The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) is reconsidering its controversial decision to move its branch from downtown Victoriaville, convinced by new data on the vitality of the sector recently presented by the municipality.
The state-owned company will thus extend its lease on its premises on Notre-Dame Street East for two more years, until October 2027, when it will reassess its options again, announced its director of real estate development, Lili Prud. man, Tuesday.
At the origin of this change of direction, the SAQ affirms that it reassessed the branch’s performance indicators, moved from “red” to “yellow”, in light of new data provided by the City last summer. .
Among these, the recent introduction of free parking for two hours in downtown Victoriaville. “It’s an irritant that they addressed and which made a difference for our customers” whose purchases are heavy, summarizes Lili Prud’homme.
What’s more, the drop in the vacancy rate of premises (from 16 to 5%), an expected densification of the sector due to recent regulatory changes and the imminent arrival of a hotel and a grocery store have convinced the company of the promising future that awaits downtown Victoriaville.
Neither political pressure – several ministers having been questioned in the National Assembly on this subject – nor Victoriaville’s project to prohibit the opening of businesses dedicated solely to the sale of alcohol outside its city center have come into play. into account, affirms Lili Prud’homme.
The attitude of the municipal administration, “invested and making efforts” to revitalize its city center, however contributed to tipping the scales, she confirms.
Generate “dynamic”
But the state corporation does not intend to modify its evaluation grid in the future. Because it is up to the municipalities to generate “dynamism” in their city centers, and not to the SAQ, she explains.
“There are city centers that are a bit ghostly and where the SAQ is present. Well, if he’s a ghost and we’re here, it’s because obviously, we alone are not capable of generating this dynamism. »
At the end of September, the mayor of Victoriaville, Antoine Tardif, denounced the decision of the state company to opt for a new location on the outskirts to move its downtown branch.
The elected official accused the state corporation of acting in complete contradiction with the new orientations of the Quebec government in terms of land use planning, presented a few months earlier, which stipulate the importance of revitalizing regional city centers.
Contacted on Tuesday, Antoine Tardif welcomed the decision of the state company while welcoming “its openness” to discussions. The study on which the SAQ based its choice to move its branch to the outskirts, presented to its administration in June, did not take into account the new elements mentioned, he recalls.
However, “the entire strategy that we have announced is concrete and we intend to continue to deploy it,” he insists, sure of being able to convince the SAQ to remain in the city center beyond October 2027.