She had been scouring southern Ontario towns and cities for possibilities. 

“I had parked on Wyndham Street, and I couldn’t get a sense of what the downtown was and where things were,” she said. “I had my dog, and he just started dragging me up Douglas Street. That’s when I saw the alleyway and building. And I thought the building was amazing.”

She stood before the two-storey, red brick beauty on Douglas and began to envision the possibilities. It turned out to be for sale, and Krieger had to have it.

The Red Brick Café at 8 Douglas Street turned 10-years-old on Friday. Conceived as a kind of 'third space' alternative community space, it has worked because of its location, the interior space itself, the art on the walls, the community events it hosts, and a café menu that is not hard to appreciate.

“I had no business experience,” Krieger said during an anniversary celebration Friday at the shop. The place was hopping. “I loved old buildings, and I wanted to renovate one and create some community space. It’s been a very big learning curve.”

Soon after Krieger saw the building she made an unconditional offer on it. After taking possession the renovations began. The space had stayed relatively the same over the years, but there were major renovations last year to enhance the back room space and washroom facilities, making it more suitable as a music venue.

“At the time,” she said, speaking of a decade ago, “people were writing about the 'third space.' It was a popular topic at the time. You had your home, and your work place. But they were talking about the idea that a lot of people weren’t going to churches or community centres anymore, and the café became the third space. The idea really captured me. The café was a place where everyone could meet.”

A lover of coffee, wine and food, Krieger said becoming a café owner made a lot of sense personally.

In 2009, she opened a second Red Brick location on Westmount Road in the Exhibition Park area. In 2015, she attempted to part with the second location through a ‘win a café’ contest, inviting proposals with a $200 entry fee.

The plan didn’t work, but the 77 Westmount café was purchased and is now renamed Roobarb Café, with essentially the same layout and a similar menu.  

Krieger is pleased with what the Red Brick on Douglas has become. After ten years of working exhaustively on the business, she now feels she has enough breathing room to take pride in what she has accomplished.

“I’m starting to look back and say, oh my god, it actually worked,” she said.

With a growing number of live music venues in Toronto closing, Red Brick is inundated with requests from bands looking for a place to play. More live music is in the cards.

“It’s a matter of being open to the possibility that new things are going to happen, and just jump in and enjoy the process,” she said, speaking of her fluid future plans.

 


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Rob O'Flanagan

About the Author: Rob O'Flanagan

Rob O’Flanagan has been a newspaper reporter, photojournalist and columnist for over twenty years. He has won numerous Ontario Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Award.
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