After years of work and closures, the number of traders reached a peak on the rue Saint-Denis: around 320 were set up on the street, and the Plante administration attributed the increase to the protected bike lane, the Réseau express vélo (REV). in both directions.
“My turnover has doubled since creating REV,” says the owner of the Club Café on the corner of rue Roy in Laurent Saint-Cyr. Open for seven years in Montreal, business was so good that he opened a sports store next door. “It was a restaurant that had been closed for three years. We actually started from scratch to open the store […]. It was a period I expected REV's work to be difficult, but I know what comes next will be rewarding for us,” he says.
Photo by MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY / AGENCE QMI
Thus he was one of the survivors of the construction site of REV Saint-Denis. The work, which began in the summer of 2020 and ended at the end of the same year, made it possible to create nine kilometers of cycle paths in both directions from Boulevard Gouin to Rue Roy. At that time, about one in four stores was looking for a buyer. According to Julien Vaillancourt Laliberte, general director of the Commercial Development Company (SDC) rue Saint-Denis, this period is now a thing of the past.
“We see a direct impact, the number of businesses that want to establish themselves, businesses that come back to life, we have more traffic,” he said.
Photo by MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY / AGENCE QMI
According to the borough, August was a record-breaking month, with 313 businesses currently open and 5 under renovation. Compared to 2017, after the infrastructure work of 2016 and before the REV work, 275 businesses were active, or about forty fewer.
Ordeal of works
REV Saint-Denis is the first part of a 200 km REV project planned to be developed by the City of Montreal. Current projects include Henri-Bourassa and Jean-Talon. Blocking parking spaces, among other things, often provokes discontent. Kamali Cafe says it has lost 50% of its turnover since starting work on Jean-Talon. “It's hard to get started when you're starting from scratch, but things got better with the arrival of good weather and boom, construction! It's a little depressing,” explained co-owner Camille.
Marie Plourde, a consultant in charge of economic development in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, recommends that traders be patient and hopes that Saint-Denis will serve as an example.
“[Saint-Denis] That's really an artery in pain […] And there we see a wonderful growth […]. I understand them, it's scary, it's unknown, the work, we know when it starts but not when it's over, but then it gets a lot better,” she said.
Cocktails with donuts
Photo by MARIE-LAURENCE DELAINEY / AGENCE QMI
Many of the businesses that closed were replaced by others. The donut business, for example, was set up in a former restaurant-bar on the corner of Duluth Avenue. “I came, the cycle path was already built […] This brings us many customers. This is a local business […]. “The majority are pedestrians, followed by cyclists, and some by car,” predicts Catherine Boucher, owner of La Bignerie.
Among La Beignerie's customers during our visit was the owner of Peyton Hairdresser, which has been established for nine years at the corner of Saint-Denis and Roy. “Originally customers were complaining about the parking problem, but today everyone is happy,” sums up Peyton Sauhel.
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