As of Monday, NDG residents will have one less place to get fresh bagels.
It’s a bittersweet moment for the owners of St. Viateur Bagels on Monkland Avenue in NDG: while business is brisk, it's shutting its doors Monday due to a rent increase.
Customers say they are disappointed.
“Once we found out they were closing our favourite breakfast joint we were like ‘who's the landlord? What's their mission statement?’” explained one customer. “We went online and found out the community they are involved in - and it's kind of like they're running a little bit of a monopoly around Montreal with the businesses.”
St. Viateur isn't the only business facing increasing rent. Other independent business owners say it's getting more difficult to stay profitable on this street.
Some residents started a petition to keep St. Viateur open - to no avail.
The owner says he was touched by the gesture, but doesn't want to focus anymore on the negative, but the positive: all the customers who have come through their doors the last 18 years.
“It is bittersweet but I would like to focus on the sweet,” said co-owner Nick Moreno. “We've accomplished a lot in the last 18 years this neighbourhood. [It] was nice to us, this community was nice to us. And we were nice to them in return.”
So far there are no plans to relocate.
