Not one, not two — but at least six restaurants have closed in Edmonton’s downtown since the beginning of June.
Restaurateurs like Maheik Bhasin are warning others of the alarming trend.
“The cost of running this beautiful restaurant is not easy,” she said.
Bhasin was the former operations manager of Khazana, an Indian restaurant on 107 Street near 102 Avenue that had been a staple in downtown for 28 years.
But in June, it shut down for good.
Bhasin points to years of being surrounded by construction projects — O-day’min Park directly to the south and bike lanes and the Valley Line West LRT on 102 Avenue to the north — as the main reason.
Her once-bustling restaurant became blocked off to vehicle access and Bhasin said the pedestrian detours were confusing to navigate.
“The whole planning, or lack of planning, needs to be revisited,” she explained.
There weren’t many people coming through the door and she said the restaurant was losing money.
“We used our savings to entertain city projects.”
Khazana was one of the first restaurants this summer to announce its closure.
Since then, at least five other downtown restaurants announced they’ll also be shutting their doors for good: Greta bar, kb&co, Kommune, Bündok and PlayWright.
“Our downtown is very sad. It’s really discouraging to see. It looks like a ghost town,” Bhasin said.
Greta owner Chris Decock announced the arcade bar on 109 Street near Jasper Avenue will close on Sunday.
Decock, who also co-owns Hudsons Canada’s Pub, penned a letter explaining multiple problems combined make it challenging to operate in the city’s core.
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“No single decision brought us here. It wasn’t one tax increase. It wasn’t patio fees. It wasn’t paid parking. It wasn’t hybrid work. It wasn’t safety. It wasn’t one construction project,” he wrote.
“It was death by a thousand cuts. Year after year, decision after decision, operating downtown became a little harder and investing there became a little riskier.”
The Downtown Revitalization Coalition says, on top of Decock’s list, downtown safety remains a concern and deters people from coming. So to does construction for the Valley Line LRT and various road work projects.
It’s something coalition executive committee member Cheryll Watson said she’s warned the city for years, and says now we’re seeing the repercussions.
“Right now, we have businesses that have their access impacted for months — if not years,” Watson said.
“How do you survive in that situation?”
She points to the organization’s list of recommendations released in April as part of the solution.
Some of the recommendations include integrating transit and peace officers into the Edmonton Police Service, consistent and visible deployment of officers in high-priority areas, establishing a 24-hour stabilization and transfer facility for crisis response, and establishing response time standards and improving performance tracking.
She, like Bhasin, is also calling for better construction project planning.
“The areas of impact need to be smaller. They need to move in segmented construction management style,” Watson suggested.
Watson says restaurants are the first to feel the impacts and believes the difficult conditions could trickle down to other businesses.
“This is not just a restaurant issue. This is a broader issue.
“We have an economic crisis downtown.”
Tom Girvan, the City of Edmonton’s director of downtown economy, said it is difficult to see local businesses close but adds every business has its own unique circumstances and it wouldn’t be appropriate to speculate.
“The city has provided millions of dollars to businesses and organizations to support and encourage private investments in downtown businesses, buildings and events to increase economic activity,” Girvan said in a statement.
“This includes the Downtown Action Plan Fund, which will invest $3 million in 2026 into community-led projects that increase interest in and demand for downtown, as well as the Downtown Vibrancy Fund, which provided over $14 million to 126 projects to support vibrancy efforts between 2022 and 2024.”
He went on to say that since 2015, the city has spent more than $4.7 billion in downtown development and more than seven million square feet of new buildings for residential, office, cultural, educational, and entertainment purposes have been constructed or are under development.
“This type of development and growth helps encourage events, festivals and activities which are designed to bring more people to our downtown core and increase feelings of safety and vibrancy,” Girvan said.
Bhasin, however, is left discouraged.
“It feels like nobody cares here. And at this point, why would people want to live in Edmonton?” she said.
She hopes the city revisits how it plans projects so that no more businesses go under.
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