Address: 43 W Hastings St | Neighbourhood: Hastings-Chinatown | Established: 1957 | Currently: Active
Image of Save on Meats in 2012

Save on Meats opened in 1957 and was founded by Sunny Wosk, part of the Vancouver family known for the Wosk department store chain. When Al Deslauriers started working in the deli, Sunny made the young man a deal: if he could run the meat department like he owned it, Sunny would sell him the store. He did.

Deslauriers closed the shop when he retired at 78 in 2009. He had refused several offers to sell the building for condo development, so he was thrilled when Mark and Nicole Brand bought the building to re-open the legendary diner and meat shop in June 2011.

Save on Meats aims to operate as a food hub that serves the community and supplies Mark Brand’s coterie of popular Gastown restaurants. Its laundry service and commissary kitchen employs Downtown Eastside residents. More than 200 lunches from the building a day go to people living in local single-room occupancy hotels.

STORIES ABOUT THIS SIGN
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Mark Brand
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Mark Brand said…
“If you’re gonna bring back an icon, the icon is the icon. You don’t open Save on Meats and change everything about it...”
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John Ethier
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John Ethier said…
“I was working on Abbott Street on a construction job. I was there for about six months, so I used to eat lunch there five days a week….”
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Helen Hill
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Helen Hill wrote…
“Go to the takeaway window and get a bowl of chili for under $5 and a bun. Then come in and get maybe a cookie or something for dessert…”

“I can make you a meal for under $5.

We have really nice sausages and they’re homemade. And then you can get a vegetable, and you can even go to the takeaway window and get a bowl of chili for under $5 and a bun. Then come in and get maybe a cookie or something for dessert.

During the summer, you could get two souvlaki for $2. Some of them had eight pieces of meat. So that’s 16 pieces of meat. Then, go and get some soup or something, do it that way, and you’re still under $5 but it’s nutritious.

And you’ve got your protein and you could toss in a cookie too. With tax, they’re $0.84.”

-Helen Hill, Save on Meats deli employee

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This sign reminds me of when I was a kid and we used to I down to the meat shop to buy sausage.
Posted by 
 
Wed 05 Jun 2013
This is one of my favourite signs in Vancouver
Posted by 
 
Wed 24 Apr 2013

Photo gallery

Get a closer look at this sign and the business it represents. All photos are provided by the MOV.
Save On Meats Sign
Save on Meats Street View
Al DesLauriers outside Save on Meats 2009
Save on Meats Entrance 2010
Save on Meats Exterior
Save on Meats Exterior with Grafitti 2010
Save on Meats Renovations 2010
Save on Meats Renovations 2010
Save on Meats Renovations 2010
Mark Brand outside Save on Meats 2011

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