Edmonton and the play for post-secondary educational relevance

[scyeg]

Edmonton has been singled out as the best City to try out expansion plans for U.S. eateries -- e.g. California Pizza and its sole Canadian location in Windermere. Chipotle has one location in Alberta in Calgary with expansion plans that include Edmonton. Which Wich is going international in 2024 (including Canada). Panera has locations in Eastern Canada looking to expand westward. Dunkin' Donuts ceded to Tim Horton's in 2018. Subway has 3 locations in Edmonton. Chick-fil-A is coming to Edmonton in 2024. Starbucks has 3 locations in Edmonton. Insomnia Cookies has one location in Canada at York University looking to expand across the country. Jimmy John's has no Canadian presence. Edmonton has 3 Taco Bell locations. Black Angus does not have an Edmonton Location. TGI Fridays does not have an Edmonton Location. P.F. Chang's has a location in Windermere. Jersey Mike's has locations in Ontario with expansion plans westward. That hardly accounts for 2/3 of the restaurants listed being "a snowball chance in Hell" of coming to Edmonton. Apart from that the study by Ms. Zolotorofe was of food locations at U.S. campuses and I did say that there would be comparable Canadian alternatives. Whose to say what possibilities there would be 15 years hence. @MacLac I don't get your negative inferences -- I had always thought better of you. Canada has its own brands that stack up favorably against U.S. counterparts so in a complete understanding of my general point, transfer in names that appeal to you at will.

What am I missing here? There are a lot more than 3 Subway and Starbucks locations in Edmonton. Are you talking about corporate-owned locations only?

 

[MacLac]

Edmonton has been singled out as the best City to try out expansion plans for U.S. eateries -- e.g. California Pizza and its sole Canadian location in Windermere. Chipotle has one location in Alberta in Calgary with expansion plans that include Edmonton. Which Wich is going international in 2024 (including Canada). Panera has locations in Eastern Canada looking to expand westward. Dunkin' Donuts ceded to Tim Horton's in 2018. Subway has 3 locations in Edmonton. Chick-fil-A is coming to Edmonton in 2024. Starbucks has 3 locations in Edmonton. Insomnia Cookies has one location in Canada at York University looking to expand across the country. Jimmy John's has no Canadian presence. Edmonton has 3 Taco Bell locations. Black Angus does not have an Edmonton Location. TGI Fridays does not have an Edmonton Location. P.F. Chang's has a location in Windermere. Jersey Mike's has locations in Ontario with expansion plans westward. That hardly accounts for 2/3 of the restaurants listed being "a snowball chance in Hell" of coming to Edmonton. Apart from that the study by Ms. Zolotorofe was of food locations at U.S. campuses and I did say that there would be comparable Canadian alternatives. Whose to say what possibilities there would be 15 years hence. @MacLac I don't get your negative inferences -- I had always thought better of you. Canada has its own brands that stack up favorably against U.S. counterparts so in a complete understanding of my general point, transfer in names that appeal to you

Edmonton has been singled out as the best City to try out expansion plans for U.S. eateries -- e.g. California Pizza and its sole Canadian location in Windermere. Chipotle has one location in Alberta in Calgary with expansion plans that include Edmonton. Which Wich is going international in 2024 (including Canada). Panera has locations in Eastern Canada looking to expand westward. Dunkin' Donuts ceded to Tim Horton's in 2018. Subway has 3 locations in Edmonton. Chick-fil-A is coming to Edmonton in 2024. Starbucks has 3 locations in Edmonton. Insomnia Cookies has one location in Canada at York University looking to expand across the country. Jimmy John's has no Canadian presence. Edmonton has 3 Taco Bell locations. Black Angus does not have an Edmonton Location. TGI Fridays does not have an Edmonton Location. P.F. Chang's has a location in Windermere. Jersey Mike's has locations in Ontario with expansion plans westward. That hardly accounts for 2/3 of the restaurants listed being "a snowball chance in Hell" of coming to Edmonton. Apart from that the study by Ms. Zolotorofe was of food locations at U.S. campuses and I did say that there would be comparable Canadian alternatives. Whose to say what possibilities there would be 15 years hence. @MacLac I don't get your negative inferences -- I had always thought better of you. Canada has its own brands that stack up favorably against U.S. counterparts so in a complete understanding of my general point, transfer in names that appeal to you at will.

Awww geez....I wasn't trying to sound negative at all. I am a staunch supporter and firm believer that US restaurant chains "get it right." I'll go on record that - YES - I wish we could have all of those restaurants up here and them some....ever heard of "CAVA?" A Spanish version of Chipotle - is growing exponentially! 1.) Panera - dying concept - losing market share in the US - don't see them expanding West. 2.) Chick-fil-A - great! Yes indeed it would be nice having them here.. 3.) Insomnia cookies - nothing proprietary about "cookies," lots of different doughnut and cookie chains out there. 4.) Jimmy Johns - no CAN presence - too bad...they're delicious. 5.) Jersey Mike's - personal fav - had them 4 days in a row in Vegas 2 months ago. We NEED them here NOW! 6.) TGI Fridays - ever since they sued the proprietors of Maxwell Taylor's in the 80's accusing them of stealing their concept....never in EDM for sure...lol. Plus they are absolutely the worst restaurant on the planet. PF Changs and Cali Pizza Kitchen - yes - but are they the right crowd for a University? Never seen them around a campus before. Don't forget we're getting Firehouse Subs here quickly - I saw that they are opening up 1 in Airdrie at the moment - but have been told we'll see tons of them here before too long. Or how about Earl of Sandwich - they should be able to capitalize on the Uni crowd.

 

[archited]

But surely there are more Starbucks locations

I just picked them off of the Edmonton Map from a google search -- so maybe I should have said there were at least 3 Starbucks. Personally I refuse to frequent Starbucks and Walmart so it certainly wasn't from personal experience.

 

[archited]

@MacLac I was listing U.S. quick-service and sit-in dining locations from a study done by a noted market expert re chains that are found on or near college campuses -- these were not my random choices; in fact many of them I have no personal experience with.

 

[archited]

I am going to post this in 3 locations (thanks 'O for the precedent), relevant to the MacU expansion, a downtown impetus for accelerated development, and additional oomph for both the CFL in general and the Edmonton Elks specifically. This location for a new stadium has a series of positives:
-- incentivize central Edmonton Development (on steroids); transitional as the ICE District has proven/is proving to be.
-- brings massive crowds to the centre of the City supporting both Retail and Hospitality growth.
-- boosts interest in the Elks helping to prop up attendance locally and creating promotional interest in the CFL
-- increases opportunity for a professional Soccer team franchise (could happen concurrently with the announcement of a new stadium build-out)
-- provides an athletic venue for Track and Field and International competitions
-- provides a Sports Venue for MacU and for NorQuest college students (similar to Rogers Place arena).
-- in its build-out can provide a world class venue for major concert venues (year-round)
-- puts Edmonton on the map (once again) as a major sports venue
-- enables the repurposing of Commonwealth Stadium as a specialized Winter and Summer X-games venue with build-out of infrastructure that promotes that end, making it the World premier venue for X-games (a win:win solution)

 

[NateTheUrbanist]

Classic 'college towns' are smaller in population with the populations of students being incredibly significant economic drivers with school-time populations at 20-30-40-50% of the town's populations.

It would be nice to see Vermillion and Athabasca become more fleshed out and become more "traditional" College towns.

 

[Yeggy]

It would be nice to see Vermillion and Athabasca become more fleshed out and become more "traditional" College towns.

Why? what services are there? What draw? What self respecting educated person wants to subject themselves to isolated rural Alberta.

i grew up in a town of 5000, in central Alberta… what a horrid place. I’d hate to subject any poc to that ignorance.

 

[archited]

Athabasca U is an online (largely) post-secondary institution -- one of the best in the world in my opinion -- so I don't see how it would be supported by students at the local level to make the town of Athabasca a "College Town", not withstanding that it has major infrastructure there.

 

[Gronk!]

We've done plenty of work for Lakeland College. AFAIK none of us have ever made the 2 hr drive to Vermillion.

 

[David A]

It would be nice to see Vermillion and Athabasca become more fleshed out and become more "traditional" College towns.

While they have some impact, it is mostly economic and otherwise limited. The educational institutions there are fairly small and particularly with Athabasca University the on line model does not boost the number of students locally.

There are various other educational institutions in rural locations, but many are vocational or focused on specific programs or groups, they are not bigger institutions or liberal arts universities.

 

[NateTheUrbanist]

Why? what services are there? What draw? What self respecting educated person wants to subject themselves to isolated rural Alberta.

i grew up in a town of 5000, in central Alberta… what a horrid place. I’d hate to subject any poc to that ignorance.

I am sorry that you experienced such treatment but stories such as yours are exactly why it would be great to see it happen. With more diversification, situations like that will be far less and will bring people together.

 

[NateTheUrbanist]

Athabasca U is an online (largely) post-secondary institution -- one of the best in the world in my opinion -- so I don't see how it would be supported by students at the local level to make the town of Athabasca a "College Town", not withstanding that it has major infrastructure there.

I have heard rumours from prominent community members that AU being completely online will potentially be changed.

 

[IanO]

There is a real push to bring far more academics and students back to campus.

I had the pleasure of working on the ARC and their labs renovation and it really is a nice campus and community. *just needs a waterfront.

 

[archited]

The main push is for post-grads to have a "residency" component. That would certainly help the Athabasca Campus and the town of Athabasca. I could also see that helping Athabasca U's Architectural Program. The problem again lies with the Provs and funding.

 

[archited]

NorQuest college has an ambitious plan that sees more than doubling student capacity in the downtown campus in the next dozen years. The existing campus already has made a significant mark on the Edmonton core.