April Focus on Business Newsletter

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April 2022 Issue

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City of St. Albert Business Breakfast

We’re excited to reconnect in-person with our business community again in 2022!

Join us at St. Albert Crossing on Tuesday, May 10 to hear business leaders provide economic updates on local and regional activities. You won’t want to miss Heather Thompson, from 13 WAYS, share her 13 best practices to help businesses thrive. Lynette Tremblay, from Invest Alberta, will reveal economic growth and opportunities for Alberta.

Buy your tickets before Friday, April 15 to take advantage of our early bird discount and receive 20% off! https://2022-ecdev-business-breakfast.eventbrite.ca

*Tickets will not be sold at the door – advance sales only.

St. Albert Restaurants Receiving Recognition in Local Media

by Amanda MacDonald - [email protected]

If you reach for the latest publication of Edify at your local grocery store, Edmonton region’s favorite lifestyle magazine, St. Albert downtown restaurant Tryst Wine & Small Plates Head Chef Zac Eaton emblazons the front cover with pride. Tryst is receiving well deserved recognition as one of the best new restaurants in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. The Best Restaurants edition is a popular feature spread for Edify and covers several categories with top honors going to Best New Restaurant and Best Restaurant Overall, for which St. Albert XIX Nineteen on Bellerose Drive has also claimed their spot. There were two other local mentions included in the Best Baked section: Macarons & Goodies and Whisk Bakeshop & Coffeehouse for Best Sweets.

Tryst is quickly becoming a top dining destination in both St. Albert and the region, and was also featured in Open Table’s Top 100 Restaurants in Canada in November 2021. Owner Michelle McDonald opened Tryst with Chef Zac Eaton in March 2020, with decades of culinary experience between the two they curated an eclectic menu that sticks to their mantra of “cooking the kind of food we want to eat” utilizing local products to create artistic and delicious mainstays and seasonal menu offerings. The duo has remained agile and persistent throughout the pandemic’s shutdowns and restrictive measures, developing menus more suited to take-out during that time and re-opening again to table service with enthusiasm and a well recognized passion for their craft.

With seating for 50 and a patio looking onto St. Anne Street, Tryst is open for dinner service Wednesday – Saturday and hosts the brunch crowd Saturday & Sunday.

Tryst Wine & Small Plates

100 - 21 Perron Street

587-290-3433

https://www.trystexperience.com/

Downtown Construction Notice

by Nicole Lynch - [email protected]

Do you own a business in downtown St. Albert? Please be advised that there will be City-led and third-party construction projects scheduled to take place in the Perron District from April to October 2022 as follows:

FortisAlberta Streetlight Replacement (third-party project) from April to June 2022.
Niche Developments at 32 St. Anne Street (third-party project) is anticipated to restart April 2022.
TELUS PureFibre™ Network Project (third-party project) has a tentative start date of summer 2022.
St. Anne Street Sanitary Sewer Replacement (City project) from July to August 2022.
Birch Drive Watermain Line Replacement (City project) is anticipated for July to August 2022.

Most of the scheduled work is required to rehabilitate existing infrastructure and improve services to the downtown area.

This work will be coordinated and completed as quickly as possible to minimize disruption to our businesses. When completed, the improvements will support the vibrant and inviting downtown atmosphere.

Learn more at stalbert.ca/dtc

St. Albert Centre Mall

by Pat Nicol - [email protected]

St. Albert Centre Mall has a long-standing history; since the opening of its doors in 1980, it has become the City’s largest retail hub, providing 356,000 square feet of retail space anchored by some of the country's largest brands including Winners, Mark’s Work Warehouse, Sport Chek, London Drugs and The Bay.

Operated by Primaris REIT, one of the largest owners and managers of enclosed shopping centres in Canada, and one of the largest owners and operators of retail property of all formats across Canada, they have a proven record for invigorating shopping centres.

“Over the past two years, shopping centres in the Edmonton Metro region took a hard hit with provincial mandates due to the pandemic, requiring reduced hours and closures that had the potential to be detrimental to retail shops”, stated Pam dela Paz – Granum, Director, Leasing for Primaris REIT. “Although pedestrian traffic was stifled within the mall during the restriction periods, sales continued to be strong, which allowed retailers to retain a bit of stability”.

The Mall offering exterior entrances to some of the retailers also provided them with flexibility in managing their retail hours and patron activities and contributed to financial sustainability.

Enabling Innovation 2022

by Amanda MacDonald- [email protected]

Creating connections between companies looking to develop tech products, and local organizations that provide support.

Technology companies can face common challenges finding support & resources when they are ready to create a prototype and product and are seeking the right vendors. Enabling Innovation 2022 seeks to foster awareness about locally available tech development resources and relationships between support organizations and innovators through their shared experiences and stories.

This event will have two sessions occurring simultaneously featuring presenters from various tech sectors, giving attendees the opportunity to view the presentations that are most relevant to their interests. For future updates about Enabling Innovation, follow NABI Business Incubator on Linkedin. Enabling Innovation is sponsored by the Edmonton Regional Innovation Network. (ERIN)

Date: Thursday, April 21, 2022

Time: 9:30am – 12:00pm

Where: Virtual

Registration: Enabling Innovation 2022 (zoom.us)

Spotlight on Business...Ted Dancin's Indoor Golf

Monty [email protected]

Golfing typically involves travelling out of town to a manicured golf course, with the hopes that the weather will be acceptable and efforts to improve potentially lackluster skills won’t be witnessed by other players on the course. Ted Dancin’s Indoor Golf, St. Albert’s newest recreational facility, aims to provide a more inclusive and less demanding golf experience where golfers can bring their clubs down to the Perron District any day of the year and play over 90+ golf courses from around the world in six private virtual golf rooms.

Co-owner James and his friends came up with the idea of bringing an indoor golf facility to St. Albert over the span of the pandemic, when golfing became a go-to activity for the group; “come winter we tried indoor golf and really enjoyed it. We didn’t love having to drive into Edmonton and fight for appointment availability. We quickly realized the potential of opening a business in St. Albert.”

In addition to being able to play dozens of courses from around the world, the business also offers professional golf lessons from local Sturgeon Valley Golf Club pro – and co-owner – Cody Hancock. Unlike most virtual golf facilities, Ted Dancin’s Indoor Golf has strived to create “open concept” golf bays, similar to bowling, so golfers can practice alone or with a group of friends; each room is private, so golfers can golf in peace knowing it will only be themselves or their close friends watching.

“Our mission is to offer St. Albert residents a local alternative for year round indoor golf,” James notes; “We are a family friendly, judge-free inclusive business where it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner that’s never played or if you’re an expert scratch golfer. We just want to create a fun, enjoyable environment.” The business is also licensed, so golfers can enjoy drinks - including locally-sourced beer from Endeavour Brewing Company - while they hit the virtual links. Future plans for the business include expanding menu and liquor options, as well as instituting both men and women league play, tournaments and junior programs.

You may be asking: why “Ted Dancin’s”? According to James, the name comes from an inside joke: “when we’re golfing and we hit a nice shot on the green, we’ll say to each other: ‘I’m dancing like Ted Danson!”

Ted Dancin’s Indoor Golf

3 – 20 Sir Winston Churchill Avenue

587-290-0552