AGORA: Around ten businesses have closed shop in two years

While the closures of retail and food businesses follow one another at AGORA in the Plateau sector, in Gatineau, merchants and former merchants note and deplore low traffic.

The developers, Société Immobilière Junic, Divalco and Construction JPL, described it as the “urban village of the future,” with 600 residential units. It was built in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and includes more than 78,000 square feet of office space and more than 60,000 square feet of retail space.

However, since 2022, the place has experienced at least ten business closures, mainly retail and food businesses, according to a compilation carried out by Radio-Canada.

The most recent closure was that of the Spritz restaurant on June 22, which was co-owned by Société Immobilière Junic. One of the main developers indicated on social media that he wanted to make way for a new concept. The Zeus boutique – Men’s fashion announced at the beginning of June that it was preparing to close its doors; another closure coming to AGORA.

While some are closing, others are in the process of expanding. The Junic Real Estate Company specifies that the vacancy rate for retail stores is currently 5% and that new tenants will arrive this fall. He admits that adjustments are in class.

When the project was unveiled in May 2018, the president of Junic and shareholder of AGORA, Nicolas Tremblay, set himself the objective of creating a living environment where most of the needs of residents would be met within a walkable radius, also appointed minutes”,”text”:”quartier 15 minutes”}}”>neighborhood 15 minutes.

People are invited to work, consume and live in one placehe said at the time.

They call it a ghost townlaments a shopkeeper.

Entrepreneur Geneviève Everell pulls no punches when describing the atmosphere that, according to her, currently reigns within the walls of AGORA. In an interview with Radio-Canada, the owner of the Sushi à la maison counters explains that of the eight franchises she owns in Quebec, this is the branch that functions the least well.

She says she went to AGORA headquarters numerous times over the past two years to ask for more events and advertisements to create excitement and invite people to come to the sitewithout really seeing the effects.

We believed in this project. […] It’s unfortunate because it has so much potential.

Another current trader, to whom Radio-Canada has agreed to grant confidentiality because he fears reprisals, is of the same opinion.

We were told that there would be daily entertainment in the public square. In the first few years, there were a few shows and events, but there are fewer and fewer of them., he explains in a written statement. He adds that the traffic is not at the level that was anticipated. […] It is not attractive for customers to come to a place where businesses are closing.

The last event organized by AGORA dates from October 2023, according to its page Facebook. Note that traders must sign a 5 or 10 year commercial lease to set up in AGORA, according to a descriptive sheet from the PMML commercial real estate agency dated 2021.

Goodwill, a considerable challenge

Same story with former AGORA traders. In April 2024, the L’As des jeux store wrote on Facebook that the lack of branch traffic [d’AGORA représentait] considerable challenges. The following month, a second publication Facebook announced the closure of the branch.

Laura Bisson opened the Marché Brut grocery store in March 2021. In an interview with Radio-Canada, she said that the project presented to her suggested more activity and traffic.

h because there was no one there and we closed on Mondays too”,”text”:”We had to reduce opening hours. We closed in the evening at 6 p.m. because there was no one there and we closed on Mondays too”}}”>We had to reduce opening hours. We closed in the evening at 6 p.m. because there was no one there and we closed on Mondays toosays the one who chose to close the business in the fall of 2022.

Radio-Canada spoke with two other former merchants who also indicated that they were very disappointed with the traffic at AGORA. They did not wish to speak openly so as not to harm their current businesses and business ties.

Radio-Canada asked the developers, Société Immobilière Junic, Divalco and Construction JPL, to comment on these closures as well as the grievances of merchants and ex-merchants. It was Junic who responded and declined our interview request.

In a written statement, however, she acknowledges that the retail sector is constantly evolving and believes that the pandemic brought drastic changes to the industrywhich she describes as challenge for AGORA.

Another world for service businesses

Unlike the difficulties encountered by some retail businesses, service businesses are in the process of expanding at AGORA. The barber La Chaise expanded its premises last year, adding three additional chairs to its business.

Studio 157, owner of Huma Spa, announced last May that it would open a new establishment offering esthetics, electrolysis and massage therapy next fall. An educational daycare will also open its doors this fall. Radio-Canada tried to speak with several of them, but they refused or were not available for an interview.

Junic’s president says a bank, a design center, a medical clinic and a psychologist’s office will also join AGORA this fall, new tenants he describes as companies adapted to the reality of 2024.

Nicolas Tremblay also believes that the transformation of the Spritz restaurant is a response to changing consumer needs et an example of our ability to adapt.

Although she finds the recent closures of businesses in AGORA worrying, the municipal councilor for the Plateau district, Bettyna Bélizaire, explains that people in the area tell her that they appreciate very much this concept of local shops.

The animation of the public square at the heart of a dispute with the City

In March 2023, the City of Gatineau wanted to reach an agreement with AGORA to allow associations to organize events in the public square and thus guarantee access to the general public.

However, in an email to Radio-Canada, the City specified that the draft resolution was ultimately withdrawn when the agenda was adopted at the municipal council meeting on August 22, 2023.

The file is not finalizedspecifies Ms. Bélizaire, indicating however that Musical Tuesdays (New window) will take place at AGORA again this summer.

As for the animation and the public square, Junic specifies that he has assumed the animation costs for several years, while trying to make the City of Gatineau aware of its responsibility to acquire the public square, in accordance with the plans established a decade ago.

President Nicolas Tremblay specifies that despite their efforts, a formal notice to the City of Gatineau will be filed this week to try to resolve this situation once and for all.[e].

The City of Gatineau confirms that the AGORA public square file has been the subject of several discussions, but that the municipal council has never adopted a resolution committing to AGORA or Junic to acquire the public square.

An incomplete neighborhood, according to an expert

According to Jean-Philippe Meloche, professor at the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Montreal, the location of AGORA does not necessarily allow for the immediate implementation of a minutes”,”text”:”quartier 15 minutes”}}”>neighborhood 15 minutes.

After having taken note of the project, the sector and its particularities, he considers that It’s a bit peripheral. There’s already low-density development and people are very dependent on cars. […] This is what makes the roots not take very well.

The place where we seek to do [ce quartier 15 minutes] is not necessarily auspicious.

Mr. Meloche adds that neighborhoods of this type take time to develop and that perhaps AGORA could be considered as a minutes”,”text”:”quartier 15 minutes”}}”>neighborhood 15 minutes within several years.

It is difficult to create a place that will be attractive from nothing. It often takes several years before businesses can benefit from an attractiveness that allows them to be profitable.he believes.