The Avant-Garden Shop – Your Garden and Bird Store

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Established in 2002 , The Avant-Garden Shop is located in downtown Peterborough in the heart of the wonderful Kawartha tourist region.

Our store is filled with an alluring collection of functional and decorative items to enhance your outdoor living and gift giving experience. As often as possible we seek out beautiful hand-made items from Canada. We also source from the US and include quite a number of Fair Trade items. We feel it is very important to support local as much as we can.

We offer online shopping for many of our products, but to fully appreciate our selection, a visit to the store is a must. Whether it’s a gift for a friend or a distinctive item for your home, you will find something unusual and interesting at The Avant-Garden Shop.

YouTube Channel

Over 220 clips now online!

Since 2013 The Avant-Garden Shop has a feature on Peterborough’s CHEX TV. A segment called Garden Gate appears bi-weekly on Fridays at 7:50am during The Morning Show. The following week it appears a number of times during various prime time shows such as Survivor and Amsterdam.

These 2-3 minute informational segments about bird feeding, gardening and fun products available in the shop can be found on our YouTube channel and also are previewed our blog.

Map & Directions

The Avant-Garden Shop
165 Sherbrooke Street (Between Aylmer and George Streets)
Peterborough, ON
Canada
K9J 2N2

Telephone: (705) 743-0068
Toll Free: 1-877-886-0869
Email:

Open Year Round
Monday to Friday: 9:30-5:30pm
Saturday: 9:30-5:00pm
Sunday: Closed

Award Winning!

2022 Brenda was awarded Business Woman of the Year (Entrepreneur) by the Peterborough-Kawartha Chamber of Commerce. This award is sponsored by the Women’s Business Network, of which Brenda has been a member since 2017. Celebrating 20 years this year, Brenda very much appreciates the support of her wonderful customers, fabulous staff, many suppliers, her husband and friends. The first years were tough and the last two challenging but we persevered and came out on top.

2021 Brenda and her team were awarded the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence award for Best Retail. In 2020/2021 The Avant-Garden Shop employed 5 people part time.

2021 Brenda Ibey received the “Wild bird store of the year” award from Wild Bird Trading. This prestigious award is granted to wild bird specialty stores who have shown the highest level of excellence in the wild bird sector. The award celebrates the best in product knowledge, quality, selection and overall customer service.

Award Winning Chamber Cheer by Avant Garden staff

2017 Brenda Ibey received the “Customer First” award from the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce at the Business Excellence awards. This award is given to a business which demonstrates putting the customer first and offering excellent customer service.

2017 Brenda Ibey received the “Hazel Wilson” award from District 4 of the Ontario Horticultural Association for 40 years of volunteering with the Lakefield Horticultural Society as well as for her work with Peterborough Garden Route, Peterborough Green-Up and the education she offers at The Avant-Garden Shop. Only one of these awards is given out within the district each year.

2014 Brenda Ibey, a long time member of The Lakefield Horticultural Society, received a Meritorious service award from the Ontario Horticultural Association for her many years of dedicated work to the society.

2013 Received a “Garden Tourism” award for “Best promotion of the Year” for a group which The Avant-Garden Shop helped to start called Garden Route.ca. See Brenda and Joe Cook from Blossom Hill Nursery accepting the award on the groups Facebook page.

2012 The Avant-Garden Shop won the BEST RETAIL BUSINESS (non-chain) at the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards.

2012 The Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corp presented The Avant-Garden Shop with an EPIC Ventures Award – Entrepreneurs Proudly Investing in our Community.

Virtual Tour

Take a Virtual Tour of our shop!

View Larger Video Tour

Google Reviews

    
 
 
        
   A. Ross 
 2024-05-02
 
 
  A beautiful store with an extensive selection of wonderful things!
  
 
       
   Susan Finlan 
 2024-01-12
 
 
  Beautiful store with good selection of birdseed. We moved recently and really liked the mix of birdseed we had been getting from another bird store...it can be hard to find....they had it here. Lots of bird-related accessories and gifts here also!
  
 
       
   David Hope 
 2023-12-16
 
 
  I should add more than just the stars! Great shop. Always warm and welcoming. And the staff have helped me on many occasions to find or recommend something for what I am looking for.
  
 
       
   Kevin Shea 
 2023-11-15
 
 
  A great place to shop with great staff.
  
 
       
   Darlene Weales 
 2023-10-06
 
 
  What a great store for gift ideas!! You should absolutely check it out 🐞
  
 
       
   Kristy Hiltz 
 2023-09-06
 
 
  Over the past few years I have really enjoyed buying my bird seed from this shop. I have had problems with birds not eating seed bought from large stores,  but Avant-Garden always has fresh seed that they adore. I have so many species coming to my feeder now! The staff are very knowledgeable and are happy to provide information about birds and feeding.  They also have wonderful gift items. It makes shopping  very easy.
  
 
       
   Ryan Ferguson 
 2023-04-30
 
 
  Great place to buy gifts for your mother girlfriend. Helpful and super nice.
  
 
       
   Susan Downey 
 2023-03-22
 
 
  Popped into this shop to pass some time. Walked out with a sweet felt bunny, some swedish dish towels and a watering can. Lovely assortment of nature-themed gifts. Huge variety of bird feeding supplies. You need time to really see all the lovely things in this shop.
  
 
  
  
 
 
   Google rating score: 4.8 of 5, based on 75 reviews