5 Edmonton properties for sale near donair shops

04/6/16 11:35 PM

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Each year, I visit my home province, Nova Scotia, to attend the Royal LePage East Coast Conference and to fill my belly with the ultimate meat snack: the Halifax donair. It’s a great opportunity to network with fellow REALTORS®, hear some motivational speakers, and visit with family. One of the speakers, Ross Simmonds, gave some great insight and ideas for social media activity. One tidbit I learned from Ross was CREAM: content rules everything around me, the essence of the message being that you have to keep putting out content in order to stay relevant. Then he said that DREAM replaced CREAM. Distribution over content. I haven’t fully comprehended what this means, so if you have any tips, please leave them in the comments!

Ross then said, somewhat out-of-the-blue, that he thinks someone should write a blog post on 5 houses near donair shops. I wrote it down and told myself I would be the one to write that article, and here it is!

Let’s start with a map of some of Edmonton’s donair shops, as recommended by my twitter followers.

Tip: click on the picnic tables for info on the donair shops, and click on the houses for a link to the listings. Zoom in closer to see just how close the properties are to the donair shops.

And now, for the list of houses near donair shops

1. Let’s start on the north side, shall we? Swiss Donair, probably the cleanest, shiniest donair shop in the city. I have never seen fast food cooks clean stainless steel before like I did here. That was reassuring, I can tell you. The donair was good, too.
   Nearby, you can purchase a 1261 square foot house for under $360000. It’s got a huge double garage and the possibility of adding a basement suite. You may have to buy twice the donairs though to keep your tenants happy.
2. Moving clockwise, the next stop is…Donair Stop! In sharp contrast to the aforementioned Alpine donair shop, this place has that total dive feel. With rickety tabletops and questionable bathroom facilities, Donair Stop’s red octagonal logo may be more of a message to do a 180 and head somewhere else. However, it does have a faithful following, willing to cross this great city in search of the finest of spiced meats. My most recent experience here was a let-down, and not because of the sub-par decor, either. I requested extra crispy meat (stick it on the grill for a few minutes until it browns, not a difficult request). Let’s just say I ended up with needlessly thick slices that were hardly even fried. Next time, I’ll drive to the north side.
   As for the house, just 3 blocks away you will find a beautiful updated late 50s bungalow. Most houses in the area won’t cost you half a million like this one, although most houses in the area don’t have this level of renovation.
3. Next up: Jumbo Donairs. You probably heard about this place in the news recently due to the owner’s generosity in feeding someone who didn’t have enough money. The story went huge, and I hope it boosted his business. Watch the video, he looks like such an awesome guy!
   A few blocks away in Michaels Park, you’ll find an awesome house for just under $400k. It has 5 bedrooms to house all of your donair-loving guests, and even has a sauna to help hide your perpetual meat sweats. Ever eaten a donair by a wood-burning fireplace? This is your day. 
4. What would a food list be without at least one stop on Whyte Ave? Incomplete, that’s what. What Kebab Express lacks in service, it makes up for in tile variety. I think I lost count of how many different tiles were used to decorate the floors and walls at about 15. That’s impressive. The main reason this place made the list is because of Blues on Whyte at the Commercial Hotel. I love live music, and this is probably the only place you can go watch live blues every single night of the year. There’s no cover most nights, and with the exception of 1 group, I’ve never been disappointed. Totally worth visiting this historic property for the music alone, then sliding over to Kebab Express for some grease-meat. Oh, it’s also a hookah bar, FYI, which adds a weird vibe and sort of feels illegal, although somehow it’s not.
   Nearby Scona Station is a recent-ish condo project with underground parking and big balconies. There’s even an exercise room, and you can see Bulk Barn from the balcony. Hello!
5. Marco’s Famous has a couple locations I do believe, and I’m featuring the downtown iteration. It’s close to MacEwan (across the street) and next to a Starbucks.
   Pretty much anyone living anywhere downtown or in Oliver has been seeing dollar signs in their eyes with the thought of the arena being downtown, and while it remains to be seen whether-or-not owning real estate near the arena will dramatically increase your property values, I can guarantee that you will have a constant stream of friends asking if they can park at your place so they can see the Oilers lose in the nicest facility in the league. Oh well, at least you’ll have a half-decent donair to help heal the pain. Alta Vista is a nice condo in a very convenient location, and who doesn’t love beautiful hardwood floors?
6. BONUS ROUND!!!
   Ever heard of a vegan donair? Well, supposedly, the Clever Rabbit does one, and it goes over well with the non-believers. If you try it and it’s awful, at least you’re only a few doors away from Duchess and across the street from Dovetail Delicatessen.
   Since you’re eating unconventional food, why not try an unconventional house? Here’s a brand new skinny house (you know, where they bulldoze an old piece of junk, subdivide the lot, tick off the neighbours, and build something sleek and modern). You can’t say it ain’t pretty, and at well over 1800 square feet, $719000 seems reasonable.