Kopas Store

Cliff Kopas, originally from Alberta, opened Kopas' Store in 1937. He "discovered" the Bella Coola Valley when he and his bride took a four-month horseback trek on the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail/Nuxalk-Carrier Grease Trail.
 
As well as establishing this dry goods store, which is now run by his daughter Rene Morton and her husband John, Cliff Kopas was an incredible photographer. Between 1933 and 1956 he took thousands of black and white photographs of the Valley, switching to colour photos after that. During the 1940s and '50s, Cliff Kopas also wrote magazine articles about the region and its occupants in a magazine called the Cariboo Digest, which was the forerunner of BC Outdoors magazine. During the building of the Freedom Road, Kopas was chairman of the local committee in charge of construction.
 
An excellent history of the region is related in the book Bella Coola by Cliff Kopas (Heritage House -- ISBN 1-894384-44), first published in 1970. Also read Bella Coola Country (Illahee Publishing - ISBN 0-9732717-0-1) by his son Leslie Kopas, which displays many of his father's incredible photographs.
 
Kopas Store is located in the village of Bella Coola on the corner of Mackenzie and Dean Streets. It offers a wonderful folksy ambience along with a wide selection of BC books, Native jewellery and art, sporting goods, fishing licences, marine charts and maps, photography supplies, clothing, shoes and a selection of giftware.