brownstein: beautys is having an ugly time thanks to a mish-mash of construction and parking woes
8 minute read
“should we not fight for businesses that our fathers and grandfathers started? should we walk away and just lock our doors? it’s exhausting. every day is a fight,” says beautys owner elana sckolnick, with father larry sckolnick at the legendary montreal restaurant.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
life ain’t so beautiful at beautys these days. and the goddess responsible for showering love has not shown up for her namesake at the venus flower shop.
having endured the hardships of covid and ongoing street work — like so many other restaurateurs and merchants in montreal — the owners of beautys and venus fleurs, between st-urbain and jeanne-mance sts. on mont-royal ave., are facing hard economic times they attribute to a lack of parking and stopping spots, not only affecting customer access but also deliveries from suppliers.
in the case of beautys, an imposing cinder block running down the east side of st-urbain affects access to its delivery door. as for venus, suppliers have to park over 100 metres away for deliveries.
beautys owner elana sckolnick, granddaughter of the restaurant’s legendary founder hymie sckolnick, recounts how one supplier has had to walk three blocks gingerly carrying his eggs for delivery. venus proprietor john rodousakis notes that the lack of stopping spots necessitates him hiring people to unload flowers on jeanne-mance, a football field away from his store.
the bottom line is that sckolnick has seen a 30-per-cent drop in revenues in a year. for his part, rodousakis reports a staggering 85-per-cent loss, and if business doesn’t pick up in a year, he’ll have to close down.
what aggravates sckolnick and rodousakis most is the perceived lack of action from plateau-mont-royal borough officials in these matters. their issues fall under the domain of projet montréal, which still runs the borough despite having lost control of montreal to the ensemble montréal team of newly elected mayor soraya martinez ferrada.
exacerbating the problem is the yet-unfinished street construction on mont-royal ave., which pretty much closed the street from may to november of last year. work was supposed to have been completed by the end of november, but had to be discontinued because of the snow. now the plan is to finish the project when the snow goes, which means another three weeks or so of construction, paving and disruption.
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sckolnick and rodousakis pay considerable building taxes, roughly $36,000 a year each, and figure they should be able to get much-needed assistance.
these are not new businesses. beautys is a city landmark, established on the same corner 84 years ago. it has attracted diners from all corners of the city, not to mention the planet. showbiz and sports celebs have been flocking there for decades. weekend lineups for its famed mish-mash omelette, among other breakfast/brunch delights, were endless.
“no longer,” says a disconsolate sckolnick from a beautys booth. “it’s not like it was. business is not great on weekdays and just ok on weekends, and we don’t have lineups anymore. customers have long grown weary of trying to land one of the few available parking spots on the eastern part of mont-royal.
“ubers and cabs aren’t even able to drop off customers in the no-stopping zones on st-urbain or mont-royal. elderly customers, some of whom are disabled, and families with babies in strollers have given up trying to get here because there is no easy access. but our pleas aren’t getting us anywhere.”
venus fleurs is also a family institution in the area, founded 65 years ago by rodousakis’s dad. to pick up additional business, rodousakis added an ice-cream counter in a corner of his shop.
“i figured that would draw in customers from the park. i figured wrong. people can’t find parking around the park, even without the mont-royal ave. repairs. what was the point of the city doing all that reconstruction in the park and surrounding streets?” asks rodousakis, while putting the finishing touches on a bouquet.
venus fleurs owner john rodousakis says business is down 85 per cent, and if it doesn’t pick up in a year, he’ll have to close down.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
back at beautys, elana is joined by her father larry, who used to run the place but now helps out on occasion. they point out that st-urbain has changed considerably with a bike lane running down the west side from bernard to milton sts.
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“and all these people, residents and merchants, lost their parking,” larry says. “and they took away a driving lane on the street.”
adds elana: “then they put in concrete pylons on the west side and this cinder block on the east side. i’m all for the bike paths, but we need some flexibility from the city. when the plateau representatives came with their clipboards to tell us they were putting in the bike path, i told them i was ok with that. st-urbain used to have four lanes. now there is a bike path lane, a bus lane, a car lane and a turning lane. all i asked is that they leave me with a small unloading zone because i get deliveries all day.”
that hasn’t happened. the cinder block still obstructs their delivery entrance.
“the borough says it can’t do anything because it’s on a left-hand turning lane,” elana says. “it’s so inhumane. i have videos of these guys dragging supplies from blocks away because there is no place for them to park or stop. it’s not fair. and it’s not just us. everyone’s businesses are suffering.
“i saw an older woman coming out of maxi’s across the street trying to get a cab, but a policeman told the driver he couldn’t stop and sent him away. that’s happening all the time now.”
elana contacted the city when the cinder block first went up, wanting to know why it was placed there.
“the reason i was given was that there was a tree whose roots were coming up, making the sidewalk uneven,” she says. “and i was told they didn’t want anyone to fall into the road and get hit by a car because of that. so i joked: ‘maybe you should get rid of the tree,’ but they weren’t having that. we’re putting love in, but we’re not feeling it. we feel more like we’re a pain in the ass.
“look, we were very lucky to have survived covid. then we put a lot of money into renovating here. we’re trying to do good for us and for the city.”
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this also has a trickle-down effect. beautys’ servers are also feeling the pain with less clients coming in and, consequently, less tips and less hours.
veteran server bekah tremblay pipes in: “it’s been a nightmare. i had a customer the other day tell me he would be better off getting here in a helicopter.”
adds rodousakis, while bustling about his shop: “this is beyond a nightmare. forget just the businesses — what about the residents? if i had paid a premium to live next to a park and couldn’t get to park anywhere around it, i’d be pissed.
“this is all so painful. i’m not feeling love from the borough. i pay a small fortune in taxes and just built another business (the ice-cream counter) thinking we could stay another 20 years. my deadline is next january. and if things don’t improve, i’m gone.”
adds elana, who has just dropped into the venus shop: “should we not fight for businesses that our fathers and grandfathers started? should we walk away and just lock our doors? it’s exhausting. every day is a fight.”
evidently, financial compensation was available to merchants in the area to make up for lost business because of the construction, but neither sckolnick nor rodousakis say they were initially aware and never received any funds — although rodousakis is considering applying now that he knows.
concrete barriers are blocking access to the delivery door of plateau institution beautys. over at venus fleurs, suppliers have to park over 100 metres away.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
projet montréal borough councillor alex norris says he has compassion for the merchants in the area.
“there’s lots we can do and there’s lots we are doing,” he says in a phone interview. “it’s important to keep in mind that the project isn’t finished yet.”
norris points out that the mont-royal street project was implemented because the parc ave./mont-royal ave. intersection is one of the most dangerous in the city. there have been many serious injuries and a few deaths reported among pedestrians and cyclists there over the years.
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“there has been a long-standing demand from the neighbourhood to make that intersection safer,” norris says. “in order to do that and put in safer unidirectional bike paths, space had to be taken away from parking. but throughout the process, i’ve done my utmost to emphasize the need to minimize the loss of parking spaces … and when the construction is completed, the parking situation will be radically improved.
“we realize this imposes significant changes on the merchants and i want to express my empathy to them. if there are adjustments to be made and if they are feasible, we’ll certainly implement them,” he adds. “we can also discuss (the issue of no stopping). these are iconic businesses that we love and support, that have been here for generations.”
but what about their major gripe: blocked delivery access?
norris says he has a plan in mind for beautys with regard to its delivery woes — but one that does not entail chopping down the tree protected by the cinder block.
“that’s just a temporary measure, and our plan is to fix and widen that sidewalk to make it safer for the nearby schoolchildren. but the plan is to create a new delivery zone on the other side of mont-royal next to the maxi store for beautys and other merchants. the reason it can’t be on the side of beautys is that’s a turning lane and it wouldn’t be safe.
“i understand merchants’ frustrations, but i can safely say help is on the way.”
but not fast enough for sckolnick or rodousakis.
“the proposed delivery zone is too small for us and the other merchants, including maxi’s. it’s a major problem for our suppliers to haul their deliveries from across the street to our delivery door,” says sckolnick, after being informed of norris’s plan. “and i’ll believe it when i see more parking and stopping spots, but i have my doubts. i appreciate (norris’s) empathy, but actions speak louder than words.”
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rodousakis also has his doubts.
“there will have been no parking or stopping for my customers for nearly a year when this street work is supposed to be completed. their construction permit goes until april 10, which means i’ll miss out on another big holiday, easter.
“the city can’t work on the street when it’s winter? so should merchants also close for winter? it’s all so unacceptable — a never-ending story.”
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