Alex Cuba's small town hideaway offers 'good coffee, good talks and good laughs'

This week's edition of My B.C. Hideaway comes with a warning: readers contemplating visiting this location may not ever want to make their way back home.

That's according to Juno award-winning singer Alex Cuba, who has been living in the small community of Smithers, B.C., since 2003.

The town of about 6,000 people is often a stop for travellers returning from a visit to Alaska.

"But they see the valley, and they fall in love with it," said Cuba, whose real name is AlexPuentes.

He isoriginally from a town near Havana, Cuba. Hemoved to Smithersafter his wife, Sarah,gave birth to their second child so they could be closer to her family for support while he's out on tour.

Alex Cuba finds success in small-town B.C.

9 years ago

Duration 7:11

Drake, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd -- they're all Canadians nominated for Grammies, but they're not the only northerners with that honour. Alex Cuba is a musician from Smithers, B.C. up for best Latin Pop album.

It was around that time he started to visit what he calls his favourite spot in B.C.: Mountain EagleBooks.

"It's like a hippy store.... They have great coffee, and great people go there," he said.

"I find myself going back there more and more every time I'm back in Smithers from the road."

In fact, Cuba says he enjoys it so much he sometimes goes there every day when he's home from touring.

The smallbusiness sells used books and various handmade goods, and boasts a small cafoffering what Cuba calls"good coffee, good talks and good laughs."

"I would describe it as a time capsule somehow time stops when you go there, and you just talk."

"That's the cool thing about that place, it's not about the view it's about people talking and telling their stories."

Cuba says the bookstore attracts a ragtag group of artists from diverse backgrounds that sometimes leave him feeling like his own afro is a little too clean-cut.

"And we all seem to like that place somehow,"he said.

He first started going there after meeting Janet Walford, who runs the store, at a festival he was playingin Smithers.

"She really likes music. She's a huge supporter of music in town," Cuba said.

Walford offered to sell his CDsand told Cuba about her store.

"This town has hugged me and opened its arms to me, so I'm comfortable everywhere here in Smithers, it's a beautiful place," he said.