Astro Books, the small but beloved book store that’s been a presence on Ste. Catherine St. for three decades, will soon close due to a doubling of their rent.
“We just found out this last week that we’re going to have to get out,” said Astro owner Betty Stock.
Stock has worked at the store for 31 years and said the previous landlord had often been generous, seldom raising the rent.
Last October, the building was sold with little warning.
“What we’re a little upset with is he left and didn’t tell us,” said Stock. “We didn’t find out until it was a fait accompli.”
The new landlord told Stock he would raise her rent to fair market value – from $3,500 a month to $9,000.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the store.
“We’ve been faltering because of health issues, because of the market going down, because of difficulties getting downtown,” said Stock.
Over the past five years, rents on Ste. Catherine St. have skyrocketed, with rates varying from $60 to $200 per square foot, despite the struggles of storefront retailers.
Ken Haligua, a property manager at Prime Properties Inc., said the rise is due to higher municipal taxes.
“Maybe one year it’s seven per cent, then the next it’s 12 per cent, then 12 per cent again,” he said. “It varies, it’s not a formula, but it has increased dramatically in the past five years.”
The result is some storefront staying empty for years.
“I had a customer say to me he walked from St. Denis for the first time in months and he said he’s never seen so many board up stores in his life,” said Stock. “Part of that is the rent, part is the taxes and part of that is the difficulty getting downtown.”
