Welcome to downtown St. Catharines, Beechwood Doughnuts!

It was only in last week's posting I began my series on downtown establishments worthy of mention in this space, and initially I wanted to do that on a once monthly basis.  However, after a pretty impressive opening week for a new business downtown, I wanted to write a few congratulatory words for the newest members of the downtown St. Catharines retail fraternity, Beechwood Doughnuts on James Street.

Beechwood is an outgrowth of Rise Above vegan restaurant on St. Paul Street I understand, where the desserts would almost make you want to have your dinner in reverse order.  It seemed a natural progression to sort of spin off the doughnut-making end of it as a self-sustaining enterprise in its own right.

I first noticed the sign up on the former New Deli location at 5 James Street in early December and immediately liked the fact they spell doughnuts the way it should be spelled, rather than the more common "donuts".  These people know their stuff, I thought at the time.

It's unfortunate they couldn't time the opening better to catch some of the pre-Christmas crowd downtown, but as I understand it the time line just wouldn't allow it if they were to get things right from the get-go.  As we know all too well from other retail enterprises as of late, getting it right from the start is no easy matter and takes a lot of planning and careful execution.

Still and all, the January opening was anticipated moreso than just about any other downtown business I can recall, and I suspect a lot of that has to do with the power of social media.  These young entrepreneurs know the reach of social media and also know their clientele quite well.  Almost from the start of the month, regular Facebook updates were coming out about the pending opening this month, with just enough sizzle to make things interesting.

I noted at the beginning of this week they were planning a so-called "soft opening" at 11 am on Tuesday, prior to the full-fledged grand opening today.  Great I thought.  I had Tuesday off, so I ventured downtown around 1 pm to do some errands and thought I would pay a visit.  They were already sold out!  Such was the case very day this week, with a new batch ready to sell at the 11 am opening and again about 5 pm each afternoon.

Since I worked today until about 1, I knew I likely wouldn't make the morning opening, and sure enough they were again sold out when I visited the shop about 1:30.  But they assured me they would be reopening with a fresh batch at 5, so I duly noted the time and promised myself I would make my way down for the 5 pm batch today.

It is a testament to Canadian will and the desire to try a free doughnut (yes, today you got a free one) that we would line up outside at 5 pm on a January Saturday for the next batch to arrive.  But there I was with a host of others, young and old alike, all waiting somewhat patiently for the doors to open promptly at 5.

Like many others before me, I opted for the four doughnut maximum per person, paying for three and getting the fourth free.  Others simply grabbed the free doughnut and headed for the exit.  I figured if they went to this much trouble to get up and running, just grabbing a free one and leaving would not be the Canadian thing to do, and gladly I found most in the line-up agreed with me.  Or maybe it was the desire to have more than one on the first day.

Now, the first thing you have to do is try to put the "vegan" aspect of the doughnuts out of your mind, at least for now.  The reason I say this is for some, the notion of a "vegan" doughnut sounds rather, well, unappetizing.  Nothing could be further from the truth, so just think of it as a world-class doughnut, period, end of description.  The fact it is also "vegan" is icing on the, uh, doughnut.

My choices were somewhat safe and somewhat adventuresome:  I chose the apple fritter, walnut chocolate crunch, Earl Grey and a blueberry something-or-other.  The Earl Grey and apple fritter were our choices for this evening after dinner, and both were well sized, very fresh, and exceptionally delicious.

If you are one of those that rails about our national doughnut chain constantly downsizing their offerings, these bad boys will bring you back to the good old days and then some.  The selection is not as complete as the big chain, but you have some really interesting choices here such as peanut butter and jam, salted caramel toffee and a banana-granola number that really tempted me today.

True, the prices are higher than we are used to, but hey, they are vegan, this is a new independent operator, and I think most people will allow themselves to spend a little more for a nice little indulgence once in a while.

Over time the lineups will dwindle and they will not be sold out right away as they are now, but rest assured Beechwood Doughnuts is here for the long haul, and they appear to have the business smarts to make this operation grow and prosper.  So don't be deterred by the long lineups today; just be patient and give it some time, and before you know it you'll be able to pop in and grab one without waiting much time at all.

You won't see a drive-through here, and that is part of what makes this doughnut shop unlike the others.  You savour these beauties; no rushing allowed.  And yes, you can grab a Balzacs coffee while you're there along with a host of other liquid refreshments.

In addition, you can visit the cozy little artists shop located just next door, also new, and see what some of our local artisans are doing these days.  The two enterprises appear to be on very friendly terms with one another, and I think they will complement each other rather well as they will both be serving a more discriminating clientele, I suspect.

Welcome to downtown St. Catharines, Beechwood Doughnuts.  It's about time!

January 17th, 2015.