Popular chain Peters’ Drive-In to set up shop in town
Owners of popular fast-food chain have been looking for location for years
A Calgary-based fast-food staple will soon be permanently parking in Edmonton.
Peters’ Drive-In will make the commute north and set up shop between Calgary Trail and Gateway Boulevard north of 51 Avenue after more than 10 years of searching for the opportunity, said Stephen Hayden, who purchased the franchise with his wife Joanne Rowe in 2005.
“We had been driving to Edmonton before we put Red Deer in for years, driving up looking at sites and found Red Deer on the way home one day actually,” Hayden said.
The location being developed along the major corridor on the east side of Calgary Trail will offer the traditional drive-thru service as well as eat-in and outdoor dining in a park-like atmosphere, Hayden said, with several park benches surrounded by trees and plants.
Commercial real estate agency Colliers International is developing the “Peters’ Drive-In Retail Centre” at 5138 Gateway Blvd., to also include a retail building with up to five units as well as a proposed coffee shop in the east building.
These spaces are currently listed as available for lease ranging in size from 1,200 square feet to 6,449 square feet and available toward the end of 2019.
“Exciting new opportunity to lease high-profile retail space strategically positioned along Gateway Boulevard and Calgary Trail, next to Peters’ Drive-In,” Colliers says in its leasing brochure for the centre. “Tenants will benefit from prime exposure and access to these high-traffic corridors.”
The south-central corridor just north of Whitemud Drive reaches a daytime population of 108,553 people with exposure to 35,691 vehicles per day, the developer said.
The popular burger joint first opened shop in Calgary in 1962 by Gus Pieters, who immigrated from the Netherlands eight years prior. Peters’ opened its doors in Red Deer in 2015 and Hayden said they are looking to provide the same experience to Edmontonians — many who have already travelled down to one of the two locations for the famous burgers and milkshakes.
“We want them to love us,” Hayden said. “This is Peters’ Edmonton.”
Hayden expects at least 70 employees will be hired from Edmonton to work at the new location. The restaurants are known for their extended hours — the Calgary location is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to midnight.
“We are working with the City of Edmonton to satisfy all regulatory requirements and we anticipate opening in the fall of 2019, or early in 2020,” Hayden said in an email.