Like most major markets in Canada, Montreal’s retail sector has experienced some challenging times over the past few years because of the COVID pandemic.
But the sector has rebounded somewhat with the end of lockdowns and the easing of public health measures. More people are out shopping. Post-secondary students are back in classrooms in the downtown area. More tourists are visiting Montreal.
And as in most Canadian cities, downtown retail still has some obstacles to overcome as office vacancy is not yet back to normal pre-pandemic levels – in fact it may never be back to normal as more companies adopt flexible and hybrid working environments.
Rocco Matteo, Managing Partner of E3 Consulting in Montreal and a former Vice President at RONA, said there has been a slow down in retail sales in the Montreal area recently.
“I don’t think it’s any different from any other city in Canada but particularly from Montreal, what I’ve seen is definitely the (elevated) interest rates have been having a huge impact on the high produced goods,” he said.
“When you look at the shopping malls, and I visited several in the last few weeks, unfortunately I do see still a trend of some empty locals in the malls. I do see some down trend in the traffic.”
Check out the full video interview below with Matteo who talks about some of the trends in the retail sector in Montreal, the challenges of the downtown market and what the city can expect for the rest of the year.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
Connect with Mario Toneguzzi, a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and the only Canadian – to learn how you can tell your story, share your message and amplify it to a wide audience. He is Senior News Editor with Retail Insider and owner of Mario Toneguzzi Communications Inc. and can be reached at mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.
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