Juniper Cafe hosts close-out sale, selling recipe book to continue legacy of community

Edmontonians lined up outside Juniper Cafe & Bistro in Strathearn for a chance to bid farewell and buy items from the popular community eatery on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022 (CTV News Edmonton/John Hanson).

Edmontonians lined the street outside a south-central cafe Saturday for a chance to purchase baking, furniture, and small wares and say farewell to the popular community gathering place.

Juniper Cafe & Bistro hosted a sale selling everything from baking, mugs, cups, wall decor, to tables and chairs as a final fundraiser to help owners Kenny Dario and Enid Dufresne-Dario.

The cafe announced earlier this year that it would close its doors for good after the property owners initiated plans to redevelop the Strathearn Centre strip mall.

"It's just been seven years of amazing stories and lots of emotion," Enid told CTV News Edmonton. "We visioned that this would be a place where neighbours would meet other nieghbours, and it happened on a daily basis.

"There were neighbours who lived by each other for years and never gone for coffee before," she added. "And they had their first coffee together here."

Enid shared how the cafe helped create new social bonds between community members, with several having first dates or getting married at the bistro — with even one woman starting to go into labour while enjoying her breakfast.

"We love community," Enid said. "We are just so grateful for the support."

Kenny shared how the local coffee shop had several years of difficulty, starting with LRT construction disruptions to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have decided (now) to just step back and regain our composure if you will," Kenny added. "Just going to breathe for a minute."

"Now, we just need to sell some things, get some debt paid off, and see what the next chapter looks like," Enid echoed.

The cafe is creating a recipe book that shares stories and how to make its signature dishes.

"(It will have) the recipes, the exact ones they cooked with, and pictures of it," said Tanni Cyr, who is helping with the project.

"There's so many things that have happened at Juniper," Cyr added. "We want to keep this community going. We may not have a location, but we still have the community."

Visit Juniper's website to share a memory from the cafe or pre-order the recipe book.

Cyr said she was surprised to see the large turnout for the final sale of the bistro's wares.

"The support has been amazing," she added. "We have people wanting to buy little bits of Juniper just to remind them and remember the feeling of community when they would come here."