This Shop Was a Bakery Before It Was a Ginseng Shop

Before 78 Rue De La Gauchetière Ouest sold American ginseng, it sold cakes. Carmen, who owns Fosetter, tells the story of how the shop came back to her.

A bakery called Callia

"In 2006 I did Keung Kee, I bought my first restaurant," Carmen says. "In 2009, at this same location, we opened a Western-style bakery." It was called Callia, 嘉莉 in Chinese. "Business was pretty good back then. There were cakes, egg tarts, everything."

A local blog caught the opening. In April 2009, Comme les Chinois wrote about Callia, a new Hong Kong-style bakery and tea restaurant on De la Gauchetière between Clark and St-Urbain, and later added that it had been opened by the people behind Keung Kee nearby (Comme les Chinois, April 20, 2009).

Three shops and two kids

"In 2012 we took over another restaurant, so it became three shops," Carmen says. A bakery is demanding. Every day you prepare everything fresh. "My work pressure was very high, and I also had to raise my kids."

So she stepped back. "At the time, I rented the bakery out to some partners. I think two or three of them. I let them run it, so I could slow down a bit and raise my kids first."

"Give it back to me"

In 2015, the partners said they did not want to continue. Carmen did not want to see the spot go. "I said, such a good place, don't waste it. Give it back to me."

The timing worked out. "Back then I was already doing American ginseng in a small condo," she says. "So going from wholesale to a storefront was a really smooth jump."

That is how a Hong Kong bakery became a ginseng shop. The address stayed the same, and the owner did too.

What came next

Opening a real storefront brought its own list of tasks, from rent and renovations to trademarks and permits. Carmen walks through it in how Fosetter opened its storefront. You can read more about us, browse our NATIVE ULTRA Canadian ginseng, or stop by the old bakery address yourself.