1/3rd of downtown Edmonton storefronts empty: U of A study

A new study by the University of Alberta’s School of Business found 33 per cent of downtown Edmonton’s storefronts are sitting vacant.

The research was conducted to try and set a starting point for work to improve the city’s core.

“I think having that baseline of data and being able to expand upon it really shows us that when we pull this lever, this works, we pull this one, it doesn’t work,” explained the school’s executive director Heather Thomson.

“So we want to make sure that we’re investing our time and our resources into the right things. That data is a critical part of making successful decisions.”

Puneeta McBryan, executive director of the Downtown Business Association, said the 33 per cent vacancy rate isn’t unexpected.

“We built a lot of retail. So much of the new residential that’s gone up recently, so much of the office renovations that have happened added new street front retail spaces, and a lot of them weren’t filled.”

2:04 Nearly 90% of downtown Edmonton surface parking lots are illegal

Despite the data, some entrepreneurs are still looking to open up shop downtown.

“To some it may be daunting, to some it may be an opportunity. I think we see it as an opportunity to create community downtown,” said Aga Wajda-Plytta, co-founder of Good Goods.

Her company is one of six local businesses that have each been awarded $250,000 to launch new brick and mortar locations in the city’s core as part of a retail attraction program.

“We sell things from socially conscious brands from across Canada,” she explained.

Wajda-Plytta said Good Goods likely would have opened a brick and mortar location even without the grant money.

2:00 Crime, vandalism on Whyte Avenue spurs letter-writing campaign

“There was a lot of great vision that went into the downtown prior to COVID and I think we can all see that opportunity still exists. We just need to be part of the momentum that breathes life back into it,” explained Good Goods co-founder Nina Karpoff.

The grant is part of a retail attraction program launched by the Downtown Business Association, with money from the province and the city.

“Bringing in new businesses brings in more traffic and then you kind of have a little bit of a cycle. You have more businesses, there’s more traffic. There’s more traffic, so more businesses can open up. It just really helps to make the whole downtown feel vibrant, make it feel safe, and that’s a really big issue right now,” Thomson explained.

Two other businesses coming into downtown because of the grant include the Growlery Beer Co. and Consign Design.

5:21 Edmonton Mural Festival brings colour to the core

As a stipulation of the incentive, they must remain operational in the core for at least 18 months.

“We want retailers who are wanting to come downtown, and be in it for the long haul and add to the fabric of downtown,” explained McBryan.

She said a total of 32 eligible businesses applied for the support.

As for the study, the School of Business intends to collect it annually moving forward and also potentially expand the scope to track things like the square footage of vacant storefronts, or include businesses that don’t front the street.