The response after opening was amazing. I'd been posting on social media a lot anyway, so there was already a bit of excitement about it which was good.
I love this area. Govanhill to me is like living and working in a Whoopi Goldberg movie. The weirdest and most wonderful things just happen. I'm from a really small town and I've never felt community vibes like I do here.
Before coronavirus, I was quite lucky, because I'd basically built my client base as mostly people who live within about five city blocks! When I opened again, it was that same customer base that flooded back. I had a lot of business from the gym, people commuting into town and the health centre. The gym shut, the schools shut, the health centre have been on skeleton staff, so I lost a lot of passing trade but the community really rallied behind me the whole way through it - which has made me a lot less stressed!
People really love the story of Canary Girl. It was easy to focus on the story when I didn't really have a shop and I was only roasting small batches of coffee. I'm glad that with all of the upgrades to the business, the story's still something I get asked about daily. I'm glad it's sparking that interest.
I'm learning all the time - it's not worth stressing out too early on. Laurie from Cafe Strangebrew once told me: 'nothing's a problem until it's a problem', and it took me a couple of months to get it. Now that I've got it, I'm way more chilled.
I felt like there was a rigid: 'a cafe has to offer XYZ' or people won't come', but then when covid hit, and it forced us all to flip our business models, it just wasn't practical for me to focus on food when during lockdown my online sales were kind of what kept me going when the shop wasn't open. It kind of made me re-centre my attention back round to the coffee. I tried to simplify everything back. I was then worried people would think I wasn't offering enough. But it's been amazing, the trade's still as good it was before.
For the ongoing renovation, there's always been this run of little cafes and places in the south side taking things out and finding stuff - for example Little Hoi An stripped their walls and found tiles. I was kind of inspired by all of them and had a bit of balls and extra time in covid! And I just decided to go for it. I didn't find any tiles but I did find a door to nowhere, some original shutters and two fire places!
I appreciated this part of Govanhill hadn't had any work done to it. The pavements are still sixties pavements. All the gentrification and the upgrades Victoria Road is getting hasn't made it here.
I didn't really make any real plan for being in this location - I found out about my granny's birth being registered on Cathcart Road and I knew Govanhill was the kind of area I wanted to be in, because I feel like it's grungey enough for me.
This unit, I hated it in the pictures, but I loved it when I came to see it, so I just decided to go for it.
I was aware of the bad reputation Govanhill has, but if anything, living and working here has helped me grow into a more adult, more refined version of myself, since getting to know everyone. I like the fact that everyone's different here.
I think Govanhill is Scotland's most culturally diverse neighbourhood. I'm from a really white little town in the middle of nowhere in Midlothian. I walked past a school in the west end of Glasgow and all the kids were white and I thought 'that's so bizarre', because all the kids around these schools that I live around, everyone is different. It's kind of made me grow more and have a greater appreciation.
It's colourful. There's never a boring day, even when it's quiet. You'll just look out on Cathcart Road and something mental will happen! I love it here.
For the month of August, Glasgow Live will be shining a light on the food and drink businesses reopening after months of lockdown. Just like our long-running Glasgow Lives series, we want to show you the people behind your favourite bars, restaurants and cafes - and we hope you enjoy a little insight into some fascinating Glasgow Places.
