Grocery options dwindle in downtown Winnipeg

There will soon be fewer places to buy groceries in downtown Winnipeg, as at least two grocery stores in the city core will close down in the coming months.

The Extra Foods on Notre Dame Avenue is slated to close at the end of November, while the grocery store in the basement of Zellers, located inside The Bay on Portage Avenue and Vaughan Street, will shut down by March.

David Stone, a management board member with the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, says the group is working on bringing in other retailers to fill the void.

"We do have lots of developmental agencies that are working with us," he said.

"They've got a list of organizations that they just want to put out there and let them know about what is going on in the downtown, and what's going to be happening in the downtown in terms of development over the next few years, and see what can be done."

Stone said the addition of about 1,700 residential units in the area is one of the biggest selling points of downtown Winnipeg for retailers.

"They like to see continuous traffic, so not people who are just coming in and out of the downtown, but people who live in the downtown. that is going to be here," he said.

"If I was a businessman, I'd want to be there before the rush comes so that I'd get in there first and get the prime space."

In the meantime, Stone said he hopes downtown residents will use the IGA store on Donald Street near Broadway until more grocers move downtown.