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Restaurant Matisse | Victoria | 512 Yates Street | Closed


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#1 Mike K.

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 09:23 AM

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Restaurant Matisse, having operated out of its lower Yates Street location since the late 1990's, has been forced to close, say its owners. The retail space will become the City of Victoria's first sanctioned marijuana dispensary if an active rezoning application currently before the municipality is approved.

 

Zagat-rated Restaurant Matisse shuttered as pot-shop operator seeks to open licensed dispensary

http://victoria.citi...sed-dispensary/

 

A Zagat-rated downtown Victoria restaurant has closed after nearly two decades in business due to what its operators are calling a forced situation.

Restaurant Matisse, a cornerstone of the lower Yates commercial district, opened at 512 Yates Street in 1998 and quickly became one of the Capital City’s top dining experiences. Having garnered praise and accolades from professional foodies to restaurant rating websites and blogs like Trip Advisor, Yelp, Zomato and the highly coveted Zagat restaurant rating organization, Matisse was considered by many as one of Victoria's fine-dining gems.

In a public statement released online, owner John Phillips attributes his restaurant's sudden closoure to the landlord’s “increased rent demands and management fees,” which “forced” his hand. Tenancy negotiations, the statement says, had been on-going on for a year. [Full article]


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#2 Nparker

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 09:34 AM

:mad:



#3 Rob Randall

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 09:41 AM

Before it was Matisse it had a variety of names but was best known as Chez Pierre in the 1980s. I would be sickened it it were replaced with a pot shop.


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#4 Mike K.

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 09:52 AM

The owner of the building is the same company that attempted to evict residents from an upper Douglas Street motel late last year.


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#5 Danma

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 09:54 AM

Boo! I hope Matisse's owner chooses to open up somewhere else. Like we need more pot shops in this area; there's already like seven within a few blocks of here. God.


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#6 spanky123

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 09:54 AM

^ Exactly the type of high quality and principled ownership that we should have for our illegal businesses.



#7 aastra

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 10:39 AM

It would be neat if every commercial space in Victoria was occupied by a pot shop.



#8 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 10:49 AM

^ blow Amsterdam away.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#9 Nparker

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 10:52 AM

It would be neat if every commercial space in Victoria was occupied by a pot shop.

I am beginning to think that is the agenda of this Council.



#10 Love the rock

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 11:27 AM

I am tired of living here on Mars .
Please ,please beam me back to earth !
Mark my words soon as the unicorn princess along with
her unicorn handlers ,make a new disaster they can't handle
she'll blame someone else .
Anyone else ,everyone else .
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#11 johnk

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 11:44 AM

When a restaurant is good people will follow it as long as it doesn't go too far away. Matisse should be ok if they stay in the core.

#12 Nparker

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 11:57 AM

When a restaurant is good people will follow it as long as it doesn't go too far away. Matisse should be ok if they stay in the core.

It's not so much that I fear for the future of Matisse as much as I fear for the future of downtown as it becomes more and more overrun with illegal businesses sanctioned by Council.  :mad:


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#13 JanionGuy

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 02:20 PM

There's more to this story than what is written in the article. Personally, i believe the owner (who had other partner(s)) has lost interest.  They have failed recently to support any form of new business through advertising and social media.  The entranceway has been run-down -- and getting worse -- for years.  I doubt Matisse will be resurrected elsewhere.  


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#14 Mike K.

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 03:40 PM

In late spring or early summer of last year they had already put the word out that they were looking for a new space.

What makes this story so interesting is that a long-time, well-liked and respected business couldn't afford to remain in the space, regardless of whatever else was happening.

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#15 Nparker

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 03:44 PM

...What makes this story so interesting is that a long-time, well-liked and respected business couldn't afford to remain in the space...

And a pot shop with its lack of regulations and virtual tax-free status is better able to pay the rent. Something's rotten in the state of Denmark.



#16 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 03:45 PM

Yes, while they used their Facebook very sparingly, to say the least... they did post they were having landlord issues last year.


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#17 spanky123

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 03:49 PM

In late spring or early summer of last year they had already put the word out that they were looking for a new space.

What makes this story so interesting is that a long-time, well-liked and respected business couldn't afford to remain in the space, regardless of whatever else was happening.

 

My understanding is that the rezoning applications are controlled by the property owners. I would imagine that once the rezoning is approved then the property owners can dictate whatever terms they want to the pot shop owners and if the owners don't comply then they can just rent to other pot shops.



#18 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 17 February 2017 - 03:52 PM

My understanding is that the rezoning applications are controlled by the property owners. I would imagine that once the rezoning is approved then the property owners can dictate whatever terms they want to the pot shop owners and if the owners don't comply then they can just rent to other pot shops.

 

That might be partially correct.  There are very few pot shops that own their own space.  I think, a live-work condo would be great for a pot shop.  You get a built-in security guard sleeping upstairs, you!


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#19 JanionGuy

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Posted 21 February 2017 - 05:39 PM

To support my original post on this thread that they will not reimerge (and really don't care)... I was by there today and not a single indication that they care., ie. a sign in the window thanking previous guests, a note that they are looking for new space, etc. etc.  Nada.  I'm glad i had a number of good meals there years ago, syonara.



#20 jonny

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Posted 21 February 2017 - 06:06 PM

Maybe the landlord took down the signs Matisse put up?

 

I can't imagine they "really don't care". 



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