{"id":2892,"date":"2013-03-14T10:06:04","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T15:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2892"},"modified":"2017-11-19T19:25:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T00:25:57","slug":"bronson-businesses-thrive-after-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2892","title":{"rendered":"Bronson businesses thrive after construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

It should be easy to walk into a restaurant, flip through a menu and enjoy a quiet meal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bronson Avenue businesses between Catherine Street and Gladstone Avenue can finally offer this experience after eight months of construction ended in November as part of the city\u2019s two-year, $30-million project to replace 130-year-old water and sewer pipes.<\/p>\n

And once again, business is booming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis January was off the charts,\u201d says Amanda Lunan, owner and founder of Auntie Loo\u2019s Treats on Bronson Avenue at Flora Street. \u201cIt was an incredibly busy month for us and people have been coming back in droves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Businesses were concerned clientele wouldn\u2019t return, but some customers say they\u2019ve gone to restaurants such as Harvey\u2019s and Jak\u2019s Kitchen more often since construction ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just been easier to get around on Bronson,\u201d says Chris Wright, 22, who lives on nearby Bell Street South. \u201cIt was too hard to even walk for food and now its ridiculously simple being able to drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Auntie Loo\u2019s isn\u2019t a sit-down restaurant and partly profits by selling cakes and cupcakes to other businesses, Lunan says there were periods in the summer when shoppers couldn\u2019t even enter her bakery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the lowest levels of business in July and August. There was a lot going on in front of my store and there was a big pit dug in front of the entrance for a while,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But there were no hard feelings between business owners and the construction company, Lunan says. In fact, she says construction workers directed drivers around blocked areas of Bronson Avenue to reach stores.<\/p>\n

Lunan also held a party in October to celebrate Auntie Loo\u2019s third birthday that attracted about 500 customers, including construction workers, but says her business didn\u2019t see any growth from its second year because of the construction period.<\/p>\n

TAKING A HIT<\/span><\/p>\n

Though she says she didn\u2019t suffer a loss, some restaurants weren\u2019t so lucky.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they closed the Bronson and Gladstone intersection, business dropped in half immediately,\u201d says Jeff Stewart, owner of Pressed Caf\u00e9 on Gladstone Avenue. \u201cIt was definitely a really bad summer to start things off.\u201d<\/p>\n

This sandwich shop opened in November 2011, just four months before construction started.<\/p>\n

It was hard to attract potential patrons when people couldn\u2019t drive to the restaurant and weren\u2019t willing to navigate through pylons and holes on dirt-coated Bronson Avenue by foot, Stewart says.<\/p>\n

RECOVERY PERIOD<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Auntie Loo\u2019s, business at Pressed has picked up since construction ended and has had a profitable start to 2013.<\/p>\n

Lunan and Stewart say they not only credit the end of construction for a successful start to the new year compared with 2012, but simply being around for longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis January was much stronger than the last one,\u201d Stewart says. \u201cA lot of that has to do with being established for a bit longer, but I\u2019ve definitely benefitted from people getting around more easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attracting shoppers was difficult for any retail business during construction, says Jennifer Heagle, co-owner of the Red Apron on Gladstone Avenue at Percy Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re relying on people walking in your door every day to buy what you\u2019re selling, it\u2019s certainly a big deterrent when people can\u2019t get to you,\u201d the restaurateur says.<\/p>\n

The Red Apron\u2019s delivery service still turned a profit, Heagle says. She also saw regular clientele about four times a week, as she says she posted maps on the restaurant\u2019s website showing detours of construction.<\/p>\n

Heagle may not have seen many new faces in her restaurant, but says she was lucky construction was busiest during July and August.<\/p>\n

WAITING FOR FALL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the summer months are normally slow for her store, she says she didn\u2019t feel many negative effects from the construction.<\/p>\n

Though she says business typically picks up in September, the post-summer boom came a month later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we really noticed was once the through traffic was opened up across Bronson, business instantly picked up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But construction isn\u2019t over on northern parts of the avenue.<\/p>\n

The City of Ottawa intends to finish sections around Laurier Avenue West by September. There are also minor plans to expand sidewalks and build crosswalks at the Gladstone Avenue intersection next month.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Lunan, construction workers wielding jackhammers and other heavy machinery won\u2019t return to block access to Auntie Loo\u2019s. She also says she couldn\u2019t be happier with the return of her patrons.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusiness has been fabulous since the end of construction and it\u2019s going to keep growing,\u201d she says. \u201cThe Ottawa community has been really, really supportive. We have beautiful, incredible, loyal clientele.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It should be easy to walk into a restaurant, flip through a menu and enjoy a quiet meal. Bronson Avenue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[178,179,177,64,180],"class_list":["post-2892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-amanda-lunan","tag-auntie-loos-treats","tag-bronson-ave","tag-marcus-guido","tag-ottawa-road-construction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2892"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4476,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions\/4476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}