supaflyryguy
Active Member
It's a bad pedestrian location and no amount of pretending it isn't will make it not.
- Thread starter Avenuer
- Start date
Out of Towner
Active Member
Not enough foot traffic for a food hall and the tables and chairs eliminated the supper crowd. Women don't want to sit on a bar stool in the middle of a floor for supper. Some leasehold improvements such as flooring, booths, softer lighting and the location should draw a restaurant crowd.
degrandprix
Active Member
Always thought the name was kind of dumb too..
kcantor
Senior Member
Unfortunately it will also take more than stairwell access to the second and third floor to successfully support a restaurant. While there is an elevator at the south end, it was poorly located and not well integrated by the developer into supporting food services on the upper floors.
Gronk!
Senior Member
EPIC co-founder focuses on better event bookings after food-hall closure
After getting sick of the friction involved in booking events, the co-founder of the shuttered EPIC Market has decided to develop a new software-based venture called Better Venu.
edmonton.taproot.news
EPIC is now involved in a legal dispute with Station Park owner Beljan Development. “The landlord made the decision to terminate the lease of its former tenant following repeated multiple defaults under the agreement, and following all contractual and required notice provisions,” says a statement from Station Park ownership.
Beljan plans to open a replacement for EPIC called Station Park Food Hall this spring.
Butterworth said back rent started piling up for EPIC immediately after it opened, which is why events became such a priority. The outdoor-mall format of Station Park is already challenging during Edmonton’s frigid winters, he said, when shoppers and diners want to park as close to the front door as possible. Nearby options at MKT Fresh Food and Beer Market and the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market did not move the needle on customer volume.
“Regardless of how much energy we put into that location, the crux of the situation is the site just doesn’t have enough walking traffic for 20-plus retail-style businesses to operate, which is the real issue at the end of the day,” Butterworth said in an email. “This is why we shifted a good deal of our operations to events, so I’m not sure what they’re going to do differently, but they have a bit of a hill to climb with that location.”
Butterworth said Station Park could follow the lead of other container park developments like BOXPARK in England, which has shifted focus from mall-like retail to experiential programming such as concerts, pop-up retail, and recreation.
Taproot has been able to confirm seven closures at Station Park, including EPIC. One of them is The Wish List Gifts, the first business to open at the development in December 2023.
Conversely, Cheese Louise opened at Station Park in January, and the Last Call vintage and thrift shop will host a grand opening on Feb. 7.
David A
Senior Member
The attractiveness of Whyte Ave, one of our few successful retail streets, is the store front is right on the street not set back. Here you have to walk through a meandering area of things that were not enticing enough to go in.
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It is also an odd or confusing mix of outside facing and inside things and yes particularly in winter people do not want to stay outside too long while they shop or browse. Maybe the concept works better in a bigger place with a milder climate, but I think it was the design, layout or the product offered, not lack of people in the area that is the main problem
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It is also an odd or confusing mix of outside facing and inside things and yes particularly in winter people do not want to stay outside too long while they shop or browse. Maybe the concept works better in a bigger place with a milder climate, but I think it was the design, layout or the product offered, not lack of people in the area that is the main problem
ADob
Active Member
I also really dislike the entrance under the shipping container, it is not welcoming; it looms. Plus crossing the wide, car-filled Gateway to reach it just doesn't work. It's too bad, we used to go to Wishlist all the time when it was in its old location. Here it required a concerted effort to get to.
constance_chlore
Senior Member
Honestly, if you're an able-bodied person who was raised in the Canadian prairies and you won't go somewhere unless you can park right next to the front door, I think less of you.
That said—not surprised by this closure at all, and I do think a food hall would work much better for the downtown office crowd.
SMayo
Active Member
It’s not all it’s going to take, but I’m sure it will help when is marketed as a FOOD hall and not an “epic” market haha
constance_chlore
Senior Member
Yeah, EPIC was a terrible name. Nobody wants a return to the epic narwhal bacon days of ca. 2011 Reddit, except maybe Elon Musk. (Why is this city so cringy sometimes?)
David A
Senior Member
Plenty of people go to Whyte Ave, despite the limited parking nearby. It's not that, it was just not enticing enough and yeah the EPIC name was not so great either.
FrankRizza
New Member
I think the most important factor in all of this was… very average food!
I went 3 different times and each time I felt like I paid a lot of amount of money for what I was getting. It’s a cool place and I think with better food options, hopefully does better.
I went 3 different times and each time I felt like I paid a lot of amount of money for what I was getting. It’s a cool place and I think with better food options, hopefully does better.
inclusion
Active Member
Wouldn't hurt them to have an anchor tenant either.
danimori
Active Member
Plus from my understanding all the restaurant’s menus are by the same person, so it wasn’t really a food hall but an inconvenient restaurant with a large, mediocre menu
David A
Senior Member
Yes, if there was some popular, well known food place like Earls or Keg here, that would draw a lot of people in itself and would actually make some sense given the prominent location.