As of September, Sprouts — an organic, vegetarian food outlet — will be temporarily moving out of the Old SUB and into the Pit Pub in the AMS Student Nest.
Sprouts originated as a natural food co-op in 1977. In 2004, it moved into the Old SUB and opened a student-run grocery story, which was christened Sprouts. With the Old SUB under renovation, Sprouts will be making another move, albeit temporary, into the the Pit Pub in the AMS Student Nest. Given the Pit space's usage at night, Sprouts will only occupy the Pit during the daytime. The larger space and kitchen provided by the Pit Pub space will allow Sprouts more room.
“With the Gallery opening, the Pit staff was moved there, which left the Pit free during the daytime. We figured we might as well use it for Sprouts because it would be sitting empty otherwise,” said AMS VP Admin Chris Scott.
With this relocation, Frances Jones, the president of Sprouts, hopes the high traffic space will make affordable, environmentally conscious food more accessible to students.
“In previous years, we’ve been in the corner of the Old SUB and people didn’t really know where we were. We’re really hoping that more people will come to the store this year,” said Jones.
Although no permanent modifications will made to the Pit during their makeshift stay, Sprouts will be bringing some of its own tapestries and lightings to the new space in order to make it feel like the old Sprouts as much as possible.
Sprouts will maintain its same menu of sustainable and organic fare while adding some new items in adjustment to the new kitchen and equipment provided at the Pit.
“Everything will still be local, sustainable, organic, majority vegan and gluten-free,” said Jones. “We’re still going to cater to the same kind of people, but our menu items might change slightly.”
For those worried about Community Eats — a by-donation vegan lunch served to those who have a reusable container on Fridays — Jones assured that nothing major will change with the move.
“The only thing running that might not be at the Pit would be our Sprouts Box, which are our weekly local and organic produce buckets of assorted fruits and vegetables,” said Jones. “[That] might be running at the Student Life and Sustainability Centre that’s right beside the Pit.”
However, running these two separate spaces might be an issue for Sprouts, given that it is completely dependent on volunteers.
“We would need more volunteers running the two spaces at the same time. It will really depend on the volunteer turnout this year, which hopefully will be high,” said Jones.
Jones said she hopes to reopen Sprouts in the Nest sometime in the fall, during the second full weeks of classes, but an exact date has yet to be set.