CoproliteJan 25, 2024
Back when the #yegdtmarket was on 104 street, I would get to it maybe once or twice per month during the six months per year when it would exist. Moving it to the old GWG building and running it Sundays as well as Saturdays meant that I was going pretty much every week year-round, and it became a core part of my grocery shopping.
Show threadCoprolite

Unfortunately, the new location isn't exactly a very friendly place to walk, and the whole strategy of offering suburbanites free parking to coax them to drive downtown just never panned out.

Sure, they drove and filled that parking lot, but it turns out that a block of parking isn't really a match for being on the literal doorsteps of thousands. And the old GWG building apparently became very costly to operate in the winter after our provincial government pooed the bed on utility regulation.

Jan 25, 2024 at 4:16pmWeb
Show threadCoproliteJan 25, 2024

So the current #yegdtmarket association is declaring bankruptcy and ceasing operations.

Move it back to 104 street seems to be a common refrain, and it could work there for six months per year (hopefully more than once a week so one doesn't need to open on Saturday. But that will shortly be running up against construction for the Valley Line West.

Show threadCoproliteJan 25, 2024
Which, yeah, after that, it can go back to 104. Or it can try to work through the disruption while being dissected by a construction zone. There was a good synergy between the market and the local businesses, which just didn't exist at the GWG building, unless you count shitty Impark lots as business. Or there are other streets it can use, like perhaps 108 street, and after the new park is built, maybe one can be held there.
Show threadCoproliteJan 25, 2024
But all of these options would still only run for half of the year. It used to "move" into City Hall in the winter, but it basically ceased to be a farmers market at that point and had very little space in which to operate. It also didn't really have the synergy with the walkable street and the storefronts full of shops and restaurants.
Show threadCoproliteJan 25, 2024

While walking with my other half through downtown the other night, she actually had a very interesting suggestion: what about the dying mall?

Edmonton City Centre has been on a downward trajectory for the last few decades. Relying upon a strategy of getting suburbanites to drive in during short hours, while using security to interdict those pesky transit users, and locking all of their entrances except for one after the offices close hasn't exactly been a winning strategy.

Show threadCoproliteJan 25, 2024
It also recently lost two of its major anchor stores, both of which discovered that constantly pursuing greater levels of #enshittification wasn't a winning strategy. So now there's an entire two floor department store space just sitting empty on the west end of it. It now has LRT right on its doorstep, and it does face some decently walkable space.
Show threadKelly's Shenanigans 🇨🇦Jan 25, 2024
@Coprolite Bonnie Doon Mall has little pop ups and reduced rent for community groups, and as a result there's something interesting there to see all the time. The model trains, the RC car racing... when a mall wants to be welcoming and draw people in, it can. I wouldn't hold out much hope for City Centre Mall, I think they've proved they don't want to.
Show threadCoproliteJan 25, 2024
@Kellyshenanigans Yeah. Their big move on that front has been putting up some local art.
Show threaddragonfrogJan 25, 2024
@Coprolite Oh I've got a wild idea, what if 102 Ave in front of the mall were converted into an entire pedestrian space all the time?
Show threadMegJan 25, 2024
@Coprolite the old bay location would be an incredible space for something like that, but it seems like mall owners in Edmonton are ever keen to shoot themselves in the foot.
Show threadCoproliteJan 26, 2024
@megmac I've heard that their plan is to let the mall die out and redevelop it. But yeah, maybe spending decades destroying street facing shop space and herding what was left into the bowels of a few office towers with strictly controlled access was a mistake.
Show threadDarcy R 🇨🇦Jan 25, 2024

@Coprolite Huh, so the ton of academic research I've read that found that accessibility is more than just free parking might apply to Edmonton. Somewhere in SoCal, Donald Shoup is yelling, "I told you so!"

Hope they can find near a park, near a Valley Line stop, and just off a bike lane. And not just off a bike lane so merchants can park in it to unload, like at the Old Strathcona one. And also not so they can close the bike lane periodically like OS or every week like the 124 St one.

Show threadCoproliteJan 25, 2024

@geodarcy Probably would've worked better when Boyle Street looked more like this.

(And it did, since there was literally a market two blocks south at that point.)

Sadly, the neighbourhood didn't really benefit from the zeal to redevelop it during the 1960's-1980s, leading to the destruction and dispersal of Chinatown, and the elimination of business spaces for more sterile prestige projects.