In 2025, a mother and her daughter began selling books from a small truck. On the first weekend of October 2026 they opened a shop. Meant Well Books now has a door at 2534 Estevan Avenue, and Oak Bay Local picked it for a Thanksgiving wander.
A bookshop moving off wheels and into a storefront is a small event. On Estevan it repeats something older. The village exists because a transit line brought people to this corner of Oak Bay, and the businesses that last here have tended to be run by people who came along a route and decided to stay. The newest shop follows that pattern. It also opened in the calm between two phases of underground work on Estevan Avenue, and the second phase reaches the edge of the village next year.
A truck, then an address
Meant Well Books began as a mobile operation and has now settled into one fixed spot in Estevan Village. Its events page says the shop opened the first weekend of October 2026. For the first month it is open weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with more hours planned once it settles in. Day-of changes are posted to the shop's Instagram.
The shop started hosting events almost right away. Oak Bay Local reported an after-hours book tasting on Oct. 17 that paired five mystery books with five B.C. wines and gave guests clues for guessing each title. The event sold out before the date arrived.
The same issue suggested pairing a visit to the new shop with a walk down to Willows. That route shows how the village fits together. The shops sit on a short commercial block, and the beach is close enough that one outing covers both.
The corner that set the pattern
At the Dunlevy end of the block, the history of the Willows Galley building explains the village. In the fall 2025 edition of Tweed, republished by Victoria News, the story starts in 1913. Uplands Limited helped fund an extension of the streetcar line from downtown Victoria, and the new Uplands line ran along Cadboro Bay Road and Dalhousie and Dunlevy streets. Entrepreneurs bought lots near the line, and Estevan Village grew up gradually, modeled after a traditional English high street.
The corner building at 2559 Estevan has changed hands several times in the near-century since, and the same article traces each step:
- 1926. Mary Fairclough received building permits for a house and an adjacent store at 2567 and 2559 Estevan Avenue.
- 1927 to 1949. She ran Estevan Grocery as a general store. The streetcar passed in front on Dunlevy Street several times a day.
- 1950 to 1965. Stanley and Doris Watson ran it as Watson's Grocery and Confectionary.
- 1965. Tenants opened Estevan Fish and Chips.
- April 17, 1980. Glen Harper, who had bought both lots, opened the Willows Galley.
- 2011. Dave Higgins became proprietor. He first worked at the Galley as a 12-year-old in the kitchen, hired by Harper.
The Galley's continuity comes from that handoff. Higgins learned the business doing dishes, peeling potatoes and making chips before he moved to the grill. In the Victoria News piece he describes what he took from his first employer:
"The foundation of the Galley is Glen and it's the kind of neighbourhood place where people feel welcomed and just want to come in and sit and chat."
Some of the details inside go back to the first day. Harper told Victoria News that he forgot to lock the front door before opening. Someone helped themselves to two small cones and left a note with a dollar bill. He framed the bill, and it still hangs on the wall. The carved wooden galleon on the side of the building was salvaged from an apartment block slated for demolition.
The Galley got here the same way Meant Well Books did, by arriving at a corner people already passed and staying.
A decade at 2509
Two doors down the timeline, Ruth & Dean shows the same pattern from a more recent start. According to the business itself, its original location on Douglas Street opened in September 2015. CHEK News visited the luncheonette and bakery at 2509 Estevan Avenue in September 2025 as it celebrated ten years in business.
Ruth & Dean also came to Estevan from somewhere else and built a following here. The block has always worked that way. It doesn't run on chains or large anchors. It runs on small operators who settled in, and on owners like the Galley's who hand the place on to someone they trained.
The quiet between two digs
This fall is a good time for an unhurried visit because the street is between construction phases. The District of Oak Bay's Estevan Utilities Project replaces water and storm mains along with sanitary sewer, and adds an outfall at Willows Beach. As of the District's July 2026 update, the two phases stand like this:
| Phase | Where the work runs | Status as of July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Phase One | Estevan from Willows Beach to Heron; Lincoln Road from Estevan to Burdick; Willows Beach outfall | Completed early 2026 |
| Willows Beach finishing work | Seawall and walkway at the beach | Still in planning |
| Phase Two | Estevan from Heron to Musgrave; Musgrave from Estevan to Dufferin | Scheduled for 2027, tentatively four to six months |
The timeline has already moved once. A February 9, 2026 staff report to Council said the phases were originally planned for 2025 and 2026, and the District's project page had placed Phase Two later in 2026 before the July update set it for 2027.
Phase Two's location matters for the village. The District's 2025 Official Community Plan describes Estevan Village as the stretch between Musgrave and Dunlevy. Phase Two stops at Musgrave, and the February staff report says it includes work at the Estevan, Musgrave and Thompson intersection. So the published scope comes up to the village's Musgrave boundary without running along the shopfront block toward Dunlevy. The report doesn't give block-by-block work limits. It explains that bundling the Musgrave work into the same phase keeps neighborhood disruption down.
At the beach end, the February report describes the finishing work: an extension of the retaining wall with a viewing platform, public seating, and a ramp to replace the beach stairs. The design was still being finalized then. An April update had expected the work that summer, but by July staff were still planning it. The report lists the District's engagement level as "inform," with updates going out through the District website, social media and project signage.
For now, the stretch from Meant Well Books to the Galley corner and down to the sand runs between one finished phase and the next. A new shop opening in that window gets a season of open sidewalks before next year's work arrives at Musgrave.
Two more dates before the holidays
Beyond Estevan, Oak Bay's fall calendar centers on Monterey Recreation Centre. The District's events calendar lists:
- Saturday, October 24: the Friends of Monterey Centre Society Bazaar, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- November 21: a Local Makers' Holiday Pop-up Market in the Monterey lobby and Garry Oak Room.
Both suit the same kind of afternoon as a stop at a new bookshop: small, local and close to home. Meant Well's weekend hours make Saturday the easiest day to combine the bazaar with a browse on Estevan, and the shop's Instagram will have any changes before you head out.
If you live near Estevan Village or are weighing a move closer to Willows, we're always glad to talk about the area street by street, including what the 2027 work at Musgrave may mean for the blocks around it. FarupScott Group can talk it through with you whenever the time is right. Connect With Us.
