Winnipeg Restaurants

[buzzg]

^Probably right.

[Intrepid-Poster]

The Second Cup on Edmonton Street appears to have suddenly closed.

[horrorbro123]

I Was at Polo Park This Evening Orange Julius Will Be Closed For Good In Favor Of Diary Queen

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by Intrepid-Poster

The Second Cup on Edmonton Street appears to have suddenly closed.

A tough business with Thom Bargen and Starbucks nearby.

[plrh]

That sucks. I prefer Second Cup to Starbucks. Does anyone know if there are any Second Cups left?

[Biff]

Originally Posted by horrorbro123

I Was at Polo Park This Evening Orange Julius Will Be Closed For Good In Favor Of Diary Queen

Orange Julius is Dairy Queen, so essentially they are just changing the name to the Parent company.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by Intrepid-Poster

The Second Cup on Edmonton Street appears to have suddenly closed.

its been for sale for a few years

[esquire]

^ That Second Cup predated pretty well every chain coffee shop downtown except Robin's... when they opened up there wasn't even a Starbucks or Tim's anywhere nearby.

It was a nice shop, too bad they couldn't make it work... the space was probably way too big relative to their sales. Probably a double whammy of increasing rents and declining sales (due to competition).

[trebor204]

Originally Posted by plrh

That sucks. I prefer Second Cup to Starbucks. Does anyone know if there are any Second Cups left?

The only location left are within shopping mall.

St Vital, Kildonan Place and Polo Park

[tvor202]

Originally Posted by h0twired

A tough business with Thom Bargen and Starbucks nearby.

I believe they are closed for renovations or relocating.. I could be wrong though.

[CoryB]

Second Cup (corporate) has been struggling for some time now to really establish a solid brand identity across all its locations. There is even a recent plan to convert from coffee to cannabis.

Source: Financial Post - April 12, 2018

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by tvor202

I believe they are closed for renovations or relocating.. I could be wrong though.

"Closed for renovations" are often code words restaurants use when they shut down.

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ That Second Cup predated pretty well every chain coffee shop downtown except Robin's... when they opened up there wasn't even a Starbucks or Tim's anywhere nearby.

It was a nice shop, too bad they couldn't make it work... the space was probably way too big relative to their sales. Probably a double whammy of increasing rents and declining sales (due to competition).

I remember not so long ago buying Christmas gifts of good quality coffee beans from that Second Cup location because it was the only place to do that downtown then. This was a time (circa 2001?) when there was one Starbucks in Winnipeg, and the third wave independents located in just about every cool neighbourhood were still a decade or more off.

Although there was also Coffee Time, which was on Graham Avenue where the Hydro HQ is now. But between those two, Second Cup was definitely considered superior by more *serious* coffee drinkers.

I guess the fact that I no longer set foot in there illustrates the way they've fallen off as competition grows around them. (And I've heard that even some of the new wave of independents have seen their POS's decline as the local market saturates.

What I did like about this Second Cup location, even as I stopped going there, was how it stayed open later in to the evening, and acted as a hangout for the neighbourhood (eg, new Canadians living around the corner near Central Park, Transit drivers between routes). Kind of sad to see that disappear.

[buzzg]

That whole building Second Cup is in is being renovated, and the SC hadn't been updated in a long time... they also just did a big corporate rebrand, so I could definitely see them renovating and reopening – it was always busy.

All DQs sell Orange Julius, so in theory it would make sense to convert to a DQ however I'm pretty sure A&W has an exclusivity deal with CF that doesn't allow other fast food burger joints in the mall. Maybe it'll be just the "Chill" part of DQ, no Grill.

[dennis]

There was a dunkin donuts for a short time right at the southwestern corner of the hydro tower lot.

[buzzg]

Funny, didn't know DD was ever in Canada.

[esquire]

^ The one downtown was the only location I specifically remember in Winnipeg although I seem to recall there may have been one or two others? Coffee Time and Country Style were a couple other chains that tried to establish themselves here in the 90s before getting flattened by Tim's.

Dunkin didn't have much of a clientele which in hindsight is weird given that a subset of the population always seems to go ga ga over whatever chain restaurant opens up here for the first time.

[SKYSTHELIMIT]

Originally Posted by horrorbro123

I Was at Polo Park This Evening Orange Julius Will Be Closed For Good In Favor Of Diary Queen

Is that the new place that also sells those hot dogs “Anne’s Franks”

Sorry horrorbro couldn’t help myself.

[Chrisforpm]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Funny, didn't know DD was ever in Canada.

I remember a location inside Superstore on St. Anne’s Rd right around that time. That was right when the Tim Hortons’s craze begun, so I think they got lost in the excitement of Timmy’s rapid expansion.

[dennis]

I went to that dunkins a few times, preferring that coffee over tims. I always try to pic up some dunkin donuts coffee when in the states.