Carvel General Store

Kristine Olson & Carell Wingrave

“We are located just 4 km south of Highway 16 in the historic Kristine Olson and picturesque hamlet of Carvel, Alberta. Established in 1918, the Carvel General Store is a 103 year old building that has been lovingly restored to retain its vintage charm and heritage. In October 2003 my mother and I found ourselves feeling scared, excited, and naive. We were also secretly bold and persistent in our belief of certain success.

We had just reopened/re-purposed an old landmark general store in the tiny Hamlet of Carvel, Alberta where we both live. Except for a 12 week online business course, neither of us had any prior business experience - I was a psychiatric nurse and mom was a retired supervisor with the federal government. Our retail experience consisted of being discriminating shoppers, both of us conservatively frivolous with a taste for the finer things in life.

Inundated with "neighbourly interest", questioning the sanity of our decision by family and friends, and an initial financial sacrifice, we pushed forward. Turns out we had all the right ingredients to turn our PEI-esque (cedar shake roofed porch on a green and white building) meets Whyte Ave (Old Strathcona, Edmonton) into a vintage specialty shop.

We became partners in the Carvel General Store in July 2003 and have since become a destination in several rural tours including "Your Town" - a Global Edmonton/Travel Alberta initiative. We host a charity street sale every July with 30+ vendors of treats and treasures. We specialize in nostalgia-inspired April Cornell clothing and linens, Barefoot Venus bath and body, Nellie's All Natural laundry products and many locally crafted goods including Old Goat Soap, furniture, bird feeders, and books by local authors and more.

We are proud to be Alberta owned and operated and to celebrate being Canadian.

We continue to grow in our mother/daughter relationship as partners and as a business. We are able to successfully combine our rural lifestyle with our love of beautiful things and working for ourselves.

We are LIVING THE DREAM and we invite you to share the experience.“

Carvel Country Store 52511 770 Hwy #11, Carvel, AB T7Y 3P2 (780) 963-1156

Side note:

Alternatively, if you would like to take a more scenic route: Heading West on Highway 16A, just West of Stony Plain, turn onto Parkland Drive! Parkland Drive has just been repaved and widened so it's a smooth country drive. You'll pass Blueberry School, many pastures filled with cows and horses and gorgeous views!

Drive until you come to the stop sign at Highway 770 (Range Road 23) continue approximately 3km West on Parkland Drive and you'll find us on the left hand side.