Panel to chart future for retailers in the city
Mayor Valérie Plante announced a blue-ribbon panel to chart the future for retailing in the city on Tuesday.
Major roadwork projects, high taxation and the increasing popularity of online shopping are among the challenges facing bricks-andmortar stores, Plante said as she announced that Guy Cormier, the president and CEO of Desjardins Group, will head the 17-member committee.
“Retailing is a crucial industry for Montreal with sales of $40 billion annually, while Montreal is Canada’s second-largest commercial hub,” the mayor said at a press conference at Complexe Desjardins.
Plante acknowledged that major roadwork projects like the renovation of Ste-Catherine St. W. pose huge challenges, saying that rather than adding to retailers’ difficulties, “we want to be part of the solution.”
The committee, which will produce a commercial-development plan for the city by June, will also develop a strategy for helping merchants adjust to the digital transformation and for keeping shopping streets vibrant and bustling.
It includes a spectrum of businesspeople and academics, like Charles de Brabant, executive director of the Bensadoun Retail Initiative at McGill University, and Jacques Nantel, emeritus professor at HEC Montréal.
Plante said the committee would study how other cities are dealing with challenges like the shift to online shopping and major infrastructure projects.
She acknowledged that high taxes are another major problem for retailers.
Unfortunately, property taxes are the city’s main source of revenue, said Plante, who promised to press the Quebec government on alternative sources of financing.
Cormier said the committee will study issues like the ideal mix of different types of businesses for particular streets, and how to help retailers build their businesses by combining online sales and in-person shopping.
While some retailers say taxes are their top concern, others say the priority is to finish infrastructure work as quickly as possible, he said.
“We’ll be listening to real merchants,” Cormier said.
André Poulin, the head of Destination CentreVille, the local merchants’ association, welcomed the creation of the committee.
“We are pleased that the committee has been set up,” he said in an interview, adding that the members of the panel are highly qualified to come up with solutions for the retail sector.
One thing the committee will not be studying is the Plante administration’s plan for Ste-Catherine St. W. between Atwater Ave. and Bleury St., which will be announced in the near future.
Work to upgrade the infrastructure under Ste-Catherine began in January and retailers on the eastern part that is under construction say their businesses have been hurting since bulldozers began tearing up the street.
Plante has promised compensation for retailers affected by the work, but she did not provide details on Tuesday.
She also acknowledged the hardships endured by merchants on Bishop St., where there has been a steady exodus of merchants since the Société de transport de Montréal tore up most of the street between Ste-Catherine St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. in the summer of 2016. The four-year construction project is to build a ventilation station for the métro network.
“We want to avoid this type of situation,” Plante said.
Merchants on Bishop have complained that Destination CentreVille knew about the construction six months ahead of time, but didn’t notify them.
Many retailers are also concerned about the idea of reducing car traffic to one lane and banning parking on Ste-Catherine St. W. — one of the scenarios the city has said it is considering for the famed shopping artery.
In January, the Plante administration nixed the idea of placing a three-storey inflatable cover over Ste-Catherine St. during the work, which had been proposed under former mayor Denis Coderre. The city said the structures would not speed up construction and that the priority was to complete the work as quickly and efficiently as possible.