The Three Little Bears is temporarily closed, although we sell some items online and by appointment. 

The Three Little Bears has moved back to its original location in Smiths Cove from Deep Brook and away from its roots as a convenience store to a mixed home-based business with an online sales presence. Smiths Cove is a small community located on the Annapolis River Basin near the Bay of Fundy just east of the town of Digby and west of the Bear River Bridge.

Growing product inventory includes custom-designed bumper stickers, decals, buttons, license plates. Nova Scotia scenes photographed for postcards, calendars, greeting cards, souvenir booklets. Christian books and CDs/DVDs. Small pets and parrot-family birds as well as animals supplies (cages, water bottles, etc.). Plants, fruits and vegetables grown in Smiths Cove as well as on our farm property in Deep Brook.

In the plans: custom-made wood crafts such as birdhouses and feeders, lawn ornaments, shutters; gift baskets and artificial flower arrangements; Dutch and European foods and chocolates; custom-built cages and hutches. 

Spring 2021 Update:

The Three Little Bears continues to operate from 121 Highway 1 in Smiths Cove. After selling our farm property in Deep Brook in 2019, we moved our agricultural endeavours to the back "field" of our property here in Smiths Cove. Although we no longer have access to the blueberry, haskap and purple raspberry plants that we had planted at our Deep Brook farm, we did grow vegetables, tomatoes, gourds and strawberries in Smiths Cove in 2020, but our yield was low due to an unbelievably hot and dry summer. We continue to sell birds, fish and small rodents, primarily as pets but have scaled back on that activity and instead beefed up our flower production. It may be a little while before our flowers establish themselves enough to sell seeds, seedlings and plants, but that is the direction we are heading toward (at least at the moment!). In the meantime, we are also propagating and selling house plants.

We continue to custom-design and offer bumper stickers, calendars, framed and unframed photos, small tourist booklets, postcards, decals, buttons, license plates - many with local scenes. All of the photographs we use are taken by Ian, and so far, all have been taken within Nova Scotia. We have dramatically increased our candle-making activities (after buying out an established candle-maker's business) and are now selling unpainted and painted scented candles, both beeswax and paraffin. With COVID-19 restrictions, we were not able to sell our wares at craft sales and shows as we did in 2019. Instead, we opened an Etsy store and sold mainly bumper stickers online. We also purchased and renovated a shed to serve as a detached retail store. We hope to have this completed this spring and begin selling Christian books and DVDs again along with candles and bumper stickers, postcards, and the rest.

We are not sure what 2021 will hold. Much will depend on COVID-19's impact. We do plan to strengthen our online presence and sell more via the internet. And offer as much as we can here in Smiths Cove while meeting customers safely outside when feasible.

Spring 2018 Update:

The Three Little Bears have moved back to where it started, Smiths Cove. We successfully sold our Waldec Line Road property in March of this year. Unfortunately, due to health reasons, we were not able to fulfill our plan to build on our Pury Road farm property in Deep Brook. Instead, we returned to our property in Smiths Cove. It will be a few weeks yet before we officially reopen as a retail business. But we continue to sell a few pets - chinchillas, hedgehogs, birds, guppies - and have plans to sell fruit and veggies as well as flowers and potted plants from our properties in Deep Brook and Smiths Cove.

Ian is looking forward to making birdhouses in the big workshop on the property. And he plans to expand on his photography business, producing custom-made postcards and calendars. He has also begun custom-designing and producing bumper stickers, decals, buttons, and license plates. Our Christian books and CDs/DVDs remain in storage, but we have plans for building a small retail "bunkie" by the road from which to sell them. 

The first half of 2018 promises to be busy as we settle in and set things up. But we are hopeful that The Three Little Bears will at long last open again - but as a quite different entity than it was back in 2014. 

Spring 2017 Update:

The Three Little Bears Cottage Store has not officially reopened as a retail business as we have not yet found a buyer for our Waldec Line Road property so that we can move to our farm property on Purdy Road. But we continue to sell birds and animals, mostly as pets. The latest additions to the pet mobile are two young chinchillas, male and female. So far in 2017 we have rehomed a baby hedgehog, baby guinea pigs, a young degu, a few baby budgies, guppies and Malaysian trumpet snails. Our Polish and Netherland Dwarf does are pregnant, so we are hoping to adopt out baby bunnies by early summer. We have begun raising mealworms for our growing family of hedgehogs as well as to sell.

We are looking forward to the planting season arriving as we have our bulb order coming next week. We hope to expand our vegetable and cut flower sales and are expecting our developing blueberry, haskap and raspberry bushes to produce more fruit. We are not looking forward to the weeds, though, nor the herd of deer who just love our often unattended garden, especially our pumpkins. Hopefully that will change this year when we do finally move!

Ian was relatively busy with his snow-plowing jobs over the winter and plans to fit in some grass-cutting, backhoing, bushhogging, wood-chipping jobs in between work at the farm over the summer months. He has started to make bird feeders, bird houses, nesting boxes as well as cut wood for next winter's sales. 

Unfortunately our Christian books remain boxed up, but we are praying we will be able to reopen Bread of Life Christian Bookshelf in some form in the future.

Summer 2016 Update:

Although we still have not officially reopened our store, that doesn't mean that we are not selling anything. We have begun selling some vegetables (selection varies by the week, from beans, beets, carrots to tomatoes, pumpkins, squashes later in the season) and cut flowers (glads, dahlias, zinnias), all grown at our Purdy Road property. Despite the dry conditions, our plants are hanging in there, although their production would be more plentiful if we just had some rain! We also have firewood for sale - for campfires (if the fire ban is ever lifted) and furnaces. Our adoptable pet selection is ever-changing. As we begin August, young rabbits are available as well as hamsters, gerbils, degus, budgies, and lots of guppies. Hope to have chinchillas, guinea pigs, lovebirds and cockatiels for sale soon. And we have a few used hamster cages and five-gallon aquariums available.

Spring 2016:

Some people have been asking whatever happened to The Three Little Bears Cottage Store and Gift Shop. Well, the short answer is that yes, it is still around, but no, it has not yet reopened as an actual store, as was the plan this time last year.

So what did happen? After the epically long and snowy winter of 2014-2015, we went ahead and purchased a mobile trailer to serve as our new combination pet and Christian book and local postcard and wood crafts and you name it store. We prepared the site for it, and made other preparations, such as purchasing an electrical  "power shed" and companion shed (for retail) from a local supplier. We also adapted a camper into a rabbitry for mainly purebred rabbits. The summer involved adorning the trailer with new windows, flooring, panelling, roof. The only ones who really appreciated our hard efforts were the small rodents (hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, degus, chinchillas) and birds (budgies, cockatiels, lovebirds) who moved in, along with the occasional visitor. We began selling some of their offspring, primarily through Kijiji. Interested people would call or email before stopping in.

Then came fall. With winter looming, we made the decision to put the retail project on hold yet again. And then we made an even more radical decision to put our Waldec Line property up for sale and move everything to our Purdy Road property in 2016. Mainly Ian spent most of the winter renovating the old house at Purdy Road, taking down the bad sections. Unfortunately he did not have much time to further his local postcard and calendar business - although his Greedy Bear Chipper's service kept him occupied with snow-plowing jobs, and he is looking forward to a change of pace, with grass-cutting, bush-hogging and backhoeing work just ahead.

What are we doing now? With the advent of spring, we have been busy working the fields at Purdy Road in preparation for planting fruits and vegetables. The blueberry and raspberry plants we purchased last spring are doing well, so we are hopeful for a good crop. There is still much more work to do in preparation for setting up all of our business at Purdy Road.

Yes, we do at times feel as if we are stuck in set-up mode, but good things never come without hard work and patience!

For now, should you want to add a furred or feathered pet to your home, we may have the perfect one, so give us a call or send an email. Although we are not around all the time, our schedule is fairly flexible.

NOTE: Due to a change in one of the owner's family situation requiring a change of location, much of the following has been put on a temporary hold. But these dreams and plans will be pursued in 2015 in the store's new Deep Brook locations on Waldec Line Road and Purdy Road.

Local Nova Scotia scenes photographed for postcards, greeting cards, calendars, souvenier booklets.

Happy Bear's Love Me Pets pet store--but not just with pet food and supplies. Birds, rabbits, pocket pets, fish. This business is animal-friendly through and through and is looking forward to the arrival of new feathered and furred friends. (Dogs and cats will not be sold, but the store can provide referral information to local shelters.) Organic and specialty foods will also be available.

Owners of small pets (rabbits, chinchillas, hamsters, etc.), birds and fish will be glad to find a boarding facility willing to take their pets. (We will not be able to accept dogs for boarding but may accept cats if space is available.)

A limited selection of farm supplies, including feed, equipment and medications. Selection will be tailored to the particular needs of regular customers. A limited selection of farm livestock, especially birds, will be for sale, some on a consignment basis. Custom-built cages, chicken coops and rabbit hutches.

Greenhouse plants as well as a variety of bulbs and seeds in addition to tropical plants and soils.

Fruit and vegetable plants.

From Grumpy Bear's Workshop, bird houses, lawn ornaments, original wood craft.

Gift baskets.

Dutch and European foods.

Christian books, DVDs, greeting cards, gift baskets.

Candles manufactured on site.

And much more--as space permits!

The Three Little Bears is in operation at 121 Highway 1 in Smiths Cove but mainly by appointment and with COVID-19 restrictions in mind. We plan to open a small retail building that will make it easier for customers to peruse our inventory of candles, bumper stickers, postcards, etc., along with Christian books and DVDs. Pet sales are by appointment only. Available plants, fruits, vegetables will likely be sold on a table out front once the weather allows.

You are more than welcome to visit our website (in progress) Three Little Bears Shop to explore what we have available. Or flip through our online catalogue Three Little Bears Catalogue.

The three little bears are castaways from Bear Island, which is just a few kilometres east of the store site.  Click here to read their stories