Before the pandemic, the 18-year-old deli used to be open around the clock and employ 50 people. Now it employs 25.
Dunn’s Famous Deli on Dalhousie Street is closing March 23, ending its 18-year run because the ByWard Market eatery’s business never recovered to pre-COVID levels, its owner says.
“We’re sad to leave … but the ownership group is not optimistic about the (ByWard) Market getting better and changing,” owner Russell Garland said.
“We don’t have the business we used to. Plain and simple,” he continued. “This was not part of my plan. If it wasn’t for COVID, I don’t think we’d be in this situation.”
He faulted the City of Ottawa for failing to bolster the historic downtown neighbourhood and its businesses as they struggled with the impact of the pandemic and the exodus of office workers from downtown.
“My biggest problem is that the city hasn’t spent a penny on the Market, as far as I’m concerned. They’ve been spending on Lansdowne,” Garland said Tuesday. “I think the city has forgotten that this is all local businesses and they’re losing them all one by one.”
The Dunn’s closure comes on the heels of other long-time ByWard Market businesses closing since early 2024. The restaurants Oz Kafe, the Courtyard Restaurant and Mamma Grazzi’s Kitchen, all tenants in National Capital Commission heritage buildings, suddenly closed last year. Saslove’s Meat Market, closed last fall after seven decades in business, and Blue Cactus Bar and Grill closed after its 2024 New Year’s Eve party.
A new restaurant, Grey’s Social Eatery, is to open soon on ByWard Market Square, where Blue Cactus had been. Its owner, Abbis Mahmoud, told this newspaper he lived in the ByWard Market and he considered it “the most special area in all of Canada.”
Evening Update
But John Diener, the owner of Saslove’s, echoed Garland’s sentiments when he said last summer that operating in the ByWard Market was “a losing proposition the last few years.”
Garland said he announced the upcoming closure of Dunn’s so its regulars could come in and say goodbye to staff. Before COVID-19, the restaurant was so successful that Garland’s ownership group bought the Dalhousie Street building. In its heyday, Dunn’s was open around the clock and it employed 50 people, Garland said.
But it employs just 25 people now. The building and business were put up for sale earlier this year, and the owners found a buyer who will replace Dunn’s with a Chuck’s Roadhouse Bar & Grill location, Garland said.
There are several affiliated Dunn’s restaurants in Montreal, and they’re doing well, Garland said. “Here, we’re struggling,” he added. The decision to close the Ottawa Dunn’s was made in Ottawa, he said.
Last year, the City of Ottawa appointed a nightlife commissioner and the Ottawa Police Service opened a new storefront office in the Rideau Centre. Neither measure has improved the conditions and viability of the ByWard Market, Garland said.
“I think we’re losing local businesses because they’re just nobody downtown,” Garland said.
He did say that Live Nation Canada’s plan to open its History Ottawa venue on Rideau Street might bolster the Market. Hotels and housing coming to the Market might also help, he said, although improvements could be more than a year away.
“I’m not as positive as most people,” Garland said. “I’ve seen the Market in its heyday, and right now we’re seeing it going in the opposite direction.”
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