Locavores have a new one-stop shop for all their food-related needs. BCLocalRoot.ca is a just-launched online grocery platform that stocks nothing but made-in-BC goods.

It got started in response to COVID-19, with small producers seeing their key sales channels (such as restaurants, food trucks, and farmers markets) vanish. It now carries more than 400 products by 60 local brands, and it’s expected to keep growing.  

Here’s a small sampling of items you can find: Saltspring Harvest vegan pates, Plant Veda’s vegan cashew lassis, Barakah Eats’ halal chicken and meat, Kaslo Sourdough Pasta, Hoochy Booch Kombucha, Tree Island Gourmet Yogurt, Plethore du Gouts’ croissants, Hippie Snacks, Level Ground coffee, and Tega tea.

Then there’s seafood, meat, organic bulk seeds and legumes, ready to eat meals, and more—essentially everything you can get at a mega grocery store, only it’s all local. 

You can shop by product, brand, or diet (such as keto, gluten-free, halal, or raw plant-based), and there are weekly sales. You need to order by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. for Saturday delivery in Metro Vancouver (minimum purchase of $75) or curbside pick-up in North Vancouver (minimum purchase $50). 

Founded by local entrepreneur Andrea Gray-Grant (Good to Grow Products), BCLocalRoot.ca welcomes suggestions of local healthcare or frontline workers who could use a gift basket of groceries, and customers can donate to the cause online.

According to the nonprofit LOCO BC, which is behind the  #BCBuyLocal campaign, 63 cents of every dollar you spend on local business gets directed back into the local economy, versus just 14 cents when you buy from multinationals.