Lisa Watts will fill almost anything you bring her: a pickle jar, an amber bottle, or an empty mickey of Fireball. The container goes on the scale, then it gets filled with whatever the customer came for: shampoo, dish soap, all-purpose cleaner, toothpaste, body lotion — all sorts of household consumables, each priced by weight.
The customer leaves with exactly the amount they wanted. Sometimes that’s two weeks of conditioner because they want to try it first. Sometimes it’s six months of laundry detergent in a big pail.
Watts opened Canary Refillery and Zero Waste Market in 2019. Two years ago, she moved it from a second-floor space to street level on Kensington Road, and the new visibility has changed the business and increased the number of walk-ins.
About half of her customers are regulars who trust her choices and know the savings are real. But what keeps everyone coming back is what in-person shopping still does better than any online algorithm: expertise, flexibility and a level of care that comes with standing behind what you sell.
That kind of accountability matters more than ever as brick-and-mortar retailers navigate pressures e-commerce was built to sidestep: fluctuating foot traffic, premium storefront rents, construction disruptions and greater staffing demands. And, when it comes to overhead, their online competitors can scale up or down more nimbly with demand, while shop owners like Watts carry those costs whether one customer walks through the door or 20. All in all, the margins are slimmer.
Watts believes that as more retail shops shutter, each closing severing one more human connection, consumers have gained an understanding of what’s at stake each time they spend their dollars. “People are starting to open their eyes and realize we need to support these local stores,” she says.
Whatever their reasons, shoppers are still choosing physical stores, even after the pandemic pushed so much spending online. KPMG’s 2025 consumer and retail survey found that 61 per cent of Canadians still do most of their shopping in-store, suggesting the shift to e-commerce may not have been as permanent as initially predicted.
Among those shoppers, 35 per cent said the main reason for buying in person was the ability to test a product before committing — a preference especially strong in personal care and beauty. Another 90 per cent said they return to stores where they’ve received exceptional service from knowledgeable staff.
At Canary, Watts helps customers find moisturizers to suit their skin in Alberta’s climate. She shares her own experiences from using the products she sells (hot tip: use dish soap for bathtub scrubbing) and she sends customers home with samples before they commit. It’s these little things that earned Canary Best Beauty Store in Avenue’s Best Stores ballot, though Watts admits the award surprised her — she thinks of it more as a general store than a beauty counter. It’s not all that different from the one her great-grandfather ran in Didsbury. “People say, ‘Oh, this new trendy concept,’ but it goes way, way back.”