How best to describe The Habit Coffee & Bakeshop, located in Thunder Bay’s Urban Abbey, which is modeled after ancient Celtic abbeys?
For starters, it’s a distinctive, one-of-a-kind coffee place that is part of a beautifully repurposed 118-year-old church in the downtown hub of Thunder Bay’s “Old Town” (formerly Port Arthur, now part of Thunder Bay). The old church is the former First Baptist Church, situated at the corner of Red River Road and Algoma Street. Built in 1907, it could seat 450 people and was constructed using pressed Milton bricks and white building stone from sandstone quarries on Lake Superior’s Simpson Island at the entrance to Nipigon Bay. The building is now part of the Waverly Park Heritage Conservation District, which includes 70 downtown properties and the beautiful historic Waverly Park (named a parkland in 1871).
Fast forward to today, and the old church is now home to Urban Abbey, which is the mission arm of the global Anglican Communion. Its programs are supported in part by proceeds from its non-profit, The Habit Coffee & Bakeshop.
According to their website, “In short, the abbey tries to serve our community and its urgent needs from various initiatives.” Urban Abbey is modeled after ancient Celtic abbeys with a traditional focus on prayer, workshops, community, hospitality, restoration, and creative arts. (The term Celtic generally refers to the languages and cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany—regions also sometimes referred to as the Celtic nations.)
Open Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., The Habit offers a variety of high-quality coffee blends including espresso, cappuccino, flat white, latte, drip coffee, and mocha; non-coffee drinks like hot chocolate, London Fog, chai latte, matcha latte, and tea; and pastries that are baked on site. The unique coffee house has a cozy and rustic atmosphere with warm lighting, stone walls, wooden beams, a variety of comfortable seating including booths made from church pews, stained glass windows, and an inviting ambience that combines the comfort of a modern café with traditions of Celtic culture. As one tourist commented, the place is “urban trendy with the feel of history.”
On Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m., the coffee shop becomes the “Dementia Café: A Place to Belong,” when Urban Abbey, in an ongoing partnership with Alzheimer Society of Thunder Bay and Lakehead University’s Centre for Education and Research in Aging and Health, invites people living with dementia and their care partners to come to the safe and welcoming space for coffee and pastries.
The Habit Coffee & Bakeshop helps sustain the operation of the Abbey’s programs, which include two 20-bed shelters: Abbey Place Women’s Shelter and the Emergency Overflow Shelter. And this past December, Urban Abbey was awarded $3.5 million in Ontario government funding to create 38 transition housing units in three different areas of Thunder Bay. Scotland Morrison, head of staff and lead pastor, said all units will be completed by the end of 2025.
All are welcome to come to The Habit, enjoy excellent coffee (or a choice of drinks) and scrumptious homemade pastries in a unique environment—while at the same time supporting Urban Abbey in its work in the community.