Local retail industry facing ‘perfect storm,’ city report warns
Online shopping, higher taxes and rents, road construction among major factors
There are roughly 7,700 retail stores on the island of Montreal employing 112,000 people, which account for nearly one in 10 of all jobs in the agglomeration. With restaurant and bars factored in, the total number of employees is 189,000. That number has remained relatively stable since 2011.
Yet the retail industry in Montreal is facing a “perfect storm” of factors putting its future at risk, a new report commissioned by the City of Montreal states. More individuals are buying online. Owners and renters are being hit by rapid and repeated hikes in their valuations, driving up taxes and rents. More and more mini-businesses are popping up on streets and on the internet that bring direct competition. Montreal is undergoing an unprecedented level of road construction that hinders shopping. Yet the industry has rarely been taken seriously by local or large governments, the study finds, and has been left to fight for itself.
In response to retailers’ concerns, the city administration under Mayor Valérie Plante formed a committee in March to come up with a plan to aid merchants that would support Montreal’s economic development strategy.
Released Monday, the 30-page report, developed by a team of academics, retail experts and retailers and led by Guy Cormier, president and CEO of Mouvement Desjardins, outlines 23 recommendations to improve the vitality of local commerce, which in many sectors defines the livelihood and spirit of the neighbourhoods they serve.
“Already today, and more so for tomorrow, if we don’t pay attention, retail shops could leave our traditional main arteries,” the report reads. “If that were to happen, the City of Montreal would find itself seriously weakened, and Montrealers would lose out.”
Among the main recommendations are:
Improve the co-ordination of the ■ city ’s numerous construction sites and compensate retailers who suffer serious losses;
Decrease the tax burden on ■ merchants by reducing the gap between residential and non-residential property tax rates;
Reduce rates on property taxes ■ on the first $500,000 of evaluation;
Allow merchants to pay their ■ taxes in six instalments;
Simplify the regulations and ■ administrative procedures required in dealing with the City of Montreal;
Improve the city’s online capabilities ■ so merchant requests for aid and the issuing and payment of permits can be done over the internet;
Have the city take greater stock ■ in the importance of major shopping arteries and optimize mobility options to access them, be it by public transit, car or bike.
The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal applauded the recommendations in the plan, noting that Montreal retailers face the highest tax rates of any large Canadian city.
“The challenge is now (for the city) to put these solutions into practice quickly, so that merchants can benefit as soon as possible,” Board of Trade president Michel Leblanc said in a statement released Monday.