Grants attract three indie retailers to downtown Edmonton
A market for socially responsible brands, a brewery, and a combination furniture-store-bakery-and-florist will set up shop downtown with the help of a grant administered by the Edmonton Downtown Business Association.
Good Goods Co., The Growlery, and Consign Design are the first recipients of the Downtown Retail Project grant, Puneeta McBryan announced at the annual EDBA fall luncheon on Oct. 12.
"We were really excited to participate in the revitalization of the downtown core," said Aga Wajda-Plytta, co-founder of Good Goods Co. "We're very much community-driven, and we feel like sometimes downtown doesn't get the same attention from a community aspect."
Downtown vibrancy is good for everyone, added co-founder Nina Karpoff. "Your city core needs to be part of the strength of the city and being a part of that effort is a really exciting opportunity for us," she said.
Good Goods sells products online and has a pop-up store in the Manulife building until the end of the year. The founders said they are hoping the new brick-and-mortar space will open in February 2024 and will announce the location soon.
"Good Goods stood out immediately because they clearly have latched onto almost a cult following," said McBryan, the executive director of the EDBA. "(Their customers) will go wherever that retailer locates. … That is exactly the kind of influx of foot traffic and customers that we're hoping for."
The Growlery, which has a brewery and taproom near Blatchford, will open a new brewery downtown. Consign Design, which has a storefront at 11474 149 Street NW, will be opening a new project called Obj3cts to serve as a place to browse curated furniture, housewares, coffee, baked goods, and flowers.
Those three businesses, plus three more to be announced at a later date, will each receive $212,000 plus $38,000 worth of marketing support and business consulting from students at the Alberta School of Business. The businesses must stay in the core for at least 18 months to qualify, McBryan said.
"All of them are signing three- to five-year leases, so that's a huge win in and of itself," she added. "We want retailers who are wanting to come downtown and be in it for the long haul and add to the fabric of downtown."
The Downtown Edmonton Streetfront Retail Report, which was released at the luncheon, found that 33% of street-oriented storefronts downtown are vacant.
