Jimmy Johns Coming to Winnipeg

Jimmy Johns, a U.S. submarine sandwich maker, has begun construction on two locations in Winnipeg. The restaurant has not even been in Canada a year. The first location opened in November 2024 in the greater Toronto area. Winnipeg has seen a number of U.S. and international restaurants open in the city in the last few years. There seems an insatiable desire to see even more.

In some ways Winnipeg is fortunate because of its combination of homegrown restaurants as well as international franchises. Salisbury House, Stella's and Pony Coral are all homegrown. We have had many Canadian chains locate in the city as well. It may seem like every day type of things for those in the city but visitors from all over the province marvel at the places they can go to eat such as The Keg or Olive Garden. We take it for granted and pine for what we see south of the border or in larger provinces.

In terms of submarine sandwiches, the only place that served them aside from Italian family restaurants in the 1960s where they went by the name hero or hoagie sandwich. By 1968, Canada had Mr. Submarine and it spread across the country. Today, Winnipeg has only one. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Sub had the market to themselves. The juggernaut of Subway came in 1986 to St. John's Newfoundland and today has 3000 restaurants in Canada today. Quiznos came soon after and in recent years Firehouse. Rumour is Jersey Mike's is coming next.

Jimmy John's has been around in the U.S. since 1983 and has been been on the wish list for some Winnipeggers for years. The St. James locations in a former Urban Barn is just off Ellice. The first Jollibee's in Canada is across from it. The other location being built on Pembina in a closed Macao Imperial Tea location. 

Macao Imperials Tea has one other location still in the city on McPhillips so should be fine. Urban Barn has two other locations in the city and a warehouse just outside the city. Both Canadian stores have locations across the country and seem to be doing fine.

It should be important to note that while Jimmy John's is American, the franchise owner is Canadian and their employees are Canadian and their supplies are Canadian. It is hard to be purist in all things Canadian. For many years Tim Horton's was American owned and even now has shareholders all over. Coffee beans are certainly not Canadian although I don't know too many Canadians about to drop their favourite hot drink.

Jimmy John's will likely be well received when they open and I expect they will emphasize the Canadian aspect of their supply chain. It is something that we are seeing more and more in Canada. It will take a long time for it to ever reach Subway location numbers in Winnipeg. At present there are 73 listed which makes it the most of any Canadian city per capita.

Chilli Chutney Brings Street East Indian Kitchen to Kenaston

Twice now Swiss Chalet, one of Canada's major chains, has come to Winnipeg to great fanfare and twice it has died. The closure on Kenaston and on Corydon was a quiet quitting. Perhaps it was the pandemic that did in Swiss Chalet this time or maybe the changing tastes of those in the city.

All of the Kelsey's closed in the city as well. It is and has been a tough business being a restaurateur. For Swiss Chalet though, it seems when the going gets tough, they pull out of Winnipeg. Could it be third time lucky some day? Who knows.

One thing is certain is that prime spaces have opened up and big chains are not all jumping in for their chance to claim those spots. And so it is with Swiss Chalet.

They have left a place with a relatively new kitchen and the former imprint of their name on the wall.

What has come to replace it is far different than just another chicken restaurant. Chilli Chutney will be the new place in front of big Walmart. They arrive in Winnipeg via Brandon where a location has existed there since 2005. The present owner has owned it since 2011. It is another example of Brandon-based restauranteurs opening locations in Winnipeg.

It also shows a move to more diverse food choices which have sometimes been slow to hit the suburbs. More often the best of the world is found in more central parts of the city. However, a lot of new immigrants are in the suburbs and so Ontario-based chains may not have as great appeal.

Restaurants like Chilli Chutney though will find success through a wide audience who are new to East Indian street food. And like Chinese food restaurants spread across North America over the last century, they become unique in many ways from the source country. Just like Italian food in Canada is much different than what you might get in Italy itself.

The corporate franchise system can be relentlessly the same. This can be a boon for places like McDonald's or Subway which try to be consistent on product taste, look and price. Travelling to any city in any country should be instantly familiar. And the abundance of these restaurants means you don't have to travel far to get that comfort food from that comfort place. In many cases, a community can say they have arrived when they get their first McDonald's. Likewise, people seem to want to have Tim's on both sides of the road and often a block away from each other.

Winnipeg has been lucky over the years to have such a wide variety of local restaurants and it has been the most frequent way for new immigrant families to start a business in Canada. Travelling to the U.S. usually gives you an idea of how spoiled we are in Manitoba by the variety of restaurant offerings. The relentlessness homogenous nature down in the U.S. means you have to look beyond suburbia most times to find neighbourhood treasures.

In this case, a unique offering has come to suburbia. The shopping around south Kenaston has had to pivot post pandemic. As a number of stores have closed or moved to other areas, a long line up national replacement stores is not in the cards. And so it goes with restaurants too. Across the road from Chilli Chutney is a Sobeys and a Costco and in the same parking lot is a large Walmart.

Traffic is not really a problem with three grocery stores, two home improvement store and a Canadian Tire in the area. But that wasn't enough for a Swiss Chalet to survive. It will be interesting to see a Manitoba-grown restaurant take on this spot and introduce a new concept. 

Fast Fired By Carbone Coming to Charleswood

March 2018, Fast Fired by Carbone Opened Brandon

The former Subway in old Charleswood closed and paper in the windows indicates that a new restaurant is soon to open. Fast Fired by Carbone is slated to open in the fall of 2018. The newly branded restaurant was formerly known as Carbone Coal Fired Pizza and had locations in River Heights and downtown.

Under their new brand name they opened a 1243 square foot location at the Coral Centre in Brandon, Manitoba to great fanfare in March. They show little signs of slowing down. In addition to the location being built on Roblin in Charleswood, they are working on a 1523 foot location in Sage Creek at Sage Creek Village North. There is also a new pad site of 1500 square feet at Kildonan Place being built. And lastly, at 201 Portage in the RBC building, a 313 square foot location is being built in the food court.

The Charleswood location will be 1290 square feet in the Morningwood Center. It is the first time I've heard that name used in the complex that also holds a Starbucks and the Capital restaurant. Subway had been the only survivor of a previous renovation that ended the tenure of Robin's and KFC.

Fast Fired by Carbone specializes in fare such as pizza and wings that are cooked in coal fired ovens imported into Canada. By the end of the year the restaurant,  founded in 2014, will have doubled in size from the present four location to eight. It is unlikely they will stay at the number given the interest in franchising the concept.

Control Escape Room Coming to Charleswood

The sign is up, the website says opening in May 2018, Control Escape Rooms is set to occupy the former Kids Etc Youth Movement dance studio at 3525 Roblin across from Laxdal in old Charleswood. Lest anyone think Kids Etc closed, a story is coming about their relocation into a building built for them.

There has been a lot change in old Charleswood after a number of years of stability in the business make-up of street. Kids Etc moved and Pizza Pizza closed in the same mall. The Prep Montessori School recently in the space where two former diet centres were once located.

In a shocker to many people the last bank of the street is shutting down and re-locating all its business to Portage Avenue. CIBC has been a fixture of the street forever. Now old Charleswood has no bank branch at in the next weeks.

The Charleswood Medical Centre is back up and running under new operators and a re-fresh. Sirius Benefits which was located in the old Matheo's restaurant was bought by People Corp and has re-located to Kenaston in their massive new facility. The building remains up for lease.

In another surprise the Subway restaurant shut down after many, many years. It had been the old survivor in renovations that saw Robin's and KFC closed in favour of Starbucks and now Capital restaurant.

However, back to Control Escape. Their webpage says opening soon and will feature 10 escape rooms. It will be the first escape room for the Charleswood area although Winnipeg may have the largest amount of the businesses anywhere on the planet. They truly have proliferated here and remain popular.

In a world where people increasingly were becoming shuts-ins to Netflix, video games and the like, the escape rooms are the antithesis to being alone. They require people to get together to enjoy an event in an allotted time with a reward at the end for figuring it out.

Expect to see Control Escape to open in Charleswood soon.

Capital Grill and Bar Opening Soon

Formerly Asahi Japanese Restaurant

It sat empty over the winter but spring has seen some construction at the former Asahi Japanese Restaurant. The signs have gone up and a Facebook page started to promote the opening of Capital Grill and Bar. By all accounts it will be a place to get a beer on tap.

The Asahi was a fine restaurant and a gorgeous space but struggled to stay busy every night of the week. Prior to being a Japanese restaurant it was the long time home of KFC in Charleswood. The entire mall had a makeover and the only survivor was Subway. A Starbucks took over the former Robin's location.

The closure of the Charleswood Hotel had left a real gap in the watering hole department. The arrival of the Winnipeg Jets has also created real demand for a place to watch the game, have a drink and share some food. Some people have migrated to Sorrento's at the Charleswood Mall. Others have probably gone further afield.

The closure of the Asahi has made room for the sportier crowd. It will be race to see who opens first as there is another restaurant about to open just down the street. More on that in a future post.

There is a limited supply of rental space in Charleswood. For the last few years, the vacancy rate has been generally good but to be sure, there are not as many places for dinner and drinks. Pappas, a Greek restaurant has been a mainstay. Just recently White Tower restaurant closed. For the older crowd, some might remember Matheos on Roblin Boulevard near the west park entrance. Nowadays  it is occupied by company offices.

So welcome Capital and hope that new traditions in the neighbourhood are formed.

Roblin Boulevard Part 9

Asahi Japanese Restaurant Closed 2014

In 2008, a makeover of an old strip mall on Roblin Boulevard saw the entry of Starbucks and posh Asahi Japanese Restaurant to what marks the beginning of old Charleswood. Saying farewell to the area were longtime establishments of Robin's and KFC. Subway was the only one to survive the renovations.

Starbucks established itself nicely as a gathering spot for Charleswood and the whole little strip felt more updated. Prior to that, the feeling of the Robin's and KFC was of restaurants of a bygone decade.

The most exciting addition was Asahi Japanese Restaurant. From the start it offered an exotic new taste to the area that generally has leaned towards Greek with Pappas and White Tower a baseball throw from one another. If there was one cautionary note it was that Sushi Park in the Charleswood Shopping Centre on Grant Avenue had just opened as well.

In terms of price and poshness, Asahi won hands down. It was gorgeous inside. However, in recent years the crowds seemed thinner. Meanwhile, Charleswood Mall including Sushi Park seemed a busier place from lunch time to later in the day.

It is with sadness that the For Lease signs appear in Asahi's windows. I am sure that it will continue to be a restaurant but what kind it is hard to say.

What will movie into Asahi?

 I have meant to update the Robiln Boulevard report for some time as other changes are affoot.

In 2009, beloved McIntyre Meats closed suddenly. It was the successor to equally loved Norman's. For years the site has sat empty. No more. In what seems like a no brainer, the Salvation Army Thrift store is expanding into their spot.

Salvation Army Thrift Store Expanding

The leasing of the space for the thrift store will fill a sad and longtime whole in the little mall. After this, it appears the mall is fully leased.

Co-Op Gas Next Door is Always Busy

Back in 2007 the little mall that houses the local Charleswood 7/Eleven had a little sports store Kel's Crease and Presto Pizza. Both of those businesess are gone and Kel's Crease location was the site of two fashion businesses over the years: Street 204 and then Army Candy. Presto Pizza eventually closed and what came to occupy that space along with the fashion store's location in a two step process was Victory Sports and Injury Clinic.

The addition of Victory Sports and Injury Clinic is in keeping with what really dominates the old Charleswood section of Roblin: Medical clinics, dental clinics, physiotherapy, massage therapy, athletic therapy, chiropractors, optician and veterinarian care. Oh, and two very busy car mechanics centers.

Redeemed Gone

One last bit of sad news: Redeemed is gone beside White Tower.  Redeemed had just been featured in the news in regards to it being a retailer of used fashion. They still appear to have their Academy Road location. Prior to Redeemed the location was the Mattress Source and Sleep Shoppe. The hairstyling place at the end of the mall in 2007 is now occupied by another health business Snider Podiatry Clinic.

Old Charleswood has been a bit of a mishmash but any time during the day you do see foot traffic making way to the various businesses. In many respects it is the downtown of Charleswood.

Fatburger Coming to Winnipeg

Fatburger will be opening soon in the the Seasons of Tuxedo development alongside the IKEA.

New signage went up late last week for the several new stores and restaurants. Bouclair Home sign is all lit up at night and the store officially opens today. On Monday they snuck open. The 8000 square foot store is new to Winnipeg but no stranger to the rest of Canada.

A conglomeration of restaurants opens in April across the parking lot from IKEA and Bouclair's. The signage is already up for Pita Pit. The other restaurants coming are Subway and Taco del Mar.

In the same block of restaurants will be Winnipeg's first Fatburger. The California chain already has locations across western Canada. The very famous hamburger joint also has fairly famous owners such as Magic Johnson as well as franchise owners like Montel Williams and Kanye West. It is also mentioned in many west coast hip hop and rap songs.

Coming hot on the heels of Five Guys Burgers, Winnipeg now has a very crowded premium hamburger joint in the offing.

Further construction in the Seasons of Tuxedo site is still underway with the only sign up indicating Mr. Lube is coming soon. A stand alone casual dining restaurant and Lowe's looks to be underway in the early stages.

The Cabela's looks very close to completion. Bright lights on the inside and many worker vehicles every day suggest it won't be long till we see Canada's biggest Cabela's open.

This is all part of stage 1 of the development. It remains to be seen what comes in stage 2 and stage 3.

Compendium of Restaurant Openings

Five Guys Burgers Opens Second Location

Five Guys Burgers has now opened their second location at 2425 Pembina Highway. The place has an old school feel to it and the burgers are quite good. If burgers aren't your cup of tea, there is Papa John's next door in their second location for the city of Winnipeg.

The pizza wars continue in Winnipeg. Pizza Pizza is opening a Charleswood location in the former location of Body Sculpture by Lynn. Little Caesar's is right next door practically.

In the Charleswood Mall, Subway has opened where Quizno's was located.

Parents, if you ever wonder where your kids are during the summer, it is a good bet they are in the McDonald's parking lot at the Charleswood Mall. A whole herd of them this week.

Heading back to Pembina Highway, final hiring of staff for Woody's Barbecue had begun last week. Location opens soon.

On Kenaston, A&W is being built quickly across from Ikea. Hard to believe no other fast food place grabbed the spot.

All the blue and yellow walls are up for Ikea. Expect the final closing of some of the gaps in the next weeks and it is all inside work thereafter. The metal framing of a building beside the Ikea is almost done. I have not heard what will be going in there but a good chance is that it will be ready in the fall along with Ikea. The piles just went into the ground for Cabela's at the back end of the site.

It seems one of the favourite thing to do lately is to show pictures of the gluttony that can be had at Famous Dave's in Transcona. It is without doubt that Winnipeg families have opened their hearts and wallets to this rib joint. Expect to see more pictures on Twitter and Facebook.

Construction is well underway on Centrepoint across from the MTS Centre. But will we have a Jets season or a lock-out? The project will not come on stream till 2013 but what will be the two marquee restaurants?

Here are a list of possibilites:

Hard Rock Cafe Winnipeg
Bubba Gump's
Rain Forest Cafe
Hooter's
Shark Club
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
TGI Friday's
The Keg
Chiplote Mexican Grill
Outback Steakhouse

There are other possibilities too.

I have a suggestion for the Red River Ex expansion: Medieval Times.

It should be noted that the recession in the last year has led to closures of a whole passle of restaurants and stores in Fargo and Grand Forks in the U.S. People who first had a taste of Outback will be shocked to know Fargo's closed. Likewise, Timber Lodge Steakhouse gone. The last of the Bennigan's closed. In terms of stores Abercrombie closed in West Acres Mall.

The main point for raising this is that Canada is better territory for some U.S. retailers and restaurants.

Famous Dave's probably could not be happier about how it has been received.

Now I know I will hear the inevitable arguments about eating local and criticism of chains. My post does not for a moment dismiss the great local fare. The best scenario for the city is a variety of places in terms of location, food, price and type of food.

Charleswood Shopping Centre Plaza 2

Charleswood Shopping Centre Plaza

Since the reconstruction of the Charleswood Shopping Centre Plaza a few years back, it has been more or less full leased aside from a few hard to rent spots. The closure of Blockbuster was quickly jumped on by Pet Valu who grabbed the spot and moved into the larger space. It is a huge improvement over their cramped space a close to middle of the mall.

Their old location continues to await a new tenant. There is a new restaurant going up where an old restaurant closed down. Quizno's shut several months ago, a likely victim of Tim Horton's being in the parking lot of the mall. The store under construction and slated to open soon is Subway. There is a Subway on Roblin Boulevard three blocks away. I supposed they think it far enough away to not hurt their business. Perhaps they're right. I often think you could put four Tim Horton's on a crossroad and none would go out of business. Likewise, there seems to be no fear of Tim Horton's so close by.

With the restaurant going in, the mall will be near filled again. It is a reminder that an upgrade in light of losing a major tenant in Zeller's years back was the right move. Now if only some owners on Roblin would examine their assets and see what upgrades would be attractive, they might see some change too. At least one owner was doing that exact thing.

Free Press Story - Target

Bartley Kives is a pretty good writer for the Free Press. His coverage of City Hall is always to be read. However, it looks like he not a big fan of Target. His story titled Taking aim at TARGET published on Sunday was fairly critical.

I think the first thing he points out in his criticism is that Walmart and Target in the U.S. are alike but somehow that Target doesn't get the mud flung at it that Walmart does in terms of how people feel about the store.

Well, clearly if that is happening then it is because the two stores have been doing something differently over the years.

Kives might be far too dismissive of one of the reasons women shop at Target.

More significantly, Target sells clothing middle-class women are willing to wear. Or at least that's what I'm told.

The prices might be slightly higher but affordable and fashionable clothes is a lot harder for women to achieve than for men in general. In this area, Target clearly does something different.

One of the things that Kives says about Walmart's arrival in 1994 is not necessarily true.

Few people cheered when Walmart came to Canada in 1994, when the chain was expected to wipe out independent businesses with the ruthless efficiency of The Borg, to use a pop-culture reference relevant at the time.

Actually, there were quite a few people who cheered. Woolco had become tired and had not kept up with the competition over the years. There was a strong possibility that if Woolco had not been bought over that they might have just shut down. There certainly seemed to be no willing buyers in Canada.

Walmart was a major factor in cross border shopping as well. The company's arrival in Canada slowed travel south considerably along with a weak dollar.

Also appreciated was a push to more competitive pricing. As Canadians are frequently reminded, the prices in Canada for many products even when the currency is high is often steep. Real Canadian Superstore and its parent company Loblaw's became a lot more price competitive.

By 1998, another weak U.S. retailer in Canada faltered in Kmart and Zellers felt the need to act and bought the company and shut down a lot of the stores and took over the best locations elsewhere. Four years earlier, they didn't seem to be interested in Woolco.

There was certainly some people in Canada who feared the presence of Walmart and big box stores, sprawl and a whole host of other issues that went with being a large company. But there were just as many who were happy that a weaker U.S. retailer was out and a stronger competitor in retailing was in.

Zellers has struggled for a few decades for some love. It has improved a bit but still hasn't found its feet like say...Canadian Tire. The improvements it has made came through two different U.S. owners over the last years.

When Target was looking to make a big splash in the market, there was a lot that Zellers had to offer. That thing was location. While Target might want to have some big stores in the future, Zellers has locations that will work for it now and could be strong in the future. Zellers also has a customer base that could be loyal to the new store as well.

Lastly, Kives has this to say:

Above all else, the end result is more homogeneity. And you can add that to the existing homogeneity that already makes Winnipeg's outskirts just as bland and ugly as the edges of every other major metropolitan area in North America.

A couple of years down the road, we'll have an Ikea store and a couple of Targets to go along with the Walmarts on suburban arteries clogged with McDonald's, Tim Hortons and Subway.

I understand the utter pointlessness of being upset about this. Just don't be offended if I decline to cheer on the process.

I think this is an entirely separate issue. If Kives is upset about car culture, suburbs, corporatism and large stores then he has far bigger concerns than just about Target coming to town.

In the end it comes down to this: A U.S. owned retailer called Zellers has been bought by a U.S. owned retailer called Target. The buyer has a reputation for success in price and product and an overall better marketing strategy than the seller.

Canadians will likely appreciate such a company.

Roblin Boulevard Part 1

Corydon Avenue becomes Roblin Boulevard as it passes the Assinibone Park entrance at Shaftesbury Boulevard.

Charleswood begins immediately west of Assiniboine Park which includes the Winnipeg Park Zoo, the Assiniboine Forest and the Tuxedo Golf Course.

A sign marks the entrance to Charleswood.

The first street that westbound travellers cross as they head into Charleswood is Chalfont. Anyone interested in seeing deer should turn south at this point. Early evening is the best time to see deer come out of the forest. The houses on the west side of Chalfont often put up mesh over their flowerbeds to keep hungry deer from eating everything.

On the north side of Roblin is a home that borders Assiniboine Park. It is the residence of Bill Taylor who is famous for the Assiniboine Park Railway, a miniature rail line that runs over his property and that offers rides on days when the sign is out on the street. During the Christmas season, the Taylor's have lights lining the long path to their home and the rail. It has become a tradition in December for many to walk down that path and ride the train while looking at the lights.

On the north side of Roblin, the commercial buildings begin between Wexford and Cathcart. For many years, the Robin's Doughnuts, Subway Restaurants and KFC occupied a strip mall there.

The Robin's shutdown in 2005. There was no drivethru and with Tim Horton's in the Charleswood Mall along Grant, it probably was losing commuters progressively over the years.

In 2007/2008, the owners of the strip mall did a makeover of the building. The telltale signature brick of the Robin's was covered up in favour of the same bland design found on most strip malls in the city. KFC/Pizza Hut Express closed during this process. Like Robin's, it had no drivethru.

A number of the KFCs have closed in Winnipeg recently. The common denominator seems to be the lack of a drivethru. For Charleswood residents, it means the closest KFC is now at the former Unicity Mall location.

The only restaurant to remain following the reconstruction has been Subway. In the old Robin's location, a Starbucks Coffee has opened. At one time Starbucks had sniffed at opening in cities like Winnipeg. Now they are everywhere.

In the old KFC location, there is paper over the windows. The sign says Asahi restaurant coming soon. It would appear to be an offshoot of the Asahi on Broadway.

I indicated a short time ago what a welcome addition Sushi Park has been to the Charleswood area in their Charleswood mall location. This makes things doubly good.

There is some indication that the Starbucks has been a hit. With a little sidewalk face section, the parking lot seems to be filled far more often than in the Robin's days.