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This article was published 16/10/2017 (1070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Good Earth Coffeehouse has big plans brewing for Winnipeg.

On Saturday, the Calgary-based restaurant chain celebrated the grand opening of its first Winnipeg outlet at the Seasons/Outlet Collection Winnipeg at Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway.

Company co-founder Michael Going said the Seasons coffeehouse is the first of as many as six streetfront coffeehouses the 26-year-old chain expects to open in the city.

"Four, five, six... I would think that would definitely be fine. And what can expand that a little bit (more) is if we have opportunities to also go into institutions. We do very well on university campuses, hospitals, that sort of thing...," Going said.

"We definitely have irons in the fire for other sites, and I would hope we would have one or two more coming on stream by mid-2018."

Going said Good Earth is interested in locations such as Osborne Village, the Bridgwater Forest Town Centre and new commercial developments planned for the west side of the city.

"It (the number of outlets it opens) is based on opportunities within the marketplace, and as you know, there are a lot of new developments underway in Winnipeg or on the planning books. So we’re definitely engaged with all of the major developers and landlords."

The Calgary commercial real estate broker in charge of finding suitable locations for Good Earth in Western Canada — Michael Kehoe of Fairfield Commercial Real Estate Inc. — was in Winnipeg on Friday to scout sites downtown.

Kehoe said two locations he looked at were the Portage and Main area, where there is a heavy concentration of office workers, and the True North Square development construction at Graham Avenue and Carlton Street.

"That would be the type of urban-downtown locations they would look at, anywhere there is lots of density and strong footfalls," he said.

Winnipeg has a wealth of cafés/coffeehouse options, including large national and international players such as Tim Hortons, Starbucks and Second Cup, and local, independent operators such as Thom Bargen Coffee & Tea, Fools + Horses, High Tea Bakery and Stella’s Café.

"It’s a very competitive and crowded category," Kehoe said. "Each coffee brand has carved out its own niche and its own target market. But I would say there is lots of room for everyone."

He said Starbucks and Stella’s directly compete with Good Earth, which bills itself as an eatery with premium coffees and wholesome foods. The Winnipeg location offers a wide assortment of specialty coffees, as well as exotic tea, beer, wine and liqueurs. Its food offerings include cakes, tarts, muffins, scones, rolls, brownies, cookies and zucchini loaf, as well as soup, salads, sandwiches and flatbread pizzas.

While the chain believes in having multiple locations in each market, Going said one thing it won’t do is try to saturate the market with Good Earth cafés.

"We look at quality over quantity. So we’re not going to be on every second corner like some of the brands are."

He said the chain prefers community settings over big-box retail power centres.

"We’re a community gathering place, so we like to have residences close by that will frequent us throughout the week, and certainly on evenings and weekends."

He said they like the Seasons site because it’s a mixed-use development that includes a large, multi-family residential component. The fact two of its closest neighbours are McDonald’s and IHOP is a plus.

"What they do is bring more people and more awareness to the overall site," he explained.

The Seasons outlet is owned by local franchisee Graham Balacko. Although Balacko has worked in restaurants in the past, this is the first one the carpenter/entrepreneur has owned and operated.

He said the coffeehouse has been open for about three weeks, and traffic volume has increased each day.

"We just got our signs up today (Friday) actually, so it’s getting a lot busier now," he said.

He said customers have included people from Tuxedo, River Heights, Linden Woods and the new condo complex in the Seasons development.

The Winnipeg outlet is Good Earth’s 48th in Canada. The bulk of them are located in Western Canada.

Know of any newsworthy developments in the local office, retail, industrial or multi-family residential sectors? Let real estate reporter Murray McNeill know at the email address below or at 204-697-7254.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca