To Celebrate National Pie Day We Stopped By The Pie Shoppe

Usually, sisters Stephanie and Andrea French are soaking up some vitamin D while sipping down a well-deserved cocktail in some sun soak destination in January. However, as we all know, these are not ordinary days, so the French sisters are doing something they’ve never done before, staying open for January and, lucky for us, National Pie Day.

Over the past five years, the French sisters have made The Pie Shoppe an integral part of the Hastings-Sunrise community. Their pies are eclectic – drawing from classic American, French, and English influences, and always sourcing what’s good and what’s interesting.

“If a distillery drops off a nice bottle of something, or we can get their hands on good ingredients like cherries or hazelnuts, we’ll use it,” said French. “It drives people nuts because they want like a banana cream pie every day of the week, but we don’t offer the same thing every day.”

These days, the French sisters focus on keeping it simple to survive, offering a few different flavours per week to keep costs down. The cafe is closed, but they continue to sell their pies out of a rather quaint takeout window, which is a far cry from their plans at the beginning of last year. 

For National Pie Day, you can order 7 individual pieces of pie for $35. Photo | Abby Wiseman

The two took some time off to travel and upgrade the restaurant for an evening wine bar and pizza pie concept they were planning to launch. They re-opened their doors on March 2, 2020, but two weeks later, the pandemic thwarted their plans, and they had to pivot, then pivot again, and then again. 

“We tried a grocery concept, and then a CSA bag concept,” said French.” We thought we could do something small in the space, but it’s too stressful to make sure everyone is healthy and safe in our space.” 

For now, they are sticking to the window concept, which is more than enough for many of their loyal followers. 

“I think our customers are coming to this place where they are really appreciating getting something special,” said French. “They express their gratitude for us being open, feeding their kids that night, or helping them celebrate their husbands birthday with a pie. Our community is so amazing.”

To celebrate National Pie Day, The Pie Shoppe sisters are offering seven individual slices of pie for $35. To order, send an email to hello@thepieshoppe.ca.