Ste Anne brews new coffee spot

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This article was published 03/01/2022 (1219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The up-and-coming business park in Ste Anne has a new tenant, and it has residents rejoicing at its arrival.

Dawson Trail Coffee Co. is the first and only coffee shop to grace the streets of Ste Anne, offering a bit more than a latte or cup of joe to go.

“People have been ecstatic there’s finally a coffee shop in town,” owner Andrea Lagasse said.

It’s a goal the female entrepeneur has been dreaming of for a long time.

“2020 was the year I was going to do something with myself,” she said. “I’ve always had a dream to own a coffee shop.”

Fascinated with tea rooms as a young girl in the 90s the now-grown Lagasse took the idea and applied it to her preferred hot beverage, coffee.

Before the pandemic shut down the business sector and moved most learning online, Lagasse, 46, completed a course with the Women’s Enterprise Centre of Manitoba and put together a business plan.

While the numbers didn’t quite add up and the pandemic presented challenges to open a business, the next year an opportunity presented itself with a property management group to occupy a space in the strip mall which is quickly filling with a cannabis and tattoo shop, as well as her husband Dawson Trail MLA Bob Lagasse’s constituency office two doors down.

“It just kind of kept falling into place,” she said.

The bright space on Traverse Road is now filled with a few chairs to chat over a hot beverage and a wall lined with homemade goods — some from other female makers, most from Lagasse.

“It’s my side hustle,” she joked.

In addition to selling locally-sourced coffee and house-made pastries and sandwiches at Dawson Trail, a gallery wall is filled with handmade homewares varying from Pintrest-esque knickknacks and wall hangings to coffee mugs and bath products.

The Landmark resident said as a female business owner, setting an example for her four daughters and showing them being an independent businesswoman is feasible is part of her mandate.

Her husband said the same.

“She’s been absolutely killing it,” the voice of Dawson Trail — the constituency, not the coffee — said.

The MLA said his partner’s business venture is separate from his political career and he’s a mere cheerleader in the grand scheme of things. However, customers may see him pop in and out of the shop periodically.

As for his Coffee with Bob chats, an informal gathering as a way to connect with his constituents, Bob said they’ll make a comeback, just not at Dawson Trail Coffee Co.

As for Andrea’s goal, it’s merely to survive her first year in business and build her brand from there.

“Hopefully longer hours, but just be here and survive I think is number one,” she said.