Almonte-based Equator Coffee Roasters is taking over the Starbucks location inside the Indigo-Chapters on City Park Drive in Gloucester, continuing what has become a blossoming partnership with the Canadian bookseller.
Craig Hall, founder and president of Equator, told OBJ on Tuesday that the partnership began when Starbucks started closing its Indigo locations a few years ago and one of his cafe’s co-owners, James King, saw an opportunity.
King, who co-owned an Equator cafe next to the Indigo in Barrhaven, got in touch with Indigo about opening an Equator cafe in the spot vacated by Starbucks.
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“(It was) just his tenacity of keeping in touch with Indigo and figuring out who to talk to and offering to put a cafe and they finally responded. That was a good two years of him knocking on the door and that was our first opportunity. (King) and his wife Sandy kind of made that happen,” Hall told OBJ.
From there, Hall said a relationship between Equator and Indigo was established and he continued to look for opportunities to expand the brand through the partnership.
The new location on City Park Drive in Gloucester will mark the third time Equator has partnered with Indigo to open a cafe. The location in Barrhaven, co-owned by King, opened in November 2023 and a Kanata Centrum location opened earlier this year in March. Equator has standalone cafes in Kanata, Westboro and inside the National Arts Centre.
The Starbucks at the Gloucester Indigo left about two years ago and Hall said it was one of the first locations that his coffee company considered in looking for expansion opportunities.
“We looked at it as one of the first opportunities but then (Kanata) Centrum came up and we jumped on that one first. Our home base is in Almonte so Kanata was closer,” he said, adding that the Gloucester deal was inked about two months ago.
With an opening planned for the end of September, Hall said the new location will help Equator engage with a new clientele as it makes its first foray into the east end of Ottawa.
“By this time we’ve been in business for 25 years. Most people have heard of us that are into coffee. So I think there will be a certain group that will be glad that we’re there,” he said.
He said customers can expect a friendly environment and specialty coffees that pair well with a book. Hall added that he hopes the new location will allow him to continue to communicate the unique way Equator purchases coffee.
“As a member of an importing cooperative that buys directly from small farmer cooperatives we have a really strong and clear relationship with the people we purchase coffee from,” he said. “We just want to prepare that coffee really well and have the customer have a good experience and come back.”
Hall said partnerships with two “national brands” is encouraging for Equator’s mission to promote fair trade coffee.
“The NAC, they have a vetting procedure for what kind of companies they would like to work with. I think it just shows that we’ve been doing a good job for a long time … People are looking for a safe bet, someone who can consistently pull it off,” he said.
Looking to the future, Hall said there may be an opportunity to open another Equator cafe at an Indigo location in Peterborough, but there are no deals inked just yet.
“(Peterborough is) a little farther out from our home base and we’re very local. So looking to get outside the city is a bit challenging, but we like the partnership,” Hall said.
According to the company’s website, Hall and his wife started Equator in 1998 after he graduated with an international development degree. He wanted to apply what he had learned about fair trade coffee and start a business that would benefit vulnerable coffee farmers on the other side of the world.
Hall was a recipient of a Forty Under 40 award in 2012.
