And then there were two: Browns Restaurant Group (BRG) has shut the doors of its Browns Socialhouse restaurant location in Vancouver's Kitsilano, leaving just a pair of its original concept venues located within the city proper - plus a few more "sibling" spots.
Located at 2296 W 4th Ave at Vine Street, the Kits outpost of Browns is closed permanently as of the start of October.
"The lease at this location has expired and we are sad to say that the franchise owners will no longer be serving the Kitsilano community from this property," explains a BRG representative to Vancouver Is Awesome via email.
"The 16-year run was fun, and the people in the neighbourhood have always been great supporters. Browns Socialhouse will miss serving them," the rep adds.
The closure is symbolic of what BRG points to as being a changing trend in the local business market. "We have many other locations throughout the Lower Mainland, but the City of Vancouver itself is a tough market for real estate, so we are concentrating our growth elsewhere."
The remaining Browns Socialhouse restaurants in Vancouver are located in Point Grey and at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in downtown. The Point Grey location, at 10th and Alma would be the closest one to the now-shuttered Kits location, for those in the area looking for a familiar experience.
BRG also operates three of its Brown Crafthouse concept restaurants in Vancouver proper (UBC, Main St, and Seymour St in downtown).
Browns Socialhouse has numerous locations in Metro Vancouver in other municipalities, as well as across Canada in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. It also operates the Liberty Kitchen concept on Vancouver Island and Scotty Browns across the border in Bellingham, Washington.
