Mardi Edwards Providore is a stylish food store, decorated with refinement and housed amid the red bricks of the Denton Mills building in Abbotsford. Aesthetically, it presents itself with boutique-style pleasantries – minimalist cardboard stalls, suspended glass jar lighting and a living plant wall – reflecting an image that is far removed from the generic shelving and fit-out you’ll find at the supermarket. This was the intention of owner Mardi Edwards and her business partner Catherine Ramsay, who together executed a series of elegant design features to compliment the more rustic crates, baskets and antique bowls on the central grocery table.

The small, considered space stocks a range of convenience items – bread, milk and eggs – and an assortment of seasonal vegetables, fresh meats, artisan cheeses, fine wines and heart-warming take home meals. Emphasis falls on organic and, when possible, locally sourced ingredients, reducing food miles and pointing us in the direction of quality, home-grown produce.

In a more traditional sense, Mardi Edwards Providore embodies the spirit of a good, local store, with Edwards herself happily sharing the recipes she has perfected through her life-long passion for cooking. There’s even coffee on offer and a selection of appetising, freshly baked cakes that might have a hard time competing with the crowd at nearby Three Bags Full, but nonetheless are there to make your shopping experience that little bit more pleasant.