Ottawa's Byward Market

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Will they be renting the space out for private events?

Yes. They have a 200-person event space and VIP lounge. That was revealed in an OBJ article last week. They'd need a good 15 events a month in there to justify full-time staff.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by 2posting2ottawa

I don't know where the idea that the market doesn't have clubs or young people aren't going out comes from other than Gen X nostalgia for spots that haven't been open or relevant for 20 years. The club scene in Ottawa has been growing year over year consistently and finally recovered from COVID killing half the spots. History Ottawa is opening in a few weeks.

The market doesn't need a new food hall or pedestrianization it just needs a larger and better equipped year round event space where the parking is on York.

Bank street actually needs significant public investment and new destination spaces but the Market plan takes up all the oxygen with endless debates about pedestrianization.

Thanks for your perspective. Welcome to the forum

[J.OT13]

Owner of Le Moulin de Provence unsure of his future in the ByWard Market

Marissa Galko, OBJ
July 22, 2026

When Claude Bonnet opened Le Moulin de Provence in the ByWard Market in 1998, it really felt like a market. As Bonnet tells it, he was looking to settle somewhere where he could cater to people getting around on foot, much like the Atwater Market in Montreal. “When I opened Le Moulin, the success was […]

https://obj.ca/owner-le-moulin-de-provence-unsure-future-in-byward-market/

[rocketphish]

ByWard Market's Vendor Village is the BMDA's latest failure
The shipping containers operating as retail businesses are almost all empty now, as shopkeepers blame poor planning for terrible sales.

By Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Published Aug 06, 2026 | Last updated 1 hour ago | 7 minute read

When I ran into Kafui Salakor in the ByWard Market recently, she wasn’t waiting for customers. She was packing up.

Since mid-May, when she opened her Déka Trends shop in the Market’s new Vendor Village — a cluster of a dozen shipping containers converted into retail shops beside the former Hudson’s Bay building — she’d been waiting for the business she’d expected.

It just never came.

Salakor had reason to be optimistic. Last August and September, selling from a stand on William Street alongside the ByWard Market Building, her jewellery, clothing and engraving business had been good. Customers especially liked watching her laser-engrave their photographs onto stone and tile while they waited.

This summer was different. Sales didn’t come close to what she expected. Unable to move to a York Street tent because she doesn’t drive and had nowhere secure to store her inventory overnight, Salakor decided to cut her losses halfway through the season.

“Last September, I sold more than I have from May until now,” she said. “It’s become demoralizing. It’s hard to get up in the morning and want to come here.”

It might be easy to dismiss Salakor’s complaints if she were the only one making them, but she’s not. And she’s not the only one giving up on running a business in the Market.

During a recent Thursday-afternoon visit to Vendor Village — a time when every Vendor Village business should have been open — only six of the 12 containers appeared to be operating as retail businesses. A couple sat vacant. Others, although leased, were closed. One former vendor container, now manned by the ByWard Market District Authority (BMDA), offered only visitor pamphlets.

Over the next couple of weeks, I visited the village four times. It never got any better.


<more>

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/byward-market-vendor-village-failure

[J.OT13]

Who could have guessed that pop-up businesses by an abandoned department store across a wide, unpleasant busy road from a livelier, more pedestrianized area, would fail.

[Kitchissippi]

I walked by there in June and it just lacks a cool factor. Most of the stuff is trinkets which you normally impulse buy when there other things or food on offer. If they had good food trucks parked in the HBC’s old loading docks and a busker space it might have a better chance of succeeding.

[rocketphish]

ByWard Market District Authority issues lease breach notice to market vendors over posters
The poster included an image of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe next to a QR code and urged people to email the mayor with a request to repeal what it described as renoviction plans.

By Abyssinia Abebe, Ottawa Citizen
Published Aug 08, 2026 | Last updated 17 hours ago



Long-standing businesses in Ottawa’s ByWard Market Building received notice letters from their landlord after they put up posters that the ByWard Market District Authority claimed were in breach of their tenancy agreements.

The posters were put up after a group of vendors — including 16 of the 17 businesses located in the building — created a petition on July 12 asking Ottawa city council to reverse a multi-million-dollar revitalization plan for the ByWard Market Building at 55 ByWard Market Square.

Almost a month since the vendors submitted the petition, there has been no concrete action from the mayor’s office, says Maxine Hill, owner of Canada In A Basket, which is located in the building.

That was what led the vendors’ group to put up posters around the ByWard Market in an attempt to make the public aware of what Hill described as a “looming threat” to the merchants’ livelihood.

The market authority took down the posters after sending what Hill described as a “nasty” email to vendors, saying the vendors were in violation of their lease agreements.

The black-and-red poster included an image of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe next to a QR code and urged people to email the mayor with a request to repeal what the poster described as renoviction plans for the ByWard Market Building.

“Support your local food and craft merchants!” the poster read.

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https://ottawacitizen.com/news/byward-market-district-authority-breach-notice-vendors-posters

[Richard Eade]

Well, this is crazy. Does their lease agreement really prevent them from making political statements? If they put up an election poster for one candidate, would that also contravene their lease agreement? Time for a good lawyer to step in and do some pro bono work.

As one of the opinions in a previous Citizen article stated: The BMDA really emphasizes the ‘A’.

[In the ‘olden days’, civil servants were expected to be completely neutral, and so they were not allowed to voice opinions (work for candidate or post signs) during elections. That has proven to be unenforceable.]

PS Personally, I like the poster. I think that it is well crafted. But then, I agree with its message.

[J.OT13]

Trump places tariffs on Canada. Canada retaliates. Trump gets mad and retaliates the retaliation.

This feels the same.

Mayor reveals a plan that does not include any of the existing tenants. Tenants understandably has some concerns and asks the public to back them. Mayor (through BMDA) retaliates.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

Well, this is crazy. Does their lease agreement really prevent them from making political statements? If they put up an election poster for one candidate, would that also contravene their lease agreement? Time for a good lawyer to step in and do some pro bono work.

As one of the opinions in a previous Citizen article stated: The BMDA really emphasizes the ‘A’.

[In the ‘olden days’, civil servants were expected to be completely neutral, and so they were not allowed to voice opinions (work for candidate or post signs) during elections. That has proven to be unenforceable.]

PS Personally, I like the poster. I think that it is well crafted. But then, I agree with its message.

I'm happy to see the building renovated. There are some good current tenants I hope can survive with the increased rents. Corazon De Maiz for example can probably pay the extra rent with the increase in evening business they can expect. The sort of warmed over food most of the rest of them offer for the captive lunch market probably less so.

[Truenorth00]

Byward. The actual market and the surrounding area is disappointing. It should be more like one of the markets in London, UK. But forget Covent Garden in London, UK. It's not even as good as Covent Garden in London, ON.

[rocketphish]

Ottawa’s new full-body VR made me fear a monster I knew wasn’t real
Sandbox VR is an immersive virtual reality adventure where groups of two to six players enter virtual worlds from physical rooms.

By Abyssinia Abebe, Ottawa Citizen
Published Aug 13, 2026 | Last updated 9 hours ago | 5 minute read

I’m wandering through a dark and misty world, past giant towers that are tearing through clouds, where an evil overlord is sending fire-spitting dragons and creepy skeletons that are three times my size. They’re all there to destroy me.

When a green, Shrek-looking monster aggressively charges at me, I can’t help but feel actual fear.

I look down at my avatar’s hands and legs. One of my hands has powers to shoot out iced blades and the other is holding a sharp weapon. I have a dark blue, full-body hero’s suit made out of steel. A monster comes vaulting towards me. I can feel the buzzing as its weapon smashes against my armour.

I felt a wide spectrum of emotions — mostly rage — as I slashed the the green monsters.

I’d almost forgotten I was wearing a sensory vest. I’m at Sandbox VR, a new immersive virtual reality experience in the the ByWard Market, where groups of two to six players enter virtual worlds from physical rooms.

Sandbox VR has over 40 locations worldwide, and just opened their first location in Ottawa in December 2025. I’ve never tried virtual reality before, and I’m not even a gamer, so when I walked through the doors on Rideau St., I felt a bit nervous.

But I wanted to see if VR is a gimmick, or something that is worth your time and money.

The staff members at Ottawa’s Sandbox Virtual Reality (VR) branch don’t describe the virtual reality adventures as games. They call them experiences. And an experience it was.

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https://ottawacitizen.com/life/sandbox-virtual-reality-experience