It came as a blow to many when Darren McGeown, owner of Arcadia Café & Bar, announed on Thursday night that the business would be closing its doors.
But McGeown said he wasn’t all that surprised.
“This doesn’t come as a shock to me, but the timing of how it all came down just happened this week,” McGeown said Friday afternoon.
He explained that, after a verbal agreement with his landlord fell through, Arcadia’s rent would be doubled to $3,600 a month under a new lease, a price he isn’t prepared to pay starting in January.
“The lease prices are basically pretty ridiculous in St. Albert. There’s honestly a reason why St. Albert is full of franchises. I just don’t see how independent local businesses can survive (here).”
After a “terrible summer,” McGeown said he feels “franchises (are) rammed down people’s throats” and are taking away from local business.
“I have so much respect and admiration for these businesses in [the Perron District] that are staying open and have been open for years now, because I haven’t a clue how they do it,” he noted. “I’ve doubled, tripled my business from last year and … I don’t know how people do it.”
Arcadia opened in April 2012 and has been a popular venue for local musicians to perform and visual artists to show their work for free.
Peter Kelly, a St. Albert musician who has played at Arcadia several times, said it’s a sad day for the arts community.
“(Darren) got the ball rolling for young entertainers that were just trying to get a feel for it, get over the nervousness of being up on stage and playing. He was definitely doing a good thing for the community down there,” Kelly said.
Alexandra DesCotes, a local designer and illustrator, said she was excited when Arcadia opened because it attracted the city’s younger crowd.
“Darren opened his doors to artists,” she said, adding the cafĂ© got her work exposure while she was still a student.
“I think that brought a lot of people downtown and encouraged them to stay in St. Albert. It’s really unfortunate, I don’t know of other locations that pushed that as much as Arcadia did.”
McGeown had been hoping to have a couple more months to build up Arcadia’s name as the business was seeing success, he said. Now, he has no plans to re-open in St. Albert.
“I’m not in a rush to find anything in Edmonton. I’m looking around,” he said.
The next thing on McGeown’s list is to pack up his bags and travel, Latvia for Christmas and Ireland to visit family. He hopes to get more ideas and bring them home in the new year.
Arcadia Café & Bar will remain open until Dec. 15.
