A few weeks before the start of the school year, merchants in the Quebec region are divided. While some are delighted with the traffic during the summer season, others note that the sales figures are down.
It must be admitted that the answers are very different, depending on the sectors of activity and the location of the business.
The several hundred thousand people who visited the Mosaïcultures not only caused traffic jams near the Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge, but visitors also strolled around the area, notably on the famous rue Maguire in Sillery.
Maguire Business Development Corporation Managing Director Bruno Salvail says having an event of this magnitude nearby is a treat.
“We would take Mosaïcultures every year. There is life west of Cartier Avenue,” he says.
“We had a few more tourists, we had more English speakers than usual […] it was really good, more passers-by,” says Kimiko Lamothe-Pouliot, co-owner of the Montego.
Old Port
In the sector of the Old Port in Quebec, the restaurateurs of the pedestrian rue Saint-Paul draw up a positive balance sheet for July and the beginning of August.
The manager of the Bistro St-Malo, Yan Gilbert-Potvin, explains that the customers are there. Various activities such as the Grands Feux Loto Québec attract their share of people.
“Business is going well. We’re lucky to have a Saint-Paul street that was renovated last year, so it’s fantastic,” he says.
He adds that local merchants will also benefit from cruise ships in the coming weeks.
A few steps further, the speech is different for the co-owners of the Saint-Paul Art Gallery, Carole Pépin and Pierre Bédard, who never found the sales rhythm of 2019, before the pandemic.
Photo Louis Deschenes
Carole Pépin and Pierre Bédard, co-owners of the Saint-Paul Art Gallery on Saint-Paul Street in Quebec City, are disappointed with the traffic in their business since the beginning of the summer.
“We need customers from outside for our type of business,” they say.
They are still optimistic since Europeans and Asians traditionally travel in late summer and early fall.
capricious weather
The merchants interviewed are unanimous on one point: the capricious weather has been an obstacle for customers.
This is the case of the 737, near the airport at L’Ancienne-Lorette. The owner, Dany Gagnon, is satisfied with his second season. However, last year he did not have to cancel a single show at the single site which launched operations in mid-July. This year, it’s quite the opposite.
“In 2022, we must have close to ten evenings that have been canceled or cut short by the weather. […] Sometimes thunderstorms emptied the site in the early evening,” he laments.