Page 52 - 08_Oct-2025

There’s also a clear intention to spotlight local
talent. Handwoven tapestries by Edmonton textile
artist Jessica Kyca hang prominently on walls, and
a local woodworker has been brought in-house to
help craft pieces for the Trove furniture line. That
ethos continues downstairs at Bar Trove, where
the ivory-glazed ceramic charcuterie boards,
rippled like draped fabric, were commissioned by
Trove and handmade in Calgary. Bar Trove doubles
as a showroom: selected plates and glassware, and
even the house olive oil, are sold in their retail
space across the corridor so that guests can buy
the very items they experience in the bar.
Cozy and intimate, Bar Trove is smaller than you’d
expect and feels like a secret New York lounge that
might require a password to get in. The interior —
with its floral-upholstered couches, panelled wood
walls and show-stopping deep rouge fireplace
(newly built, but convincingly vintage) — mixes the
palette and ornateness of a Parisian salon with the
brooding richness of a British drawing room. The
effect is indulgent, transportive, yet grounded in the
historical space it inhabits.
At the heart of the room is a dramatic bar with a
custom base by Edmonton’s Forge 53, wrapped in
marble veined with blush and gold and flanked by
brass shelves. And just when you think the design
details are the main event — enter the menu.
With food curated by chef Eric Hanson, formerly
of The Marc, the seafood-focused menu rotates
with party-ready fare, like freshly shucked oysters
and a decadent lobster linguini that also appears
in Kyle McDavid’s debut cookbook — one more in
a growing list of entrepreneurial ventures.
the staircase,
original to the building and solid with every step,
Kyle McDavid warns me: “My office is still a little
bit of a construction zone.”
She isn’t kidding. As we walk into the third-floor
Kyle and Co. headquarters, it’s all hustle: meetings
in progress, boxes to unpack, decisions to make
and employee questions flying her way (she
employs 21 full-time staff across her ventures, plus
contractors). Lenard — the McDavids’ Instagram-
famous dog — patters around beneath a bank
of desks stacked with Macs and moodboards.
The space hums with the kind of startup energy
instantly recognizable to anyone who’s worked
in early-stage businesses.
In a small corner stockroom, modern rancher
jackets and soft knitwear with subtle Oilers branding
are folded with care — remnants of the 2025 launch
collection for Sports Club Atelier (if you’re counting,
that’s her fifth business). The minimalist-chic line of
game-day apparel sold out on its first drop.
52 EDify. OCTOBER.25
BAR TROVE
TROVE LIVING
SPORTS CLUB
ATELIER
KYLE AND CO.
Although it debuted in partnership with the Edmonton Oilers in
2025, the idea dates back to 2017, when custom jackets designed
and worn by players’ wives and girlfriends — also known as WAGs
— gained traction. What began as a niche fashion trend has since
become a viable commercial offshoot for pro teams, but that
attention can cut both ways for the women behind the designs.
As noted by a July 2025 New York Times feature titled “With All
Eyes on Them, a ‘WAG’ Style Emerges,” being a WAG comes with
instant resources and rocket-fuel publicity, yet their own impressive
achievements are often overshadowed — and undervalued —
because the public credits their success to their pro-athlete husbands
and boyfriends.
Carving out an identity of their own can take years (even for a Spice
Girl). Kyle McDavid is up for it. Five ventures in, she isn’t surprised
by Sports Club Atelier’s success. The pieces cost no more than an
Oilers jersey; they’re just made to turn heads beyond the arena. And
that contrast is her business blueprint: elevate a game-day jacket,
or transform a century-old bank into a home for luxury furniture,
cocktails and caviar. Each venture mirrors her lifestyle — and now
Edmonton can buy in. Can a city that prides itself on quiet wealth rise
to the challenge?
“I get fired up whenever people ask me this question,” she says.
“I don’t think we have a complicated relationship with polish and
ambition. We’ve just been afraid to do it — but when we do, people
follow. They just need to see it first.”
She is fearless in the belief that if you build it, Edmonton will back it.
Even with her husband’s long-term future unannounced at the time
of our interview, Kyle McDavid insists her investment in Edmonton
isn’t contingent on where the Oilers captain ends up. “I love this city
regardless of whether we’re here.” She pauses. “I would have done it
regardless. People have multiple businesses all over the world.” ED.
hair and makeup CALVIN ALEXANDER