Business is booming in Edmonton’s Ice District

After the NHL playoffs last spring, businesses in Edmonton’s ice district saw some fans stick around, and even come back to shop. MDRN (Modern) Measure is a custom suit retail store that opened in Ice District last summer and has seen an increase in business due to foot traffic.

“It is too early to tell, but we did underestimate the traffic in this area so that’s been really good for us,” said the co-owner, Jared Berry. “I would say it has benefitted being in the ice district. Especially with the plaza being finished. In the summer there were always events going on or city hall that drew people to the area.”

Jared says that events in the summer and hockey in the winter provide a consistent draw of customers who walk by, leading to consumers returning when there isn’t an event. The co-owner said, “That’s one reason we wanted to be in this area because there are constantly people walking by and noticing the store.”

A recent analysis from NAI Commercial shows that vacancy numbers have increased in the downtown core.

In the analysis it states:

Edmonton’s downtown core continues to witness a worsening occupancy problem, with a new all-time office vacancy high of 11.7 per cent – up from the previous high of 11.2 per cent set in Quarter 2 of 2022.

That increased vacancy comes even with a decrease of more than 370,000 total square feet in the market, and despite lowered asking rental rate of $35.18 per square foot.

Alex Hryciw is the chair for the Downtown Recovery Coalition, an organization looking to revitalize and progress the Edmonton City Centre. She believes that “the next real wave of transformation will come from residential development.”

Through residential, businesses will be able to remain open, as there will be a consistent amount of traffic, something that is lacking from empty offices. “We’re really looking for ways and policies that enable that residential development so we can bring back that sustained vibrancy that downtown is used to having.”

When asked if the vacancy is caused by COVID, Hryciw doesn’t believe it directly impacted the numbers. She said, “I wouldn’t say the pandemic has impacted small businesses, but the impacts of the amount of exits from office workers downtown, for example, have had that impact.”

For now, MDRN Measure believes that they are in the right place at the right time. The owner hopes Ice District continues to grow and become the future of downtown Edmonton.

“We’re just super excited. We see this as the future of downtown, we want to be part of it. We fought very hard to get into this location and we see the promise of this area of downtown being the hottest area to be.”