Epick tells me multiple times that community is very important to The Storm Crow, but it’s clear The Storm Crow has also been very important to its community. “We get all of our stuff locally, all of our food. We even advertise for the local people. Elizabeth’s Bakery is literally on the other side of that wall and they make our bread. So when you eat food here it was made right there. East Van Bakery, they bring in our gluten-free buns and stuff like that, so it’s all right here, and that’s the best thing about it.”
Epick points out that The Storm Crow is actually a food primary establishment – meaning that you technically have to order food in order to drink, which is a distinction another similar bar in Vancouver known as EXP has found problematic. The difference is that EXP has focused its niche appeal on video games specifically. “Liquor laws prohibit the use of playing computer games and drinking at the same time, because that would make you an arcade and arcades aren’t allowed to have alcohol,” Epick explains.
While it’s not hard to spot all kinds of different reflections of nerd culture in The Storm Crow, it mostly stays away from electronic entertainment, preferring to base its aesthetic on physical paraphernalia like tabletop RPGs and pulp novels. This focus helps the bar maintain a very specific fantasy aesthetic that makes it feel like a medieval tavern where Dovakhiin and Dunedain alike come to share rumours of dangerous lands. “We’re unique in that our theme is unique, which is weird because a lot of our clientele are English or Australian or Irish. They come here and they get that classic pub feel, and that’s what they want.”
In the year that The Storm Crow has been open, the staff has seen nerds and lay-folk alike come to call the cozy bar home. “The classic thing is couples,” Epick says. He gestures over to a shelf full of board games patrons can use. “You’ll get one person in a pair who’s like ‘oh I love this board game,’ and the other person’s like ‘oh I’ve never really played much board games,’ and they come in here a couple times and all of a sudden they love board games.”
Suddenly, I hear the door chime, and for a moment I half expect a hobbit to walk in before the rumble of a car motor outside snaps me back into reality. Epick gets up and approaches a woman who is already beginning to undo her scarf at the entrance. “We don’t actually open until four,” Epick explains. They have a quick conversation and Epick comes back to join me. “That’s actually the biggest problem,” Epick says. “People can’t read signs.” I laugh, but Epick soon informs me that the biggest real problem The Storm Crow faced during its first year was actually too many people wanting to come to the bar.
“What we know we need is more seats. Because we’re so busy, there’s so many people who just don’t get in here in a week, we know that there’s just a certain percentage of those people who just aren’t coming back because they can’t get in.”
It’s not a bad problem to have really, and Epick knows how to spot one. “I’ve been in hospitality for thirteen years, I’ve worked everywhere in the city from BC Place, UBC, Canada Place, every hotel, I’ve served Prime Ministers, Premiers, I’ve worked in everything from KFC to posh retirement homes,” he says. But it’s at The Storm Crow where Epick feels most comfortable.
“Since I started working here one of the things that I started saying is that I LARP life,” he says, referring to live-action roleplaying, or LARPing, which is sort of like a kind of historical re-enactment for fiction. “These are my muggle clothes. Normally I design and make custom kilts, and for me, being able to be in a place where I feel comfortable, I can dress how I like, be how I like, that’s the best thing about The Storm Crow.”
The Storm Crow is going into its second year as one of the city’s most popular new bars. It’s a community, it’s a place to eat and drink, and it’s a place to play games, but to Epick it’s something like a portal to a different world. “You’re travelling along and there’s a town up ahead. You walk into the town and there’s a tavern. You walk into the tavern, and you can sit down at any table and you can get a story. People come here to step into their fantasies.”
