Toy store owner blames decline on bus lane
A toy store owner on Queen Mary is blaming the decline in her business on the new bus lane on that street – and not on the pandemic, online shopping, inflation and the cost of living or any other factor.
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Kate
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Jonathan 10:14 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
What a terrible news report. To expand on what you say, Kate, there is no sense of journalistic professionalism.
jeather 11:36 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
Curious, too, because quite recently but more than a year before the bus lanes they moved across the street to a decidedly smaller location (due to a fire), which suggests that they weren’t exactly doing great due to the pandmic. (I actually know someone who had a conversation with the owner about the supply chain problem — shipping was slow and IIRC all their winter coats/snowsuits came in so late they had to be discounted immediately.) It’s possible the bus lanes made it worse, or didn’t allow them to bounce back as quickly as needed, of course, but that area is very weird for commercial space.
Blork 11:56 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
Arguably, community news reporting like this isn’t exactly hardcore “investigative” reporting. If it were, then the journalist should have checked with other businesses along the street to see if they too are seeing a drop in business between 3:30 and 6:30, and she could have asked to see the books for the past few years to see how real this drop in business really is.
But Podunk community news (arguably) only has the role of showing what’s going on in the community, and what’s going on here is a 73-year-old closing down her business and blaming the bus lanes for a drop in sales. The reporter probably had half a day to put the whole thing together.
And FWIW, the news report does say that the OWNER blames the bus lane, which is not the same as the news reporter saying the bus lane is at fault (which is how FOX News would probably report it), and it does get a quote from the borough mayor, who points out that other businesses are doing well and new businesses are opening along the street.
jeather 12:06 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
The reason new businesses are opening is that old businesses are closing (some long running businesses, some businesses that were just recently the new businesses opening). Other businesses might be doing well, of course — there are stores there that have been around forever.
Joey 12:22 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
I spend a lot of time in that stretch of the city during rush hour (usually in my car). Two observations:
1. The parking ‘nightmare’ induced by the bus lanes is pure BS. Parking is available and the presence of the bus lanes hasn’t stopped anyone from stopping/waiting while their passenger runs errands.
2. The stretch of Queen-Mary from, say, MacDonald to Ponsard is where I’ve witnessed – constantly – the worst, most selfish driving habits in Montreal – double-parking, u-turns, illegal left turns, no signalling, texting while driving – you name it, you’ll see it all in under five minutes.
That neighbourhood is interesting from an urbanism perspective – the commercial strip is dense and built up enough (and geographically concentrated enough) to warrant pedestrian-friendly shopping. And yet the surrounding areas, especially the wealthier neighbourhoods to the immediate west, are made up of people with cars and garages who wouldn’t dream of walking 10 minutes to get bagels when you could just double-park. You could do a really interesting Master’s degree just documenting observations from that small stretch of Montreal.
jeather 14:23 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
I have a friend who lives around there, and I will say that parking is decidedly harder near there on weekdays. Not impossible, but there is a real difference. That said I actually see people are no longer parking in the reserved lanes during rush hour, which wasn’t true at first.
It is 100% true that the driving habits and double parking in that area are terrible, though I haven’t noticed a huge number of illegal u-turns there. In my head they’re allowed at a divided intersection if neither left nor u turns are prohibited.
Joey 15:06 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
U-turns are worst between Westbury and Ponsard, where the street widens. I think 1/3 of all double-parking on Queen-Mary can be traced directly to Real Bagel, just west of Ponsard.
DeWolf 19:50 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
I go to that stretch of Queen-Mary every so often because I like to take the metro to Snowdon and do a long walk through NDG and Westmount before heading downtown. It’s a really interesting commercial strip but everything Joey is saying about the way drivers behave is absolutely spot on. It really dampens the mood if you’re on foot.
Kate 00:04 on 2024-02-20 Permalink
DeWolf, is that odd little upstairs courtyard space still operating?
DeWolf 14:02 on 2024-02-20 Permalink
It’s still there, but last I checked all the retail spaces were vacant.