Downtown Edmonton endures wave of closures as Greta and Bündok shut down

Downtown Edmonton's hospitality crisis deepened this week as two more established venues announced exits, signaling mounting pressures that industry leaders say the city must address.

Greta, the popular arcade bar on 109 Street just north of Jasper Avenue, will close July 26 after six years in operation. Days later, 104 Street eatery Bündok announced it is shutting down after nine years in business. Both join a recent string of departures including Kb&Co., Khazana, and Sunterra Market.

Chris DeCock, president and cofounder of the company behind Greta and other hospitality brands, broke from his usual silence about closures to speak publicly about the state of Edmonton's core. His company has contracted from a peak of eight locations to just three.

"We've got a brand like Greta that is just doing extraordinarily in every other market it's in," DeCock said. "We're even expanding Greta into Winnipeg." Yet in Edmonton, where he started his business and still lives, hospitality is struggling.

DeCock cited ongoing construction limiting access to the core, the lack of office workers returning downtown, rising taxes, patio fees, and paid parking as compounding factors. He called for the city to mandate office workers return full-time, prioritize construction on key access routes like bridges and the LRT line, and coordinate projects so they don't all impact hospitality corridors like Jasper Avenue simultaneously.

Comparatively, he said Calgary's decision-makers do a better job consulting with the business community on construction impacts. Though DeCock remains hopeful downtown can recover, he is taking his investments elsewhere for now.