Calgary mayor wants to meet with struggling Marda Loop businesses after another shop shuts down
Doodle Dogs was the latest business to permanently close its doors in the area
Calgary's mayor wants to meet with Marda Loop businesses after another store shut its doors — blaming construction in the area that's lasted over two years for why it shut its doors.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek said on Wednesday she wants to give businesses in the area the opportunity to meet with city administration to talk about the Marda Loop Main Street project.
Construction on the project in southwest Calgary began in 2023 and was scheduled to end last summer, but it's currently scheduled to last until this October.
Despite just two months of construction remaining on its timetable, Gondek said that is still significant for business owners.
"For these small businesses, that is two months of people being able to walk through their door and help them earn their income," said Gondek.
A similar meeting about 18 months ago between business owners and the city was productive, Gondek said, and led to vacant lots opening up for parking to replace lost on-street parking spots.
WATCH | Mayor wants to meet with Marda Loop businesses to offer support:
Part of Calgary's Main Streets program, which revitalizes some of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the Marda Loop project's goal is to extend curbs, expand sidewalks, as well as add new traffic signals and a new bike pathway.
The city's rainy summer has recently created more delays, Gondek said, but she stressed it's important the city ensures temporary solutions like planks being put down for pedestrian walkways, are in place while construction wraps up.
Gondek said Calgary's chief administrative officer and its general manager of infrastructure services already visited Marda Loop on Wednesday to hear more from construction crews and businesses about potential accessibility solutions ahead of her and city administration sitting down with businesses.
Along with keeping business owners in the loop about the project's status, she said there's one way the city can best help affected businesses.
"The actual completion is the biggest concrete step that we have to get to," said Gondek.
"In the meantime, we need to listen to businesses and understand what they're struggling with."
Business turmoil in Marda Loop
Frustration in Marda Loop with ongoing construction delays peaked this summer when a group of businesses sued the City of Calgary for $75 million over the project. In a statement of claim, plaintiffs cited "constant disruptions," "undue delay" and "extreme drops" in customer traffic due to road closures and restricted access.
Some businesses, like Monkeyshines Children's Books and the Apt 22 Boutique clothing store. have shut down in recent years while citing construction as a major factor in their decision.
On Tuesday, the pet-supply store Doodle Dogs also closed the doors on its Marda Loop location.
The business posted to social media on Tuesday it would shut down the store while keeping its other four locations open, saying "construction absolutely killed our store."
After opening its Marda Loop location in December 2023, when construction was already ongoing, Doodle Dogs co-owner Meghan Huchkowksy said her business couldn't carry the weight of lost revenue another month.
"We just can't keep being told that it's going to end when it just simply has no end in sight," Huchkowsky told The Calgary Eyeopener on Wednesday.
LISTEN | Negative effects of ongoing Marda Loop construction:
The lost parking, worsened accessibility to the store, as well as the noise and dirt around the shop has been "devastating," said Huchkowsky, and prevented customers from coming into the shop, especially for pedestrians trying to walk in with their pets.
Huchkowsky said she'd often see customers travelling from Marda Loop to Doodle Dogs's other locations, and the business sent enough online orders to the area that opening a store in the neighbourhood seemed reasonable.
"We were like, 'This is a no-brainer, of course we want to open in Marda Loop.' We love this community, the community wants us there," said Huchkowsky.
"As soon as we opened ... we're getting calls on the phone, we're getting emails, we're getting DMs on Instagram that say, 'We're trying to get to your store, we can't find parking,' or 'We're trying to get to your store but construction teams are telling us we can't access it.'"
Frustration with the ongoing construction grew over the 2023-24 winter when utility companies like Enmax and ATCO Gas were working in the area, said the construction project's senior manager Colin Chapman.
Chapman noted the city offered $5,000 grants to affected businesses, and that it's tough to hear about the difficulties they're facing.
"It was a very challenging project," Chapman told The Calgary Eyeopener on Wednesday.
"One of the challenges we had is when businesses are looking out front of their business, they only see the bigger part. So trying to further clarify what all the components are that the project's bringing together and onboarding them a little bit earlier or more in-depth, as there's a bit of a sequencing piece to all these activities."
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With files from The Calgary Eyeopener and Acton Clarkin