Elite Event: Gifts Galore @ Luke’s General Store

Love this Unilocal Event, with no shortage of food, drinks or swag! I love discovering new places to shop in the downtown core. The area is where West Hastings meets East Hastings. One of the more colourful places downtown. The area up and coming and every hipster’s dream!
With their goat cheese and bison pepperoni from Beast and Brine to the awesome latte’s from Four Barrels this was one of the best events I have attended. Ops how could I forget the mini donuts (by Cartem) and the gluten free donuts… WHAT! Yes gluten free and YES they are DELISH!
Upstairs was a collection of many eclectic items, like natural soap, tooth paste and yes even vinyl records. With a olé skoole vinyl enthusiast running the joint, if you don’t see the LP here, then he can tell you where to find it!
I enjoy catching up with some other fellow Unilocalers, the owner of Luke’s General Store and of course meeting Ayla. She had a non stop smile that even made my cheeks hurt.
I will be back as I am currently craving some bison pepperoni. Mahalos Ayla for organizing a great event!
Happy New Year!
#yelpyvr

Coffee, 33 Acres beer, Beast & Brine snacks and Cartems donuts? Holy amazing event Ayla! We had lots of fun checking out the great selection at Luke’s General Store and mingling with a great crowd of Elite-​ers.
I am just now enjoying the last of my gift-​bag coffee and have already put my pasta sauce to good use! I will certainly head back to Luke’s to grab a hot cuppa whenever I find myself in the area. A great location with interesting and well-​curated merchandise!

This is one of the funnest events I’ve been to in a long time. The platters were good and delicious! The event started on time and ended very late into the evening. I loved the fact that we had many different options here tonight. Lukes General store is a very different place. I really appreciated that we had the following at this party: Beer, Coffee, Energy Drink, and many types of cheese and meat. The space was lovely and Ayla did a wonderful job organizing this and hosting it. Especially because it was very close to Christmas and back to back with another event. Thanks Ayla! This was especially impressive given the fact that Ayla just started as the CM for Vancouver. Her talents shined through and this event further shows it!

Another FANTASTIC Unilocal Elite Event, and the final one for the year of 2014!
Thank you AWESOME AYLA for a fantastic evening and Luke’s General Store for hosting the whole Unilocal Elite group! A fantastic venue, and a store to buy all your knick knacks, and tons vinyls on sale too!
Love the food vendors that were there, the donuts, sausages, beer, coffee, what else could I ask for more? It was a perfect way to end off the year of 2014!
It was good to see the old crew of Unilocal Elites again, as we move into the New Year!
Thanks to Awesome Ayla again for a GREAT party! See everyone next year~!! :D

Good doughnuts, cheese, meats, beer, and coffee. This was a fun event in a new location with our new CM.
I dug the quaint space and the Four Barrel Coffee served at Lukes was delicious.

Great to meet our new CM, and also, thanks to Luke’s for hosting!
There was quite an eclectic mix of stuff here. The combination of pickled onion and cheese was unexpectedly good. I’m not usually a fan of coffee, but the latte was good – not acrid like how I usually find coffee.
The inside of the store was cool – a sort of deconstructed industrial feel. I’ll be sure to swing by next time I’m near International Village.

What a fantastic event hosted by the new and lovely CM, Ayla! Luke’s is such a cute venue with such cool products. I was excited to explore a new space! Luke’s were incredibly generous hosts and the food and drinkys were AMAZING! Can we just talk about that spiked hot apple cider for a second!!! WOWZAAA.
Couldn’t get over the crazy good selection of cheeses (I do consider myself a cheese baron, so this was right up my alley) and deli meats. Absolutely loved the goat brie. I gladly took advantage of the discount they kindly extended, and upgraded my cheese collection. And, damn, those dolce leche lattes rocked my world. The espresso was probably the best and smoothest I’ve had. Can’t wait to visit Luke’s again soon for another amazing coffee.

This is my first Elite Unilocal event organized by Ayla and I am loving it! She makes pulling rabbits out of the hat look effortless. Kudos to you girl.
When I arrived at 6:55PM, Luke’s General Store was already packed. After slapping name tag sticker across my chest, I proceeded to sampling the nibbles. The Best and Brine cured meats were absolutely delicious and so was the smoked cheddar though they explained they didn’t make the cheese themselves but only did the smoking. Nonetheless, it was a hit. The bread, oh the bread, was SO good. Being a carb freak I simply can’t turn down these slices. From the look of it the bread slices had a hard crisp crust with strong muscle tone in the gluten. The bread had a fabulous chew, without being doughy of course. I couldn’t help contain myself from smiling and had to come back for seconds. The bread was, simply amazing! The Farm House cheese was good as well. I have purchased their products before for my own cheese and wine party. These little wheels and pyramids do not disappoint. The 33 Acres — «Ocean» beer was fabulous. I learned from the party that there is another 33 Acres beer by the name of «Sunshine» which is supposed to be just as good. The Spanish coffee, with condensed milk (as I was told), was wonderful.
Ayla and Luke’s General Store did a phenomenal job hosting this event. I was shocked to find we each got a bottle of Sugo sauce (I had bought Sugo sauce before and absolutely love them) and a bag of coffee beans in our goodie bags. My gosh… what a generous gift perfect for Christmas!

How superhuman is Ayla for organizing 2 Elite events in a span of 7 days? Quite astronomically I should say. This one was plus one friendly and was able to bring my bf for his first Elite event. I think I can say that he had a great time meeting all you great Unilocalers and trying all the delicious food and drinks.
I’m not sure if many remember, but Luke’s was generous to invite us Unilocalers to their pop-​up opening party earlier this year. This was at the old Spacelab location and even back then they showered us with goodies. I’m very happy to know that they have a permanent shop now. Will definitely come back to check out their products and have more delicious coffee.
It was great to see everyone and exchange one last holiday greeting before the end of 2014.

What a fabulous party at Luke’s General Store! It was very different from the last time I visited when they were on Pender, so if you haven’t checked out their location on Hastings, I highly suggest you do so!
I especially loved that the event pulled in lots of different smaller vendors to party with us: Beast & Brine shared an amazing platter of various meats (the frikadel was amazing, I could’ve eaten all of it if we had all night), Cartem’s brought along some adorable and delicious mini donuts (mmm canadian whiskey bacon), Nelson the Seagull shared some mouthwatering bread, and Farm House Cheeses brought some yummy cheese to top it off. Luke’s also brought out some Elman’s pickles — good gracious, it was an unbelievable spread!
Also rocking it out were 33 Acres Beer, some warm and boozy apple cider, Four Barrel roasted coffee, and bottles of Club Mate! Again, so awesome! I cannot believe Ayla and Luke’s pulled this off!
15% off the entire store that evening had me buying some Hardbite chips (they seemed to be pretty popular), and my favourite Mast Brothers Vanilla & Smoke chocolate (don’t tell the husband!). My plan of Christmas shopping for others didn’t really pan out since the bag of chips is already devoured and I’m cracking open the chocolate tonight. But that just gives me more reason to stop by Luke’s again, and I can’t wait!
Thank you Ayla, Luke’s, and all the fabulous vendors that came out to party it up with us. It was a great evening hanging out with old and new friends! A great way to cap off the year! :D

Thanks to Alya for organizing this event and nice to see some familiar faces.
It was nice to be able to bring a plus one to this event even though the venue was slightly small to fit like 40+ people. But it was nice to try out Luke’s coffee, their cheese and etc.
Totally looking forward to trying out their coffee beans and pasta sauce that Luke’s gave us.

Cheers to our new Unilocal CM, Ayla. She did a great job hosting the Unilocal Elite event at Luke’s General Store Vancouver in Gastown. First, I love the space at Luke’s — the two story high ceiling loft vibe, vinyl and record players upstairs, coffee parlor and general goods on the main floor.
The vibe of the party was relaxed and everyone had a great time mingling. Strangely we even said hi instead of exchanging those empty eye contacts. You know what I’m talking about!
Our famished stomachs will filled with delicious treats from
Beast and Brine: Fraser Valley Pork Meatloaf, bison sausages and stories of the lamb bacon is intoxicating.
Cartems Donuts: Mini bacon donuts, sugar glazed and even some gluten free treats
Four Barrels: Americano and Latte were rich and strong enough to keep in awake until 2am. My 8am meeting hurt. But it was worth it.
The Farm House Cheeses: I love cheese. Especially their Brie.
Nelson the Seagull: You need carbs when you have cheese! Two thumbs up for fresh bread!
Club Mate: Yerba tea carbonated energy drinks. Sweet and light. I liked the fizz… but not enough to take me away from coffee.
I can’t wait for the next shindig and to share the photos with you all!

It was nice seeing the Elite gang for an end-​of-​the-​year bash! It was also awesome meeting Ayla, the new community manager, for the first time.
I’ve been out of the loop for a while, but this event was a good one to get
was nice to see old faces and meet some new ones!
Luke’s general store is a really cute place with a lot of great items for stocking stuffers. I grabbed a neat backpack, which is perfect for my Unilocal pin collection ;). I also got some great sausage and cheese from Beast & Brine. Last, I picked up a couple bags of sea salt and vinegar Hard Bite chips. There’s a ton of variety: upstairs you can buy vinyl and health and beauty supplies, and downstairs is all the food goodies and reusable bags.
At the end of the event, I got my Unilocal Goodlife bag; Unilocal never disappoints. I’m very thankful for the great experience and generous gifts. Thank you :).

Thank you to Ayla and Lukes for the awesome event tonight! It was my first time at a Unilocal Elite event and I hope I can go to more of these next year. I loved meeting members of the friendly Unilocal community and sharing the occasion with my +1. The food was delicious (especially the bread from Nelson and Seagull and meats from Beast & Brine!) and I loved getting the chance to do some shopping. I picked up a fox-​print Baggu bag and Farm House whole milk. The gift bags were a very nice bonus – we felt so spoiled!
Being a newbie, of course I reviewed Lukes General Store before discovering this event-​specific page. Oops!
Thanks again, Ayla!
PS. Lindsay, it was especially nice to make funny – I mean «natural” – poses for your photos! :D

Christmas came early this year for Unilocalers!!!
This event was awesome! Where do I begin…
This place is not your typical general store! Two levels with awesome goods. From vinyl records, organic foods, scarves, blankets, oh and Goooood Coffee!
Beast & Brine with your yummy cured meats, cheese and pickles, omg those giant pickles tho!!! yummy I love pickles! Im comin back to buy several jars.
Cartems mini doughnut love love love… so mini I had many many many!
I love coffee you can call me a coffee addict. I am hooked on this Four Barrel, wow good coffee. I had a latte, I would have tried something else but I need to sleep tonight.
33 Acres pale ale beer has a good hop to it, it was good because it was getting hot inside, it helped cool things down. The bourbon sider was yummy it had Christmas written all over. I cant forget about the yummy cheese and bread, nothing beats good cheese. We were also spoiled with goodie bags that included pasta sauce and a bag of four barrel coffee YAY! Merry Christmas dance!
Thanks to our fab CM Ayla, great to finally meet you. I cant wait for the next event, until next time, Keep Eating and Write Reviews.

This was the all star treatment. Thank you Lukes! These people know what’s up and we had the best time.
We are talking quality paired with reasonably priced goods, and locally sourced phenomenal products. We had the full array of cheeses from a local dairy, amazing bread from Nelson the seagull, and My new favourite Beast and Brine. Pair that with amazing botanical bath and body products, delicious beer from 33 acres, and yum mulled apple cider and we were spoiled.
And how adorable is Ayla?! Amazing, that girl. Thank you so much for putting on our event lil miss! We are so lucky to have you as our new CM.
Also the staff know everything about their products, which was amazing. Such a great spot for ethically sourced, artisan goods, and tons of ideas for under the tree.
Amazing job everyone, thank you so much!

Is there anything better than a brand new store, meeting the brand new Unilocal CM AND getting to taste brand new food? It was like Christmas came early for me.
I was stoked to check out Luke’s and see that all the awesome things they have stocked: Tivoli, tons of local goods, and Mast Bros chocolate. My favourite was discovering Dulce latte — condensed milk + coffee = YES. I’ll definitely be back for that.
I already loved Nelson the Seagull’s bread and was happy to slather on chunks of delicious cheese and taste some Beast + Brine meats (mmm bison). Upstairs, I was introduced to Club-​Mate which was refreshing, not too sweet, and definitely a great rival to energy drinks like Red Bull.
Best of all was getting to meet Ayla. Thanks for doing such a great job organizing this event, and taking the time to chat. You had a busy job but you nailed it!

What a cool event — thanks Ayla and the gang at Lukes General Store for hosting this event!
Luke’s General Store stems from Luke’s Drug Mart over in Calgary — operating since 1951! Its a local drug store, and since they love Van so much, they opened up a second branch here called the General Store. The GS has a nice little coffee bar, but has a pantry stocked with (what seems to be mostly) locally sourced products, like cured meats, cheese, pickles, chips, sauces, honey, pasta, and earth friendly cleaning products. Upstairs is stocked with vinyl records, and an assortment of bags, scarves, candles, face products (for both guys and girls). Really cool to check out, though the one thing that I was really excited to see, were the Hardbite Ketchup chips. yum! They were kind enough to offer 15% off for all purchases. yay!
The food and drink samples for the night was more than generous! Cheese, olive oil, and bread, Cartem’s mini donuts, pickles, onions, and an charcuterie board — and we washed that down with energy drinks, hot cider, beer, and coffee /​coffee drinks made to order. The goodie bags were amazing too — full size bottle of locally made pasta sauce, and a bag of coffee beans.
Thanks for an amazing night!

What a great event!
Thanks Unilocal and Ayla for hosting this at Luke’s. If not for Unilocal,I wouldn’t know this place was there and be introduced to Beast and. Brine — stocked up on their Bison Pepperoni, Club Mate drink and awesome coffee and excellent Hot Cider.
Love their dry goods and vinyl upstairs. What a great place to visit and shop.

This was a fun bit o’holiday cheer-​minus the tacky red sweaters. I chose to bus in as was suggested but for some reason my map app was showing Luke’s located 1 somewhat perilous block further east along hastings, perhaps an East-​West thing. I picked up a few discounted items to enjoy later on– very nice bonus 15% off– thanks.
One might think an odd combo to have beer and bubbly-​mate and coffee, sausages, sausages, sausages and ooh lala lalala cheese but it Totally worked. Cartem remain the stuff «dreams are made of… The ‘men-​of-​la-​muncha’ aka BEAST N BRINE were GREAT FUN chatting up their meats and meat history. Lot’s of banter about assembling counter-​ready meat patties in original far-​far away styles. I especially liked the De-​lish coffee beverage custom made to suit moi ‘dulce latte very sweet’ need I say more.
Thanks Ayla for putting this together– Happy New Year lovely lady!