The Tsikinis fruit store, considered by many Villeray residents to be a neighborhood institution, will be able to continue operating for at least three years. Many feared that the business would have to close its doors due to a sharp increase in its rent.
The owner of the convenience store, Stylianos Merkouris, confirmed to the To have to having signed a new three-year lease on Tuesday, “with an option of five”, after negotiations with the owner of the building where this fruit store is located. However, the merchant did not want to specify what the new rent will be for this lease, which will begin on 1er august. “I think I’ll be able to afford it,” he said, confirming that his rent will go up. “It’s okay,” he added of his monthly fee hike.
Last December, many residents of Villeray came to the defense of the Tsikinis fruit store, known for offering affordable prices to its customers in a sector of Montreal in full gentrification. They feared that this food business would have to close its doors due to a significant increase in its rent. A Facebook group called “Sauvons Tsikinis” was created in the process, attracting the interest of 160 Internet users, while a resident went so far as to send letters to municipal elected officials in the area to encourage them to adopt measures to protect traders.
The latter do not currently have the same protections as tenants in the residential sector. Owners of commercial leases can thus increase the rents of their tenants at the end of a lease as they see fit.
Gerardo Rubino, who is president of the company owning the building where the Tsikinis fruit factory is housed, told the To have to last month that the merchant is currently paying $3,000 a month for rent. This would be an amount well below the market average, according to him.
“If we look at current prices, she should pay between $5,000 and $6,000,” Mr. Rubino said at the time, referring to this fruit store, located on Jarry Street East.
Residents had for their part raised the possibility that Mr. Rubino had tried to encourage the owner of the Tsikinis fruit store to close its doors to promote a new fruit store opened nearby by his brother-in-law François-Karl Viau and called Freshly good. Information denied by the two men.