Liquor store on Jasper Avenue has lost $200,000 in sales due to construction
Value Liquor Hub owner says ongoing Imagine Jasper Avenue project is threatening his business, sparking renewed debate over compensation.
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A liquor store near Jasper Avenue and 121 Street has lost approximately $200,000 in sales over the past three months due to ongoing construction, the owner says.
Kanwarpreet Singh Chatrath, who owns Value Liquor Hub, compares this year's figures to 2025 sales and warns he may need to take out another mortgage on his house to keep the business afloat. The Imagine Jasper Avenue project has reduced traffic to one lane in each direction and erected barriers that hide businesses from the street.
The work in the 121 Street area, which includes moving utility lines, is expected to continue until snow falls. "If it lasts until the fall, then I fall," Chatrath said. For the first time in eight years, he has asked his landlord for rent relief.
Chatrath is the second Edmonton business owner to publicly describe severe losses from major civic construction. Days earlier, owners of Khazana Restaurant announced they were closing after LRT and O'Day-Min Park construction projects devastated their sales.
The complaints have renewed calls from city council for formal compensation programs. Ward O'Day-Min Councillor Anne Stevenenson said it was time to revive the debate on whether the city should provide relief to businesses grossly impacted by major civic projects.
Chatrath says the city should compensate affected businesses and better manage construction timelines — suggesting block-by-block work sequences that would allow all resources to focus on one area and minimize disruption to merchants. "They took our livelihood," he said.