St-Denis merchants hold guerrilla meeting to discuss survival

Merchants on a construction-heavy stretch of St-Denis Street held a special meeting Monday night to strategize their survival in the face of an up to 90 per cent drop in clientele.

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The meeting took place at the caf Aux DeuxMarie with about 15 shop owners in attendance.

The groupagreed on the two main points of the meeting:

• to request a collective tax break.
• to apply firm pressure to their merchants' association, the SDC, to take action with the city on their behalf.

Themerchants on St-Denis Street say business has dropped significantly since construction work began last fall. In some cases, they say they've lost as much as 90 per cent of their clientele.

Theyare calling on their association to hold a meeting in the coming days tohear their demands.

"Then if the SDC doesn't fulfil the mandate we give them, we will need to move on," MarieMontpetit, a local merchant and the meeting's organizer told CBC News.

The merchants have floated the idea of starting their own association in the hopes of more aggressively putting pressure on the Cityto help them weather theconstruction period.

Merchants have recently launched aFacebookpage calledSauvonsLa Rue Saint-Denisto rally support from the community.

A uniqueshopping street

Shoppers braving St-Denis Street have been treated to the sound of jackhammers and piles of dirt since road work began last summer.

The 16-month construction projectis expected to end in November but, according to Montpetit, it could take as many astwo years for shoppersto adjust their habits before coming back to shopon the street.

"It's very sad because St-Denis was one of the last streets in Montreal where you had little merchantsand it had a very Quebec feel to it,"Montpetitsaid.

Last week the restaurant LeHachoirposted a satirical photo inviting patrons to come experience their new terrace which went viral.

• Hachoirrestaurant turns construction woes into humour