Liquor store owner claims $200,000 in lost business due to construction

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The city’s promotional material supporting the Imagine Jasper Avenue project predicts more walkable, wider sidewalks, reconstructed roads and better transit access.

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But, Kanwarpreet Singh Chatrath, the owner of a liquor store near the corner of Jasper Avenue and 121 Street, simply imagines a Jasper Avenue where his business isn’t cut off from the street.

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Chatrath said that Value Liquor Hub has lost about $200,000 in sales over the past three months, comparing this year’s sales figures to 2025. He said, if he wants to keep his business afloat, he may have to take out another mortgage on his house.

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The city’s plan shows that the Imagine Jasper Avenue work will continue over three years, with breaks in the winter. Traffic has been reduced to one lane in each direction and many construction barriers have gone up, hiding the businesses from the street. The work in the 121 Street area, which includes moving utility lines, is expected to go until the snow flies.

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“If it lasts until the fall, then I fall,” said Chatrath. He added that for the first time in eight years he has gone to his landlord asking for rent relief. “I’m telling you, if it stays till fall or winter, then I’m done.”

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Chatrath’s claims of how bad a city construction project has impacted his business comes days after the owners of Khazana Restaurant blamed LRT and O’day-Min Park construction projects for forcing them to shut their doors.

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In the wake of the Khazana announcement, Ward O’day-Min Coun. Anne Stevenson said it is time to rekindle the debate on whether or not the city should provide some sort of compensation for businesses who are grossly impacted by major civic construction work.

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Chatrath believes the city should compensate affected businesses for the losses caused by construction and better manage projects to reduce the impact on merchants.

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“They took our livelihood, very simple,” he said. “If you are doing something in the city, then you have to make sure that businesses have adequate parking, so that their business should not be impacted, or they have to do it one by one block wise. That’s so that all the resources can work on one block, and they can do it in days instead of taking three months.”

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Chatrath said construction has driven away longtime customers and made it difficult for delivery drivers to access his store, hurting sales.

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“The Uber guys, the Skip guys, nobody can come over there,” he said.”So there is no way if somebody wants to buy liquor, he will make so much of effort to come to my store, no way.”

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Khazana’s tough decision

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Mehaik Bhasin’s family had run Khazana for nearly three decades. They added a location on the southside and a Khazana Express near the St. Albert border. But they faced a series of obstacles; COVID, inflation pushing up the price of food and the construction of O’day-Min Park directly to the south of the Downtown location, and construction of the LRT directly to the north.