Saskatoon | Restaurants, Pubs & Retail

[Wyku]

Nice! That was my guess as soon as I saw the first construction fences going up.

[Dino35]

UNA is building their second location across from the Keg in Brighton. Their IG post states an outdoor patio and private second floor event space. That makes three pizza places all within spitting distance of each other (Pico, Family pizza and UNA). Although I hardly ever see anyone in pico so I’m not sure how much longer they will be around.

[thenetstud]

The Stoked Centre is nearing opening of a 10-pin bowling alley and Kitchen & Bar area according to their Facebook page. Someone in the comments mentioned a large arcade opening as well. Love what they have been doing out there.

[Wyku]

Originally Posted by thenetstud

The Stoked Centre is nearing opening of a 10-pin bowling alley and Kitchen & Bar area according to their Facebook page. Someone in the comments mentioned a large arcade opening as well. Love what they have been doing out there.

Nice! Looks like they're going for a Rec Room style setup which should be fun.

[Wyku]

Both Seoul and Leyda's on 20th St have announced their closures. I personally wasn't a fan of Leyda's (I appreciate they catered to a certain demographic though), but Seoul was great especially their delicious Korean fried chicken--they'll be missed!

[Echoes]

Apparently the owners of Primal (and the late great Hollows) will be opening a new restaurant where Seoul was located.

The Congress group is behind something opening in the old Broadway Starbucks.

[prairieguy]

Saw in news today that Roxy Theatre is for sale. Man.....I so hope that whoever buys that building has some creative plans to use and maintain it as it is! It not just a piece of heritage for Saskatoon but for Canada as one of the few remaining theatres from its era.

I have no idea how its current business model is working, but maybe tryinhg to use it as a venue beyond movies, live theatre and music performances....like renting out for weddings, conferences, etc.???? Any ideas????

[Crisis]

We actually went to a wedding at the Roxy about 3 years ago. It was a nice change from the everyday. Princess Bride played while the wedding party was off getting photos taken.

[tenraptors]

I've heard from a couple of people that the Extra Foods on Broadway is closing in April. Has anyone else heard this that's able to confirm and/or know what's going to happen to that space?

[tenraptors]

Originally Posted by tenraptors

I've heard from a couple of people that the Extra Foods on Broadway is closing in April. Has anyone else heard this that's able to confirm and/or know what's going to happen to that space?

As a follow-up, I spoke to the supervisor who confirmed that they’re shutting down on April 23rd and tearing the building down.

[prairieguy]

Re: Broadway Extra Foods
That is terrible news!!! Just as this area is increasing its density significantly, we will be left without a grocery provider. I hope that the replacement will be a grocery/market of some kind but have my doubts...just too hard to compete with large grocery outlets. 🞵🞵🞵🞵!

[phone]

That is such disappointing news. But I choose to take it with a glimmer of hope -- the Baydo building has commercial space that looks to be just the right shape and size for a smaller format grocery store. Maybe (maybe!) Loblaw is considering leasing that space and opening a somewhat equivalent location? But in any case, I will miss the old-fashioned Extra Foods. Was just saying the other day what a cool time capsule that place is, with the old freezers and rotating check-out counters. I'm sure something interesting will go on that site though, vacant lots don't tend to last long on Broadway these days (other than the Highpointe site, but that suffered from poor timing with the pandemic).

[mitchellk12]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

Re: Broadway Extra Foods
That is terrible news!!! Just as this area is increasing its density significantly, we will be left without a grocery provider. I hope that the replacement will be a grocery/market of some kind but have my doubts...just too hard to compete with large grocery outlets. 🞵🞵🞵🞵!

As someone who used to work for this company for 10 years, I can understand the frustration in the community and yourself. However; it's a great thing.

the store is outdated, working in that store was tough. It's an old belt driven system where it's fed from the basement to upstairs, and to get a case of vinegar or cabbage from the truck to the shelf or from downstairs to the counter, was 5x the work than a regular store. It killed your body. Let alone the old building code that's terribly outdated, storage issues for the overstock thats under no control, those old asbestos issues,Tryng to get semis in and out behind that store, I can go on.... it's for the staff too. Even though the jobs will be lost, it sucked a lot of energy to work in that store.

Mind you not all was negative, it's a store that had a unique feeling, and the community was very accepting compared to others in the city from other stores I worked at. some of the staff there had outstanding performance, and were really connected to the store, staff and community. Even what I said with those issues actually made the store unique in itself because there isn't many stores as such around anymore.

that being said , loblaws owns that lot-parcel I believe. so they have an opportunity to build a new store , possibly with some condos on top. If those have been to Vancouver or Toronto, you might have seen the 'loblaws city market' style store. For broadway, it's a perfect fit for the community and company.

When and if that would even happen, that's the question we're all wondering.

As I said, I feel for the community because your local store is gone. But for someone who had to experience working there, I'm glad that wrecking ball will be put through it. There needs to be a nice shiny store for the community.

[roryn1]

I sure hope you’re right that Baydo gets the new grocer.. that would be epic! Maybe it would be a small concept grocer similar to Trader Joe’s amazingness in the US. Maybe they’ll also open at Baydo’s city park space - the mini grocers around 25th/5th seem to do pretty well.



Can dream things that are very easily reality in other centers

[tenraptors]

When Loblaws closed the Shop Easy in City Park they sold the land and included a restrictive covenant in the deal, prohibiting another grocer from opening in that space so hopefully this isn't a repeat. I lived in City Park when that happened and it was one of the deciding factors to move out of the area. Fingers crossed that this is ends on a positive note for the core.

[mitchellk12]

Originally Posted by tenraptors

When Loblaws closed the Shop Easy in City Park they sold the land and included a restrictive covenant in the deal, prohibiting another grocer from opening in that space so hopefully this isn't a repeat. I lived in City Park when that happened and it was one of the deciding factors to move out of the area. Fingers crossed that this is ends on a positive note for the core.

I think with a parcel like this one, it would be absolutely stupid for loblaws to sell it off. It's location is a gold mine.

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by tenraptors

When Loblaws closed the Shop Easy in City Park they sold the land and included a restrictive covenant in the deal, prohibiting another grocer from opening in that space so hopefully this isn't a repeat. I lived in City Park when that happened and it was one of the deciding factors to move out of the area. Fingers crossed that this is ends on a positive note for the core.

Prohibiting food from being sold in any center sounds illegal. Hopefully the city can block any/lobby feds or provincial gov to change that type of non-compete

[mitchellk12]

Originally Posted by tenraptors

When Loblaws closed the Shop Easy in City Park they sold the land and included a restrictive covenant in the deal, prohibiting another grocer from opening in that space so hopefully this isn't a repeat. I lived in City Park when that happened and it was one of the deciding factors to move out of the area. Fingers crossed that this is ends on a positive note for the core.

I'm not sure if this could be a reason, but back a few years ago, loblaws wanted to do a pilot project with Shoppers drug mart with offering more of a fresh variety- such as meats, produce and deli, and not just the pre packaged stuff. That being said, I think only one store in Regina ( aside from Toronto) was tested and didn't do well from what I heard. In my opinion you can't base that off of one store, because another shoppers manager I know was talking to me about how well the midtown shoppers and 7th Ave shoppers would do if it were renovated into offering those extra departments- which would take care of those inner grocery stores. Back to my point is that possibly the reason they put that covenant in the deal to prohibit another grocer , is that because they wanted to renovate that shoppers to be that neighborhood grocer.

But, that didn't happen. It actually would've done well for City Park and downtown.

I know no frills plans on building hundreds of more stores throughout Canada in the next decade, and not just big box ones. They could be these little inner neighborhood locations too.

[hunter12]

It would be great to see the Pitchfork Market, or another similar business, move to Broadway and/or downtown. They are a local business that sources lots of local products (Pine view farms is one example).

We go to their location near the east Costco. They have some great weekly sales and we find their prices to be the same or better than Sobeys and Coop.

Here is a link to their website: https://www.pitchforkmarket.ca/

It is grocers like Pitchfork Market who we want in the Broadway area. Local businesses who source some local products.

I say the hell with the likes of Loblaws.

[roryn1]

Downtown resident here - my monthly Amazon “subscribe and save” box came straight to my door this week with everything I’d get at a grocer but fresh produce - straight to my door (so nice not having to lug groceries around) - if u batch 5+ items you get it 15% off, and prices are exact same as Walmart. My fresh produce comes delivered from Inspired Go, a new Calgary based vertical farming startup that does pre-packaged salads and fruits with longer shelf life than Loblaws produce. It’s slightly more expensive than typical grocer produce, but since it’s vertically farmed in Canada the shelf life is longer.

Time to start thinking about core grocers very differently.. I see no real need for them. I barely go to the grocer downstairs of my building that offers fresh produce, toiletries, and all the sauces you would ever need.

I’d still like one though, but consumer habits are changing fast enough to not require it.