Downtown Winnipeg on recovery path: BIZ report Core logged net loss of 10 businesses in 2023; future tied to residential growth, advocate says By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 6:16 PM CST Wednesday, Mar. 6, 2024

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For several of the neighbouring buildings along Portage Avenue, the shutters are drawn and doors are locked. But the lights are on inside Aveda Institute Winnipeg.

The number of people visiting downtown Winnipeg is changing. Though there are still more businesses closing than opening in the city’s core, the gap is narrowing, according to a new Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone report.

“Reviving a downtown isn’t going to happen overnight,” said Roberto Sinopoli, president of Aveda Institute Winnipeg. “We need to be patient.”

His team moved the cosmetology school and hair salon from the Exchange District to 276 Portage Ave. last year. Sinopoli called the move “amazing.”

“The traffic is great… it’s attracted more students for us, more guests,” he said. “Through some more marketing and some more exposure, we’re just continuing to grow.”

He’s tracked a 25 per cent increase in walk-in traffic; in a given month, the school logs some 2,000 students, staff and clients trekking through.

Sinopoli became a Downtown Winnipeg BIZ board member in January. He’s hopeful about announced area redevelopments, including changes to Portage Place and the former Hudson’s Bay Co. flagship store.

General visitation to the city core jumped 9.4 per cent year-over-year in 2023. Hotel bookings more than doubled, and paid on-street parking hours increased 25 per cent, the BIZ said.

Still, there are plenty of challenges. The report clocked a net loss of 10 businesses — 27 opened, 37 closed or moved — in 2023.

“Reviving a downtown isn’t going to happen overnight … We need to be patient.”–Roberto Sinopoli

It’s a decrease from the net loss of 26 companies in 2022, and a net loss of 28 the year prior. Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, the number of business openings doubled the number of closures.

Roughly 30 per cent of downtown storefronts are currently vacant.

“(There’s) definitely a lot of ups and downs,” said Kris Ross, an employee at Bagelsmith on Carlton Street.

The bagel shop has been broken into several times; it has had its door smashed in and its technology and food stolen. Staff encounter people experiencing homelessness in the building, Ross said.

The number of calls to the Downtown Community Safety Partnership more than doubled year-over-year in 2023, according to Downtown Winnipeg BIZ statistics.

The DCSP, a 24-7 front-line organization, logged a total 9,021 calls in 2023. Its staff made 5,095 response trips.

Meantime, the bagel shop’s foot traffic just isn’t what it was, Ross stated.

“It definitely takes a hit on the bottom line,” they said, adding customers are feeling squeezed by rising costs.

A lack of regular 9-to-5 workers continues to burden some downtown shops. Many of Ambience Hair Studio’s patrons book appointments on days they’ll be downtown; the inconsistency makes scheduling hard, said owner Merri Tekle.

The Downtown Winnipeg BIZ switched from tracking how many workers enter downtown to counting “general visitation” — hybrid set-ups made data hard to gather.

Meantime, much of the money spent downtown comes during sports and entertainment events, noted Kate Fenske, BIZ chief executive.

Three-quarters of downtown’s new businesses are part of the retail and food services sphere.

The return of post-secondary students and travellers, and an increase in downtown residents, is contributing to a boost in foot traffic, Fenske said. “We know business can’t rely on workers alone to meet their customer base.”

Parrot Pot Shop noted more customers during sports events at the nearby Canada Life Centre. Hotels recorded a spike in bookings — some 59,400 nights in 2023 — largely because of larger-scale events and “revenge travel” (taking trips formerly lost to the pandemic).

“It’s kind of that flywheel of more visitors attracting more visitors,” said Michael Juce, president of the Manitoba Hotel Association.

The industry is currently experiencing a slowdown in leisure travel, likely due to a higher cost of living, he added.

The RBC Convention Centre documented 550 events last year — a 33 per cent jump from 2022 — and a seven per cent hike in guests, to 404,600 people.

“Downtown is moving in the right direction … It’s not about going back to 2019. It’s really about, ‘What does the future downtown Winnipeg look like?’”–Kate Fenske

The Forks clocked 3.8 million visitors last year, up 16 per cent from 2022, a year which started with pandemic-related restrictions.

“Downtown is moving in the right direction,” Fenske said, adding there’s more work to do. “It’s not about going back to 2019. It’s really about, ‘What does the future downtown Winnipeg look like?’”

The future involves more residential growth, Fenske relayed.

She believes the next Canadian census (to come in 2026) will count 20,000 downtown Winnipeg residents. In 2021, Statistics Canada tallied some 18,000.

A number of residential projects are ongoing, including Railside at The Forks and 175 Carlton St.

Governments poured more than $200 million into downtown Winnipeg investments last year, including money for housing and safety measures. The investments, plus ongoing revitalization projects led by Indigenous groups, bring hope, Fenske said.

Meantime, Downtown Winnipeg BIZ teams are cleaning around the clock, she added. The 16-person “Enviro Team” collected a record 1.1 million litres of waste in 2023. It also removed at least 6,900 kilos of bulky waste.

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“That is just unbelievable to me,” Fenske said. “If we can get downtown to be the cleanest neighbourhood in Winnipeg, it sets us up for what we’re trying to do.

“How people perceive our downtown is so critical. It speaks to the reputation of our city — how we attract investment here, how we keep young people.”

CentrePlan 2050, a 30-year downtown plan yet to be released, will guide future downtown development, Fenske added.

Office vacancy in downtown Winnipeg increased 2.6 per cent, to 18.3 per cent, in 2023. The area logged a net zero increase/decrease in shops closing in 2023’s final quarter, the first time since the pandemic began.

Some downtown workers, including Tekle at Ambience Hair Studio, relayed crime downtown isn’t “as bad as people think.”

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

Gabrielle Piché
Reporter

Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.

Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.