There’s A Hidden Store Beneath Canmore’s Main Street and Here’s What You’ll Find

Among the restaurants, shops and storefronts lining Canmore's Main Street, there's one business that's a little harder to spot.

At 713 Main Street, tucked below Chopsticks restaurant, Mountain River Life operates out of a basement-level retail space that visitors could easily walk past without realizing it's there.

But venture downstairs and you'll find a collection of mountain-inspired clothing, books, board games and gifts, many featuring small details that tell stories about the Canadian Rockies.

For co-founders Erik Paul, 39, and Graham Kelba, 38, the unusual location has become part of the experience.

"It is hidden and, you know, it is a bit tough to find," Kelba told Bow Valley Insider.

"But the fun thing about it is it's almost, you know, like a ski cellar."

Once inside, customers are greeted by a warm, cozy space filled with products inspired by the mountains the two friends grew up exploring.

And while the storefront might be easy to overlook, there's more to the business than its unusual location.

Behind the products on the shelves is a story that began with two longtime friends, a pandemic woodworking project and a fire that unexpectedly changed the direction of their company.

From Woodworking To Mountain-Inspired Products

Born and raised in Calgary, Paul and Kelba met through friends roughly 15 years ago, bonding over their love of the mountains and entrepreneurship.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, they turned a woodworking project into a business selling charcuterie boards, crib boards and other handmade products.

"We started out doing woodwork. And that was a COVID project that went better than expected," Paul said.

Looking to expand beyond woodworking, the pair began developing mountain-inspired products.

Then, in June 2025, a fire destroyed their woodshop.

"We lost that whole side of the business," Paul said.

Rather than rebuild, they shifted their focus entirely to apparel and other original products inspired by the Rockies.

After operating out of a temporary retail space in 2025, they opened their first permanent Mountain River Life store on Canmore's Main Street in May 2026, bringing their growing collection under one roof.

More Than A Mountain Souvenir

For Paul, Mountain River Life was an opportunity to fill a gap between inexpensive mountain souvenirs and costly, technical outdoor apparel.

"There's a big gap in the middle where we thought we could create some little bit better quality, a little bit more meaningful products that really capture some of the magic of the places," Paul said.

One example is the company's Bow Valley fleece collection, which uses colours inspired by recognizable locations throughout the Rockies.

The Lake Louise quarter-zip features a turquoise torso representing the lake's water, grey sleeves inspired by the surrounding rock and white across the chest symbolizing the glacier.

Even the red zipper pull represents the iconic canoes on Lake Louise.

"It's little details like that that we try to think about and try to incorporate into all the stuff that we design," Paul said.

Other designs draw inspiration from Moraine Lake, Mount Rundle and the Cave and Basin National Historic Site.

Bringing those ideas to life involves experimenting with colour combinations, testing samples and working with manufacturers to get the designs right.

For Paul and Kelba, the goal is to create original, affordable products that capture something meaningful about the places that inspired them.

Designed With Locals In Mind

While visitors make up part of Mountain River Life's customer base, Paul and Kelba also want their products to resonate with Bow Valley residents.

One example is their collection of smoked-glass coffee mugs featuring miniature versions of local mountains inside.

Alongside the iconic Three Sisters, they chose to feature Ha Ling Peak, a mountain Paul believes holds special meaning for locals.

"That's the one that you can hike. It's the one that people actually get to go up on," he said.

"That's the place that matters to the people who live here."

For Paul, it's these small, thoughtful details that he hopes residents will recognize and appreciate in their designs.

From Fleeces To Board Games

Clothing is only part of what the two friends have been creating.

Mountain River Life also sells illustrated books, journals, coffee mugs and an original tabletop game.

Their first game, THRESHOLD, is a mountain-themed prediction game for one to four players.

Paul said developing it involved creating prototypes, testing them with family and refining the gameplay before moving into production.

The company has also developed three books, including its newest children's Christmas story, The Wishing Star, which follows a young girl's mountain adventure to restore her town's Christmas spirit.

Paul handles much of the writing, illustration and product development, drawing ideas from family, employees and customers.

While the products are designed in-house, manufacturing varies. Some clothing is customized using a heat press, while more complex designs are produced by outside manufacturers.

It's a creative expansion neither founder anticipated when they first started woodworking during the pandemic.

Two Friends, One Business

Behind the growing collection is a friendship that has helped shape the business.

Kelba describes himself as the idea guy, while Paul figures out which concepts can become actual products.

"If I have a thousand ideas, he'll take the 999 that don't work or that are crazy and he'll find the one gem that works," Kelba said.

Paul sees it a little differently.

"The really good ideas are buried in the haystack and I just have to find the needle," he said. "But Graham often comes up with the needle."

"We've been best friends for a long time," Kelba said. "It truly is a family business."

Looking ahead, the pair hope to expand their product collection, move into a more visible Main Street storefront and eventually open a location in Banff.

For now, they're continuing to build their business from their tucked-away Canmore shop.

"We wanted to build a brand for people that love the mountains and outdoors and adventure as much as we do," Kelba said.

"That's what we build for."