- Opened 2017 (Park in July / Market in August)
- Located at 226034 112th St W MD of Foothills
- Hours: Granary Road Site Link
- https://www.granaryroad.com/
- Google Pics: Link
- Kid Friendly: No High Chairs, No Specific Kids Menu, Large Washrooms include a Change Table
- We will be visiting Granary Road further to continue to add to this article.
Granary Road is more than a Farmer’s Market, it’s an attraction.
Situated south of 22X it is outside of the city allowing lots of space for its “Active Learning Park”. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, first it’s a farmer’s market. As a farmer’s market it’s gorgeous, there has been some serious money spent here. It presents its upscale vendors in surroundings with concrete floors and wood finished walls. There are high vaulted ceilings and large windows letting in lots of natural light, as well as roll up doors along the front and back. The building is long with the market extending out to both ends with “The Loft Kitchen” in the center.
This is a fast casual restaurant with soups, sandwiches and pastries. Upstairs is a lounge for local beers and enjoying the view from the 40ft windows looking out over the park.
We visited Granary Road on August 27th, this was the first weekend that the Market, Loft Kitchen and the Park were all open together. We left our comfort zone of downtown and ventured far south past 22X essentially next door to Spruce Meadows. Granary Road makes an impression, it is big with lofty goals and lots of potential.
The parking lot has a separate entrance and exit, which I see as good planning for the days to come. However the parking lot is unpaved, not an issue in August but maybe later, and I don’t think it’s large enough. It was a little chaotic when it was busier and we were leaving. Still when your large parking lot isn’t large enough for all of your guests, it’s a great problem to have.
We arrived at 11am, and were hungry. We intended to look around and take in the park, however food first. Considering how far we were from any other options I thought that expecting to have a breakfast/brunch like meal at 11am wouldn’t be a surprise. However it was, all that was available were sandwiches and soups. Even the variety was limited as many items were marked with “Coming Soon”. There was lots of seating, both inside and out. Given the upscale enviroment I was expecting dishes to take my food to a table. Not so, the three of us took our sandwiches to a table in brown cardboard takeout boxes. We tore them down to make eating easier. It felt odd to sit at a table in such nice surroundings with torn down takeout boxes. However when I looked around it was what everyone was doing. It looked like they were equipped to make something more substantial. I would have loved anything with eggs and ham, however it wasn’t offered yet. The upstairs wasn’t open, and roped off marked “staff only”.
Now the prices. I ordered a latte, in a paper cup ($4.25), a happy planet juice ($4.75) for my daughter, a ham and cheese croissant ($4.75) also for my daughter, lastly a salami and cheese sandwich ($12.75) for myself. The total with taxes $27! Now my sandwich was on a baguette, it was Gruyere cheese and Genoa salami. However the sandwich was not worth $12.75, it was good, but not that good. I don’t have a problem with higher prices, however market appropriate. The latte was fine, the croissant with ham and cheese, even reasonable. Perhaps I’ve lost track of where Happy Planet’s prices are because 4.75 feels high. It’s my large and tasty sandwich which left the impression of high prices. Want to purchase a banana bread to take home for later? Sure $15, not bad. Want a slice now with a coffee, sure $3. Given the math I’d make that $2. I do want to back off on my attack of the pricing and food options. It just opened, and pricing things out isn’t easy.
Let’s run it through my usual criteria, it was good, and the place was wonderful to be in. Let’s give it some months to shake things down. Adjust the menu for what people are asking for. When I make plans to spend a significant part of my day there, I intend for that to include breakfast, but perhaps I’m alone in that. 
They have a beautiful patio with tables and umbrellas (and fabric umbrellas make a big impression on me, larger than they should). After shopping in the market, I want an afternoon coffee and cake. I did see an excellent looking cake from one of the market’s vendors, reasonably priced. However I wasn’t about to carry it out and eat from a box. They’re building an experience, I’m trying to have an experience, let’s deliver it all the way. Don’t hear me wrong, we will be back, but it’s early days for Granary Road.
The Market. I’ll get this out of the way, where is the produce? It’s ok, I’ll go else where for vegetables, if it’s not part of Granary Road’s vision. But then I won’t drive all this way and visit them for sausages and cheese. Reason? Well the first place I went for my tomatoes has that as well. Now again, let’s cut them some slack they just opened, and it’s August. Not late in the season, but later than farms may have wanted to commit to something. Again next year will be a better gauge of their total offerings. That being said right now they have some excellent vendors. The one that caught my eye the most was Urban Butcher, yes the very same as in Mission. The walk area did get hard to move in at its busiest, but they are plenty wide enough, it was just busy.
Take a look through our further pictures of the market. For a complete listing follow this LINK to the market’s vendor listing on their own site.
Lastly let’s talk “Active Learning Park”. This is 36 acres of play and learning in themed interactive areas. Everything looks great! This area is wonderful. I’d like some more trees for shade, but again they just opened. What I’d really like to see is a few more interpretive staff. However those we did see were friendly, knowledgeable and really added to the experience.
Once passing through the gates you follow a path to 11 exhibits and themed play areas. Most of these areas have climbing structures with slides and ropes. Everything had great sights to behold. There are interpretive signs detailing the areas and explaining the themes and learning aspects of the play.
My daughter really enjoyed each area and we had to keep reminding her there was more to see and do. I felt there are too many signs saying to not climb on things. Sure the giant mushrooms aren’t meant for climbing, but then don’t have them where you want kids to come and play. The petting zoo was great and again my daughter really enjoyed it. There wasn’t as much “petting” as some may want, but we were fine with that.
At the market building there’s even a gift shop.
Here is a LINK to their site’s listing about the park.
The last element I must bring up because people are all over their Facebook and Google pages talking about it. Admission price. It’s too high.
- Children 0-2: FREE
- Children 3 – 14: $13.00
- Adults 15+: $17.00
- Seniors 60+: $15.00
Let’s be clear the park is for kids. Meaning it’s not much for adults, expect to walk your kids around and watch them. To Granary Road, don’t burn the parents goodwill with high prices to watch their kids play. We spent $47 to walk around and watch our daughter play. Then another $40 on food when we arrived. Unfortunately we didn’t spend anything in the market to support the vendors, because our budget was spent and we felt a little burned on $17 admission each.
As far as I’m concerned, $10 per kid with adults being free is what I’m looking for. But if you really want, leave it at $13 for kids and make it $5 for parents. Remember you’re charging me to follow my kid around.
There’s great potential in every area of Granary Road. Everything off-putting isn’t deep rooted in their operation. These are just first impressions of a very new venture and something of this scale has a lot of growing to go through. We will be back, but not this year. We don’t leave downtown often, so we’re not your target audience. However next year I expect pricing to be trimmed up, restaurant food options to be expanded on, and proper dishes.
