A bit of change in the format this week, and may see some more tweaks in the coming weeks. I have separated things to more clearly express when something opened or closed versus being in the future. You may have noticed that I have been hotlinking the new smaller establishments, I will choose their webpage first, then Facebook if I can find one.

I have also added a new segment called HappyFax, more on that below

Charlottetown’s Northern Watters Knitwear and Tartan Shop is opening a second store in Historic Properties

In Bedford Common beside Sally and TripCentral, the construction is for a new location of Scotiabank. While across the embankment in the low area of Duke at the entrance to Damascus Rd. There is an application to build an Ultramar.



Pretzel Maker will be making its return to Halifax Shopping Centre and be opening by the escalators between Club Monaco and Lawtons

a zero-waste cafe/store/community hub called Tare is planning to come to North End Halifax this fall.

The owners of KraveBurger on Spring Garden are trying a second concept called VeroPizzeria. It will be a quick serve pizzeria (ready in under 3min) and will open in Dartmouth Crossing this April, where Thai Ivory Bangkok was in among the other local restaurants.

Delectable Desserts has opened at 50 Eileen Stubbs in Burnside. They specialize in mousse cakes and cheesecakes.

I mentioned Brown Bag Lunch Co. was coming last week, what I didn’t realize how close they were. Now open on Wright just above Windmill.

CAA has opened a 3rd location, now in Bayers Lake beside Canadian Tire.

The new co-branded concept Pizza Girls & Katch will open today in Tantallon where Katch was.

Liu’s Formosa Tea House on the corner of Wyse and Albro Lake is closing in March for retirement

Not entirely, but Truck-side the “food truck court” attached to Cheese Curds/ Habaneros in Burnside will be shrinking. Come Feb 25th they will be reduced to one truck, serving dishes from U Pick Fish and Sea Hawgs. Gweilo will make its exit



Sukiyaki in Mic Mac is now closed. Though the chef will be opening a new Asian restaurant in April by the old refinery.

Calendar Club in Mic Mac has also closed after being an all season store for a few years

The NSLC has announced the 9 locations that will initially sell cannabis products. The 4 in HRM are Downsview, Portland St (Superstore), Joe Howe and they will be reopening the recently closed Clyde St store to be cannabis only.

Rousseau Chocolatier has moved down the street to their adorable new shop on the corner of South and Hollis, This summer they plan to add a dairy bar!



New Scotland Clothing Co. has completed their Downtown Dartmouth move to their new flagship store at 102 Portland St (at Wentworth)

May Garden will be closing their original Beavebank Rd location at the end of March and then reopen in the former Robins Donuts on Sackville drive.

Well, this is Happyfax! Where every week I will bring you at least one thing that is making me happy. Sometimes it will be retail related (like this week), but I will bring attention to something I find fun in HRM.

This week I want to celebrate one of my happy places, Kaisers who celebrated their 42nd birthday this year on the main Sackville strip. I have been a loyal customer for only 40 of them though 🙂 The charm is the simplicity of a classic sub and how they handle their onions.

After 25 years an icon of Queen Street West in Toronto. Condom Shack closed its doors at the end of January.



This is fun, but Mizu all you can eat sushi on Portland St now has an iPad ordering, it worked pretty well, add your items, and then you press send, and then things show up at your table.

Loblaws merged their loyalty programs into PC Optimum, and it was a bit of disaster on the database side for the first couple days, but I did get my cards merged yesterday. Also a bit annoying that they threw away my five years purchase history so now I just have generic offers for things I never buy until it relearns habits.