Sylvia Shank has been with Blue Chair Cafe since its opening as a bookkeeper 22 years ago. She became the owner in 2020, turning it into the lively restaurant you see today.
“I felt that you know if we just had more music and did a few different things differently, it might make it a little more profitable, but that didn’t work out,” said Shank.
After 22 years of service, this long-standing cafe will be closing down on Sunday, April 26. Ending this chapter is not an easy decision for the owner, but says it’s purely financial.
“Food prices have gone up exponentially, gas prices – so if you get food delivered, there’s always a fuel surcharge … Rent over the years has gone up, so everything goes up, but you can’t pass all the direct costs onto your customers, or it’ll just be out of reach.”
The news of it shutting down is a bummer for longtime customers.
“It is hard, and I think we make choices with our pocketbooks every day, so I think it’s important for us always to support local businesses rather than chains,” said Ione Challborn, a customer.
Construction and redevelopment are also issues Shank is facing.
“We’ve also noticed a strain with 76th Avenue, which has been closed for so long, plus it’s going to be closed again next year; they’re putting a bike lane in,” Shank explained.
The cafe is big on featuring local musical talents. For one artist, she says it became a launchpad for emerging artists in the city, and seeing it go is bad news.
“I feel like venues right now – music venues in Edmonton are kind of dropping like flies, like we’re losing them and we’re short of them. So, for one that has been around for so long, after a while, they start to feel like institutions, you know what I mean. And so for one that’s been around for so long to be going away. It’s not a good feeling,” said Dana Wylie, the lead singer of Secondhand Dreamcar.
During the lunch hour, one customer CityNews spoke to was devastated hearing that another local business and live music cafe was closing down.
“I’m very disappointed that the restaurant is closing. It’s been a fixture in this neighbourhood,” said Challborn.
Despite putting on a curtain call to the cafe, Shank is hoping a new one will emerge and continue the live music cafe in Edmonton.
“You never know what the future might bring. You never know. Might be able to work something through somewhere else, you never know,” said Shank.
