St-Denis REV: Merchants have changed their minds
Many merchants along St‑Denis who initially fought the implantation of the REV have changed their minds and some are asking for more bicycle parking arrangements.
More branches of the REV are to come.
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Kate
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Joey 15:19 on 2024-12-01 Permalink
Great to see this kind of follow-up reporting, but it’s hardly a surprise. The St Denis REV plan was based on both principles (we should devote less of the roadway to cars) and evidence (people want to shop in the neighbourhoods). Parc Ave should be added to the mix…
Chris 18:02 on 2024-12-01 Permalink
Two bits caught my eye:
“Plusieurs stationnements dans le secteur sont payants […] ça n’a plus de sens pour mes clients de venir rue Saint-Denis”
“…Combien de clients font le tour du bloc une fois ou deux fois en voiture et décident de simplement quitter le Plateau…”
You’d think as merchants they’d understand supply-demand-price better.
The neighbourhood is fully built up, there’s basically no room to add new parking supply.
You want free parking? Well, then the parking will become full, and clients will drive around and give up.
You want clients to be able to find a parking place easily? Well, then the price of parking needs to be high enough.
They need to choose.
DeWolf 21:46 on 2024-12-01 Permalink
It’s like that old bit – nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded!
There are plenty of studies out there that show merchants vastly overestimate the number of people who get to their business by car. But let’s assume they’re right, and most of their clients do get there by private vehicle – why exactly are they located on St-Denis? It’s not like there was ever abundant free parking there.
The owner of La Binerie says “nous constatons une baisse considérable de notre chiffre d’affaires et beaucoup de clients qui s’en vont ailleurs.” A drop compared to when? La Binerie moved to St-Denis in 2020, the year of lockdowns and also the year the REV opened. So what are they comparing it to?
We give disproportionate weight to the opinions of merchants in this city but we never really hold them up to account when they start talking out of their asses. We also need to acknowledge that what’s good for individual business owners is not necessarily good for the street and vice versa. St-Denis is objectively doing better business than five or ten years ago and on top of that it’s a safer and more pleasant street for everyone who goes there – so if some specific businesses are struggling with how the street has changed, they need to adapt or move to another street that better suits their business model.
yasymbologist 22:11 on 2024-12-01 Permalink
it`s always like impossible to pursade someone with mere words. but you have chance to change his mind with facts like this. especially at places where the most widely practiced faith is that people should always move around with their 2,000-pound worth of metal and rubber.
Nicholas 23:34 on 2024-12-01 Permalink
DeWolf, La Binerie opened their current location in November 2019, not 2020, and while the REV was announced in May 2019, the owners said it took 18 months to plan, so they would have started their plan before the REV was announced. But it seems they just made some choices that were bad in hindsight: four months before the pandemic they opened a new location with four times the seating of the old place, and hugely expanded hours. That’s just unlucky. Breakfast food is also just not great for takeout (especially eggs and fries). The L’Barouf terrasse next door is often full, but La Binerie doesn’t have one; maybe they just have too many seats for their classic concept, as tastes change (do the people from France and elsewhere who’ve gentrified much of the central Plateau have a love for pricey soupe aux pois, paté chinois and pouding chômeur?).
But if you can’t make a classic, high-calorie greasy spoon place work at the intersection of two of the most-used bike lanes in the city, when L’Avenue and Beauty’s and Bagels Etc. and others are always full, maybe the bike lanes aren’t the problem.
DeWolf 01:30 on 2024-12-02 Permalink
Yes, you’re absolutely right. I remember it opening in 2019 and thinking it was way too big given how small it was before. The old school lunch counter vibe was a big part of its appeal.
And you’re also right that if they’re suffering, it probably has nothing to do with the REV or 28 fewer parking spots and everything to do with their business model.
DavidH 16:27 on 2024-12-02 Permalink
I still see people looking for La Binerie on Mont-Royal. I’ll never understand why they moved to a location they had no connection to and spent no effort advertising the move.
The original location was featured in a book and movie that used to be the most well-known quebecois works in France at the time (Le Matou). They gave up all that visibility and achalandage, replaced it with nothing at all. Yet, they expect better results?!
Bikes have nothing to do with it. People went to the old place because of its history, not because pork and beans are in vogue. The old place was real, new place looks like a décor.
Orr 13:36 on 2024-12-05 Permalink
I’m a bit late to this item, but as no-one has mentioned it, the building of the St-Denis REV (as well as the vision for the REV Network) is a direct testament to the memory of the tragic death of Mathilde Blais who was killed bicycling through the underpass on St-Denis under rail tracks, and the truck driver wo hit and killed her said he “didn’t see her.”
Now that it is safe to travel across and between Montreal neighbourhoods (ie eliminating the so-dangerous play-in-traffic gaps between bike-path sections) many many people including families and moms with small children, old people, what I’m trying to say is “regular folks of all ages” now feel it is safe to use a bicycle for urban mobility.