On Thursday night, I checked out the soft launch of the new Earls at Station Square in Burnaby.
If you aren’t familiar, Station Square is a revamped area just west of Metrotown mall on Kingsway. There are new condos being built, a new grocery store and some restaurants being added.
Earls is closing up its other Kingsway location, which sits just west of Willingdon. For years, it was located a few blocks away from Cactus Club, which is currently right in front of Metrotown mall.
So when I went to the new Earls, I was shocked to see that a new Cactus Club will be actually be located right next door to the Earls.
It feels rare that two restaurants that serve very similar clientele would locate right next to each other. (Cactus Club and Earls on Lougheed Highway are only a couple of blocks from each other – so another area in which they are close, but not too close.)
It should be an epic fight for people’s hunger pains. Both chains have huge followings and should draw a lot of diners to this location.
The new Earls is pretty chic and has a large patio on a much-quieter street than its Kingsway location. So it should make for a better patio experience.
Cactus Club has a patio at its current location right on Kingsway - a pretty noisy street - so it too will benefit from a much-quieter location at Station Square.
Cactus Club is still a ways off from being open in Station Square, but the company is hosting a hiring fair on April 30, according to its website, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express Metrotown, 4405 Central Blvd. Click here for more details.
