Innovation | Design | Business | Style | People
[In the Know ]
retail goes off the grid After years of travel and “chasing surf,” Paul Long and Nick Van Buren knew they didn’t want a traditional retail store. “When you’re out there, you see all these different takes on retail and business,” Long says. “When we came back we knew we wanted to start something unique.” Finding the perfect home for their custom surfboard and Canadian-made surf clothing business proved more challenging than anticipated — until they found a vacant, unserviced lot on Discovery Street. “Anián is Canada’s first 100-per-cent solar powered, offthe-grid retail store,” Long says. “The whole thing took a month to build. Ninety per cent of the material used was reclaimed, with much of the wood coming from an old blimp hangar in Comox.” While the Anián store initially ran on the three small solar panels over the workshop, a crowd-funding campaign helped the duo raise money to invest in the impressive solar panels that can now be seen atop the small retail shop. They generate enough power to run the entire business. First Light Technologies worked with Anián on a power analysis and setting up the panels. “Daily, people see it from the road and stop and come to talk to us,” Long says. “It’s inspiring people and peaking interest in solar again.” Long describes Anián as being as much about the lifestyle as it is about the products. The space is used as a venue for music, art shows and community events. “At the end of the day, we started this because it was an adventure for us — it was something new, it was creative, it was a way for us to extend the lifestyle of surfing, travel and exploring.” 10 Douglas
Jeffrey Bosdet/Douglas Magazine
BY ATHENA MCKENZIE
Paul Long (left) and Nick Van Buren at their store, Anián. The name comes from the fabled Strait of Anián, part of the legendary Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.