Chessa is one half of a company called Twenty One Tonnes. She lives in East Vancouver with her family in a cozy, dark green bungalow quietly tucked off a busy street in the Hastings Sunrise neighbourhood. 

What once was a longstanding Strathcona grocer, 704 Vernon has recently turned into a community market with an aim to bring people together to feel good and live good. It’s a culturally diverse destination that’s part marketplace, part café.

There’s something really special about this neighbourhood pocket that sits at the intersection of Kingsway & Fraser, aptly called the golden triangle. It’s vibrant. It’s eclectic. It’s progressive.