Pedestrianized streets coming
Joining streets that were pedestrianized last summer, like Mont-Royal, Wellington and segments of Ste‑Catherine Street, will be even more streets – parts of St‑Laurent Boulevard and Masson Street are mentioned, although Masson may depend on what can be done to stabilize the steeple of St‑Esprit church. How much of the Main will close, and for how long, is not clear. And there’s some division over how much of Ontario Street will be closed to traffic for the summer, too.
qatzelok 12:22 on 2021-03-28 Permalink
I’m not sure if merchants are aware of all the “potential-customers” that are being repelled by the car traffic they fight to preserve.
For example, I avoid Masson Street because the car traffic makes it unpleasant and constrained. The merchants only see *the drivers they could lose*, and not *the non-drivers they could win over*.
Phil M 13:30 on 2021-03-28 Permalink
But how much can you sell to the same few local customers over and over? Attracting more customers from further away helps businesses survive and grow.
Kate 13:57 on 2021-03-28 Permalink
It depends what you sell, Phil M. You can always sell food (groceries or prepared), domestic cleaning and maintenance supplies, coffee, magazines and books, wine and beer. People need those every week.
I need to find a reference to the study that showed that most people shopping along Mont-Royal live nearby and simply walk over to shop. When I was thinking about what to list, things people buy repeatedly and all the time, I only had to visualize the two commercial streets I go to most often: Jarry around the metro, and St-Laurent through Little Italy. While there are one or two clothing stores on both stretches, almost everything else is stuff people buy repeatedly and every week – in the case of bakeries and fruiteries, even more often.
Of course if you sell specialist items of any kind, yes, you’re going to be interested in attracting people from further afield because it’s a different slice of the demographic you’re after. But not all merchants have to think that way.
DeWolf 14:40 on 2021-03-28 Permalink
We’re talking about commercial streets in the densest parts of the city. There are 85,000 people who live within 2km of St-Denis/Mont-Royal – easy walking distance. If you expand that to 5km (about 20 minutes by bike or bus/metro) you’re capturing just under 500,000 people. That’s equivalent to the population of Laval and more than twice the population of the West Island.
There’s a reason that, even before the pandemic, less than 10% of Mont-Royal’s customers came by car, according to a survey by the SDC. And it’s a street filled with shoe stores, supermarkets, clothing boutiques, bookstores and other destination businesses. It also has the highest occupancy rate of any commercial strip in Montreal.
I don’t understand this double standard where people are happy to drive to a shopping mall and walk a few hundred metres to the shops they want to visit, but somehow when they go to Ontario Street or St-Laurent they must absolutely park right in front of the shop they’re visiting. As if that’s even possible given the limited number of parking spots on commercial streets and the fact that they’re usually full.
Kevin 18:15 on 2021-03-28 Permalink
It’s the ability to find parking and then to park the vehicle without complication, not the walk.
When I go to anywhere with a large lot I know I’ll be able to find a place with relative ease, even if I am hundreds of metres away from the building.
It’s a different matter when trying to go to St. Denis or Mont Royal or whatever. On my motorcycle I can zip around and get into a spot on those streets or (95% of the time) on a side street. (I only need a metre-long space). In a car, if I don’t find a space on the street I’m doing to, I then start going around the block and then spiral further away while hoping not to run into a) a spot that is just not quite big enough, b) a spot that requires a parking permit, c) a road that I didn’t realize was under construction until I turned onto it, or d) a one-way driving trap that prevents me from getting back to where I wanted to be.
That’s why there are certain areas of town I just never go to unless I know that a store in the area carries something specific that I need/want, and I’ll try to hit multiple stores in one visit. If more of those destination stores close it gives me less reason to go there.
And by the same token, there are loads of stores in my neighbourhood that I frequently visit on foot. My wife and I walk to her favourite coffee shop every day. I pop into the local bookstores/music stores/ knick knackeries on a regular basis. But if I’m going to spend $300 on groceries or a crate of wine, or I need tools/materials, or winter coats/children’s clothes and the places in my hood don’t have what I like, I’m going to the place with easy parking instead of to a similar neighbourhood across town.
Francesco 14:35 on 2021-03-29 Permalink
I *had* to drive up St-Hubert the other day, and, notwithstanding the fact that I think the upgrades are a visual and sensory failure, I was downright shocked by how unpleasant it is made by all the parked (and double-parked) cars and trucks. You couldn’t pay me to shop there.