A Granville Island donut shop that has been making honey dips since 1979 has its sign up at Burnaby’s Metropolis at Metrotown.
Lee’s Donuts is taking over the old Stuffies Pastries unit, just steps from the food court.
When we walked by, the yellow “Lee’s Donuts Since 1979” sign with its smiling donut mascot was already up over the shopfront, next to the TELUS store.
The folding gate was still closed, and the counter inside was bare.
It’s the unit Stuffies Pastries held from October 2021 until it quietly closed in mid August, taking its bear and fish shaped custard pastries with it.
This will be Lee’s first shop in South Burnaby.
The brand already has a North Burnaby location at The Amazing Brentwood, one of 11 shops on its directory, running from Granville Island and Gastown out to YVR Airport, Steveston and the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.
The Metrotown shop hasn’t been announced yet.
Lee’s lists three stores as coming soon on its website: Old Town in Victoria, the Thesis building across from Langara College, and Guildford Town Centre in Surrey.
Metrotown isn’t one of them, so for now the sign is the whole announcement.
It isn’t the brand’s first time in the mall, though.
Lee’s has run a three-day pop-up at Metrotown before, with the clothing brand PLENTY.
The shop goes back to a mom-and-pop counter Alan and Betty-Ann Lee opened inside Granville Island Public Market in 1979.
The Lee family ran it for more than four decades before a group of local Vancouver entrepreneurs took over in 2018, and the donuts are still handmade from the founders’ original recipes.
There’s no opening date yet, and the menu for this location hasn’t been posted.
If it follows the other shops, expect the classic honey dips the brand is known for alongside its seasonal flavours.
Lee’s joins other upcoming Metrotown spots like DAVIDsTEA, a few stores down, plus Chayan and Cotti Coffee downstairs.
Address
Metropolis at Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby (old Stuffies Pastries unit, near the food court)
