New study suggests Montreal locals are visiting downtown less often

A new study by SOM-La Press reveals that Montreal’s downtown area isn’t seeing as many locals on its streets compared to pre-pandemic levels.

According to the survey, four out of 10 Montrealers are going downtown less often, with many of those polled saying they visit the city centre less than once a week.

“It’s a concern, we would like to have more fluidity,” says Michel Leblanc, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal. “We’re saying to City Hall you need to review how you are closing lanes everywhere, you need to review how you are coordinating work site on roads, because it doesn’t make sense.”

Sainte-Catherine street west between Stanley and Mansfield has been under construction since 2023, and has made things challenging for many. It finally reopened to pedestrians on Friday and as of Monday will be for motorists too.

But street closures aren’t the only grievances Montrealers have. The lack of street parking and expensive indoor parking is also causing them to stay away. 

“We don’t come down here much anymore,” says Montreal local Juliano Spagnoli. “The main reason is the traffic and construction and the pricing has gotten expensive downtown compared to other parts of the city.”

Road closures on Sainte-Catherine Street for construction haven’t helped and some restaurant owners say they’ve seen a decrease in business, mostly during lunch time.

“To tell you the truth, lunch time business owners, we are down 30 per cent,” says owner of Chez Alexandre restaurant, Alain Creton.

But Creton is adapting, as he’s had to do many times since becoming a restaurant owner 47 years ago. To accommodate his clients, he offers them a $7 discount on each meal and currently has an agreement with Le Cartier – an interior parking – that’s only a two-minute walk from his restaurant.

“We try to do as much as we can to please our guests and make sure they are happy.”

“What else can we do?” he adds.

Recent data indicates that more than 40 per cent of Montrealers frequent the area less often since Covid – many still working from home.

“[I] try to avoid downtown just because of all the construction and how hard it is to get down here, especially by drive.” says Nihari, who comes downtown for school but lives in the West Island.

Nihari says she does take the metro but finds the schedule “pretty sporadic”, so once she’s finished class, she goes back to the West Island.

“We talk with big corporations and everybody who is involved downtown at having their main workplace downtown and they’re telling us, you know, they are trying to bring their workers back and there’s a difficulty because first you have to convince them coming to downtown is fun,” says Leblanc.

“A downtown cannot be alive just because they are kind of local tourists. It has to be a place where you work, where you live, where you play,” he added.