While Some Montreal Streets Boom, Downtown Is Dotted With Vacant Storefronts

While Some Montreal Streets Boom, Downtown Is Dotted With Vacant Storefronts
Shoppers walk past a boarded up storefront on Ste-Catherine Street in downtown Montreal, on Dec. 19, 2023. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi
|Updated:
0:00

Wellington Street in Montreal’s Verdun borough is booming, with cheerful shop facades lining a district bustling with pedestrians.

With a commercial vacancy rate the local business association pegs at about six percent, the street, named “coolest in the world” by Time Out magazine in 2022, is a success story in the city’s battle against the empty storefronts that plague many of Montreal’s main arteries.