By Ardtus Aibrean
Bananas to replace the peelers at Brandi’s Exotic Show Lounge in Vancouver.
Artist rendering for the NDP’s Buy BC grocery store, to replace Brandi’s. (Lapuwale Architecture)
theBreaker.news has exclusively learned of a plan to turn the city’s most-famous upscale stripper bar at Hornby and Dunsmuir into a provincial supermarket under the NDP government’s Buy BC brand.
After 26 years, Brandi’s announced last month that it will close May 4, due to a lease dispute.
The government-run grocery concept has gained plenty of attention as the central planks of the winning campaigns for socialist populists, like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and federal NDP leader Avi Lewis.
It is largely untested, but the Eby NDP government appears ready to give it a go, by focusing on B.C.-grown and processed foods.
Politically, the government is struggling to hold onto young left-wing voters burdened by high prices and enticed by the BC Greens, who veered left under 2025-elected, Gen Z leader Emily Lowan.
The government already has expertise in its corner. It runs a retail chain of almost 200 B.C. Liquor stores, with a warehousing operation and contracted hauling.
BC Hydro chair Glen Clark, the former NDP premier, was the right-hand man at Jim Pattison’s conglomerate that includes the Save-On-Foods chain.
It is also understood that Ravi Kahlon’s Jobs ministry is proposing a retraining program, so that the laid-off Brandi’s dancers can become Buy BC store greeters.
A news conference is planned for April 1, just before noon.
Subscribe to theBreaker.news on Substack. Find out how: Click here.