Earls on Main crossing the street

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This article was published 09/06/2021 (1559 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s official.

Earls on Main is moving across the street.

The much-rumoured move of the popular dining and drinking spot has been confirmed. The company is building a new restaurant right on the corner of Main Street and Graham Avenue connected to 300 Main, the 40-storey mixed-use apartment building complex Artis REIT is in the process of completing.

Ann Topp, the Vancouver restaurant company’s regional director of operations, said it’s too early to pin down an opening date other than to say it will be “later this summer.”

“Yes we are moving and yes, it is very exciting and yes, we know, everybody has been speculating about it for a very long time,” Topp said.

She was careful not to give too much away — and conceded that plans are still evolving — but said that the new restaurant will include a dining room, lounge and patio and it will be unique among the 79-store chain.

“What I can tell you is that we have not opened an Earls in Winnipeg since the St. Vital location in 2006 and this one was specifically designed for Winnipeg and will be unlike any other Earls in our company,” she said.

She said the pandemic has taught the industry that customer behaviour has changed.

“Things that were not such a big focus before have become a focus for us like takeout, Earls at home, even having the proper social distancing and plexiglass,” she said. “That will all be incorporated into the new location.”

The pandemic has been such a challenging time for the restaurant industry, and nowhere has it been more challenging than in Winnipeg. Earls has 69 locations from B.C. to Ontario and 10 more in the U.S. — while there were once some franchise locations, all are now corporately owned — and with the reopening starting in Ontario this weekend, the three Winnipeg locations will be the only ones in the Earls chain left yet to open.

“We are very hopeful to hear from Premier Pallister about the reopening plan for next week,” she said. “Once we have that we feel we will have a better idea of when we can secure an opening date.”

But having said that, the company is launching a hiring campaign for the new Winnipeg location this week.

Meanwhile, Artis’s $165-million mixed-use apartment building complex is scheduled to be ready for occupancy by the end of this year with the top half finished by the end of 2022.

With all sorts of moving parts still to be finalized, Artis’s chief operating officer Kim Riley was reluctant to give away too much about the details of the amenities that will be included in the development, but Earls is clearly a good get.

‘Yes we are moving and yes, it is very exciting and yes, we know, everybody has been speculating about it for a very long time’– Ann Topp, Earls regional director of operations

“One of our main objectives is to bring vibrancy and convenience to Portage and Main with our 300 Main project,” she said. “We are actively working on finalizing our amenities, service offerings and tenant roster. We look forward to sharing more details in the near future.”

Artis has confirmed that all of the commercial space at 300 and 330 Main has been leased, with the exception of one small unit. The only other confirmed new tenant is a Goodlife Fitness studio in the north part of the complex. The company is keeping the specific details of who is moving in until later in the year.

The fact that Earls is relocating its store at 191 Main, an established and successful location that’s across the street and one block south of the new store, is an indication that 300 Main could quickly become a very desirable address.

There had been talk over the years that Earls wanted to rebuild at 191 Main but was thwarted by zoning challenges. Topp would not comment on that, but said that the relocation across the street was an opportunity to get Earls closer to its customers.

“By being connected to the walkway system allows our guests to frequent us… they can come back for lunch, happy hour, dinner, before and after events.” she said. “The current location just doesn’t have that accessibility.”

Asked what the expectations are in terms of people being comfortable returning to restaurants after a lockdown that is 15 months and counting, Topp said, “Our customers in Winnipeg have always been extremely loyal. We hope that when the economy opens up and people are able to return to dine as we know it, we know Winnipeggers are going to come back.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca