Shoppers urged to visit Park Avenue

The city of Montreal is spending more than $250,000 to promote Park Avenue as a shopping destination, after months of road work discouraged consumer trafficin the area.

Municipal politicians and merchants are urging people to "re-discover" the north-south artery during the holiday season, when construction work breaks until the new year.

"We want to keep Park Avenue alive, we want to keep merchants in business and, for that to happen, people have to go back to their old habits," said Alex Norris, a councillor for the Plateau Mont-Royal borough.

"Not only motorists, but even pedestrians have changed their habits and have been avoiding Park Avenue because of theconstruction."

Shoestore owner Sam Papoutsis says he's lost between 40 and 50 per cent of his regular sales "because of parking issues" during peak road work periods.

"There was no parking," said Papoutsis, who runs Mile End Kicks.

Road work that started last year will replace ageing water mains and pipes.