Removal of barricades raises business hopes
Before swarms of people crossed the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street on Tuesday, Carter Friesen erected a pop-up with Oakberry posterboards and acai bowl samples.
'For our business in particular, there's a bit of a difference between summers and every other time of the year,' Friesen said, midway through setting up his booth outside 201 Portage.
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
Pedestrians and event-goers high-five each other while crossing Portage and Main over the lunch hour on Tuesday.
Summers mean vacationing office workers. It's not as busy at Oakberry, in 201 Portage's underground food court.
But the past few days have been busier, Friesen said. He believes Portage and Main pedestrian crossings are partly responsible.
The intersection opened to foot traffic June 27. Already, some nearby businesses have noticed new faces; others are unsure whether the change has made a difference.
Donavan Robinson joined Friesen and a handful of other vendors showcasing their companies on Tuesday.
Throngs of workers and visitors passed by Robinson's booth for Pop CoLab, stopping to check out buttons and Tetris cubes. A band played along the same corner, just outside the Richardson Building.
'Personally, I think the more people wandering and moving about … it's just going to be better,' Robinson said.
The scores flocking to Portage and Main midday Tuesday had, largely, arrived for an event: organizations like the Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone and Exchange District BIZ prepared a celebration of the intersection's change.
Mayor Scott Gillingham joined corporations, non-profits and visiting Manitobans to walk across the barrier-free juncture. The Manitoba Métis Federation hosted tours around its under-construction Red River Métis national heritage centre; the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team held a meet-and-greet nearby.
Live music played, and upwards of 100 people milled about in preparation for a mass 12:30 p.m. crossing.
Pop CoLab's booth was partially an exposure play, Robinson shared. Normally, he's working in his shop, underground in the Richardson concourse.
He doesn't expect to see fewer people. Neither does Eric Chi, who runs Eshel Tree in the Portage and Main concourse. Most clients come from connected office towers, Chi said.
Engineering reports and consultations with entrepreneurs will precede decisions on business operations in the underground concourse, Gillingham said on June 27. The City of Winnipeg didn't respond to further questions by print deadline Tuesday.
People have migrated down Main Street to Parlour Coffee, said owner Connor Vogt: '(They've) said, 'I'm coming to Parlour again, I'm making the walk over.''
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
Carter Friesen and sister Kyla Friesen, owners of Oakberry (acai bowls and smoothies), set up a promotional booth in front of 201 Portage Ave.
Anything improving walk-by traffic flow will help ground floor businesses, noted David Pensato, Exchange District BIZ executive director. The removal of the intersection's barriers comes after a year of increased foot traffic downtown and in the Exchange.
Lunchtime can still be 'hit and miss,' Pensato said, but restaurants are typically busy in the evenings.
The open intersection improves accessibility for local residents — and that's a positive for investors, said Natalie Thiesen, Economic Development Winnipeg vice-president, tourism.
'Investors want to look at density of people living downtown, accessibility of businesses, people moving,' she said. 'Those are all elements that are important.'
She expects ongoing renovations in the city's core — including the MMF's heritage centre and work at the Fairmont Winnipeg — will be 'transformational' for the intersection.
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Critics of the intersection's opening cited traffic delays and collisions. Barriers appeared along the corners in 1979.
Winnipeggers voted against opening Portage and Main in 2018, though the plebiscite results were non-binding. Ultimately, the space opened after a city report found $73 million was needed to replace a leaky membrane protecting the underground concourse.
Lori Miller was initially unhappy about the vote being ignored. She trekked to Winnipeg from Victoria Beach for a medical appointment and decided to visit Portage and Main with her husband — after all, things change and move on, she said.
'It was fun,' she said of walking across the intersection. 'We'll see what it's like in the winter.'
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabrielle PichéReporter
Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.
Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
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