Edmonton has long earned a reputation as one of the most important centres of the Ukrainian community in Canada. This status is no accident — it is rooted in over a century of shared history, which can be found in every corner of the city, from classic churches to tiny family shops that preserve the taste of the old homeland. For someone who has just arrived from Ukraine or for those looking for a reliable source of authentic Ukrainian products, the question of whether there are Ukrainian stores in Edmonton is quite natural. The short answer is yes, they definitely exist. But what is more interesting is how these stores have evolved, how they serve not only as places of commerce but as true cultural hubs where people find not only products but also a connection to their heritage.
A rich heritage: how it all began
The history of Ukrainian stores in Edmonton begins in the early twentieth century, when the first Ukrainian immigrants began arriving in Alberta, seeking new opportunities in the expanding Canadian world. These people were farmers, artisans, miners — people who left behind everything familiar to build a new life in the harsh Canadian climate. To establish themselves in their new country, they needed not only responsibilities, but also a sense of community and familiar foods that would remind them of home.
This demand gave rise to the first stores. One of the earliest examples of these establishments was a store that later became known as Orbit — a long-standing institution on Jasper Avenue that began operating in the early 20th century. Orbit symbolizes the resilience of Ukrainians in Edmonton. For more than a century, this store has served the community, changing owners, adapting to the times, but remaining true to its original mission — to provide Ukrainians with everything they need to feel at home.
In addition to Orbit, an entire ecosystem of Ukrainian commercialism developed in Edmonton. Jasper Avenue and its surroundings were home to a pharmacy, a bookstore, and restaurants that served the Ukrainian community and created a truly Ukrainian neighborhood here in the heart of Alberta. This area became a symbol of the so-called “Yellow Quarter” for Ukrainians, a place where they could hear their native language, buy familiar food, feel at home, and feel accepted.
Orbit Ukrainian Store: a living museum of culture
If you are interested in seeing what a real Ukrainian store in Edmonton looks like, Orbit Store is the place to go. Located at 10219 97th Street NW, this store remains one of the most distinctive establishments in the city. It is not a large supermarket with wide aisles and bright lighting — it is a small, cozy shop that exudes calm and authenticity.
What Orbit offers its customers goes far beyond simply selling products. On the one hand, you can find traditional Ukrainian foods here — canned vegetables, jams, honey, tea, juices, even delicacies such as Kyiv cake and Ukrainian chocolate. But that's only one side of the coin. Orbit is also a place where people look for books on Ukrainian culture, guides on pysanka (traditional Ukrainian egg painting), authentic Ukrainian art, traditional clothing, and numerous small items that remind us of the depth of Ukrainian civilization.
More importantly, Orbit serves as a cultural and administrative center for part of the community. In the early 2000s, when new Ukrainians began arriving in Edmonton, Orbit was one of the first places they turned to. Store owner Liu Tsitsar, the fourth owner of this legendary institution, described how the store has evolved far beyond simple retail. When Tsitsar started working at Orbit in 2003, the store was primarily focused on delivering parcels to Ukraine — hence the name Orbit, which had associations with a logistics network. But over the years, Tsitsar realized that the community needed much more. She began importing Ukrainian products, set up translation services, and helped people with passport registration and other administrative issues. She is often approached by people who simply want to speak Ukrainian with someone who understands them — for many newcomers, this may be one of the few places where they can do so without embarrassment or insecurity.
Orbit does not operate during standard business hours. The store is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m., Saturday until 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. This makes the store very accessible to working people, to those who have to balance their daily responsibilities with their connection to their heritage.
Malina: A Modern Take on Tradition
If Orbit represents the old soul of the Ukrainian diaspora, Malina Ukrainian Bakery symbolizes a new, more modern approach to preserving culture. Malina opened in the summer of 2020 in the Cameron Heights neighborhood on the west side of the city at 629 Cameron Heights Drive NW. It is Edmonton's first authentic Ukrainian bakery and eatery, and it has instantly become the heart of the local community.
At first glance, Malina looks like a typical bakery — bright spaces, a pleasant atmosphere, the smell of fresh bread. But when you look at the menu or spend a few minutes looking at the display windows, it becomes clear that this place is driven by a spiritual connection to tradition. Malina specializes in Ukrainian pastries that most Canadians have never heard of. They offer pampushky — porous buns with dill and garlic that have an interesting shape; vatrushki — crumbly dough filled with cottage cheese, currants, apples; pies filled with potatoes, chicken, bacon, eggs, or sauerkraut. The sweet options are just as impressive — croissants with raw cherries, apple strudels with pastry so thin that there is more fruit than dough, poppy seed rolls, and heart-shaped buns.
What really sets Malina apart is its ability to strike a balance between tradition and modernity. At first glance, the menu seems firmly rooted in Ukrainian grandma's recipes, but the owners understand that the community is changing. People are busy and have less time to cook. That's why, along with buns, Malina began offering hot dishes, including pierogi, dumplings, and borscht. These dishes are prepared using authentic family recipes that the owners brought with them from Ukraine.
Malina's success was so significant that in November 2025, the owners opened a second location, Malina Cafe & Bar on 124th Street, which will try something new with a concept more focused on coffee and snacks. This is a clear indication of how Ukrainian culture in Edmonton is evolving and attracting new people.
Shumka: The Art of Traditional Food
If you are looking for authentic Ukrainian food in a dining setting, you should go to Shumka Ukrainian Foods. This establishment has two locations: one in Kingsway Garden Mall (21F Kingsway Garden Mall NW) and the other in another part of the city. Shumka specializes in frozen Ukrainian food that people can buy and presents itself as an authentic Ukrainian dining room offering everything with a wonderful aroma and taste.
The Kingsway mall location reflects the current transformation of Ukrainian stores in Edmonton. Instead of having a dedicated store on the street, more and more companies are betting on being located in shopping malls, where they are cheaper to maintain and more accessible. Shumka on Kingsway is a small eatery in the mall's food court, but it really serves authentic food. The menu features luxurious borscht, various types of pierogi (potato and cheese, meat, mushrooms), nalysnyky, stuffed cabbage rolls, breakfasts, and appetizers. The real charm of Shumka is that everything is made from scratch — no expired frozen food in the microwave. It's worth noting that Shumka's borscht has received massive praise from people who consistently say it's the best borscht they've ever had. It comes with small packets of sour cream, which makes eating it much more enjoyable.
At its other locations, Shumka also offers frozen packages of its dishes, which people can buy and take home. This makes Ukrainian food even more accessible to more people who want to enjoy authentic home-cooked meals without spending time cooking every day.
Yo Baba: Fresh and Frozen
Yo Baba Ukrainian Foods is another important addition to Edmonton's Ukrainian food scene. This market began with the work of Sandy Lupul, who initially started with Old Timer's Cabin in Edmonton. He quickly found success, which led him to start a retail business called Sandy's Ukrainian Foods. The name was later changed to Yo Baba, presumably to better reflect what grandmothers do.
Yo Baba is located at 8103 127 Avenue NW, Suite 9, and it presents itself as a place that offers both meals to cook at home on the spot and frozen food for later days. The menu includes classic dishes such as pierogi (with various fillings), borscht, meat stews, breakfasts, and snacks. Yo Baba is especially famous for its work on what they call “real home cooking” — the people who cook there understand how to make food at home.
This shop is not just a place to buy food — it is a place where people understand that culture is transmitted through food. When you are 20, 30, or 40 years old and looking for a substitute for the taste you remember from childhood, a shop like Yo Baba helps to satisfy that deep need.
Widynowski's and Uncle Ed's: Old Traditions
Among other establishments serving the Ukrainian community, Widynowski's Sausage House is located at 4204 118th Avenue NW. This place specializes in traditional Ukrainian meat products — it is a very important place for those interested in authentic Ukrainian sausages, smoked meats, and other meat products.
Uncle Ed's Ukrainian Restaurant, located at 4824 118th Avenue NW, works in partnership with Stawnichy's Mundare Sausage House. The establishment offers everything from ready-to-eat foods to deli meats that can be purchased for home cooking. Mundare Sausage House is an establishment that started in the suburb of Mundare (over two hours east of Edmonton), but it has found its way to the heart of Edmonton through Uncle Ed's.
Small roads: church gastronomy and farmers' markets
It is important to understand that many Ukrainian food outlets in Edmonton are not necessarily located in traditional establishments. Ukrainian churches in the city have long served as small cult locations where Ukrainian dishes are prepared and sold. Some churches have even built extensions to their structures to accommodate food preparation, as the demand for pierogi and other dishes has been so great. This shows how Ukrainian food has become not just a part of the culture, but a part of the city's community life.
In addition, Edmonton has several farmers' markets and specialty markets where Ukrainian producers sell their goods. Some stores, such as Yo Baba, now have plans to expand and sell at the Bountiful Farmers' Market, demonstrating a willingness to develop access to authentic Ukrainian products.
The New Wave: Multicook Edmonton and Don'ya Ukraine's Kitchen
In recent years, Edmonton has seen an influx of a new type of Ukrainian business that caters to a specific need: specially designed frozen homemade Ukrainian food to serve extremely busy modern families. Multicook Edmonton, located at 17204 95 Avenue NW in Terra Losa, is an example of this new type of establishment.
Multicook was founded by Volodymyr Kostyuchenko, a lawyer from western Ukraine who fled war-torn Ukraine with his family two and a half years ago. When Kostyuchenko first arrived in Edmonton, he noticed that although some stores and restaurants offered Ukrainian dishes, they didn't have the authentic taste he remembered from home. This inspired him to open his own store.
After more than a year of working on the project, in March 2024, Kostyuchenko and his partner Andriy Riba opened Multicook Edmonton. The establishment is located in Terra Losa, a space that serves as both a kitchen and a retail store. Dozens of freezers filled with ready-to-use frozen Ukrainian food line the shelves. Through a transparent window overlooking the kitchen, customers can watch as Kostyuchenko and his team prepare the products by hand — rolling out dough for perogies, whipping batter, and preparing authentic Ukrainian food that could be ready to eat in minutes at home.
What is most remarkable about Multicook is that they understand modern Ukrainians. They offer more than 18 types of perogies, from classic to their own innovations. They also offer zrazy (potato dishes filled with meat or mushrooms), stuffed cabbage rolls, borscht, and much more. But they understand that not everyone eats meat — so some dishes are offered in vegan and vegetarian variations. They are even experimenting with how to create a good gluten-free version of perogies, understanding that the community is changing and that people have different needs.
Kostjuchenko said his goal remains simple: “We just want to make food for busy people's comfort.” His dream is to expand the business with new locations in St. Albert, Sherwood Park, and other places on the outskirts of Edmonton.
In addition, Don'ya Ukraine's Kitchen, founded in 2023, is the first kitchen in Canada founded by newly arrived Ukrainians. Located at 12153 Fort Road NW with an additional café at 10405 Jasper Ave NW, Don'ya offers hot lunches daily. This place grew out of the realization that Ukrainians who arrived during the height of the conflict in Ukraine needed various forms of support — not just food, but a truly meaningful way to organize the period of preparation and culture.
Orbit Store as a cultural entity
Talking about Ukrainian stores in Edmonton without mentioning Orbit Store would be a mistake that would not do justice to this establishment. Orbit is not just a store, it is a cultural institution that has served the community for over a century. Every year, more than a hundred customers visit the store, especially during the spring and fall holidays, such as Christmas and Easter.
Owner Liu Tsitsar and her team have proven that the store is a place where people can find significant support. She regularly helps customers with translations, assists with paperwork, and gives advice on how to live in Edmonton as a newcomer. One of the store's long-time employees, Sidonia Simisia, is from Chernivtsi in western Ukraine and has been working at Orbit for 15 years. She often talks about how important this place is for people who feel lost when they arrive in Canada. “I want people to believe that we can help them, even with friendly advice, and I think we are succeeding,” she said.
Conclusion: a living, breathing bridge to heritage
The answer to the question of whether there are Ukrainian stores in Edmonton is not just “yes” — it's a deeper story about how a community preserves its culture in a foreign country. On every corner of the city, from the old Orbit Store to the modern Multicook and Don'ya Ukraine's Kitchen, there are places where Ukrainians can find food that reminds them of home, where they can speak their native language, where they can feel valued and supported.
These stores are much more than just commercial establishments. They serve as cultural centers, places of socialization where young Canadians of Ukrainian descent can learn about their heritage, where newcomers can find support during a difficult period of adjustment, where all people, regardless of when they arrived in Edmonton, can feel part of a living, breathing community.
Edmonton thrives as a place where Ukrainian culture is not preserved in museums or confined to history books, but instead lives, evolves, and flourishes every day in every store, on every shelf, in every serving of authentic Ukrainian food prepared with love and respect for tradition.