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<\/a>Preston Street is vibrant again after two years of construction.<\/p>\n\u201cIt was certainly a tough time down here and the street\u2019s business owners were just reeling,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were reports of a 35 to 50 per cent downturn in sales.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mellor attributes a slowdown in business more to the construction than to the economic downturn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think initially when the bottom fell out of the economy, everybody halted spending and that certainly impacted us,\u201d she said. \u201cBut Ottawa residents tend to have more secure jobs and income is pretty much protected, so it was the construction that hurt us more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joe Cotroneo, owner of Pub Italia, says his restaurant coped well during the initial stages of the recession, but struggled during construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we weathered the storm as far as the recession goes, because we didn\u2019t raise our prices and I think we\u2019re a very affordable place to eat,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the two years of construction that caused the downturn in our business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pub Italia lost many of its patrons in the summer of 2008 because dust and debris from construction affected its patio setup.<\/p>\n
In 2009, dug-up sidewalks prevented Cotroneo from even having a patio.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot having it for an entire summer definitely affected sales,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to cut down on my staff as well, because we lost 125 seats just like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Businesses take a hit<\/span><\/p>\n Cotroneo estimates his restaurant\u2019s sales decreased by 30 per cent during construction.<\/p>\n Stoneface Dolly\u2019s also saw a downturn in sales.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was certainly a tough time down here and the street\u2019s business owners were just reeling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere was definitely a reduction of business due to the construction,\u201d owner Bob Russell said. \u201cWe lost our restaurant\u2019s walk-in clientele because of the closures and all that was going on in our area, and that contributed to a drop in sales of about 25 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n Russell tried to attract more people by keeping his restaurant open later and having a DJ come in on weekends. But the experiment didn\u2019t have the anticipated results.<\/p>\n Slant Printing, on the other hand, wasn\u2019t as negatively affected by the construction as restaurants that rely more on a pedestrian, walk-in clientele.<\/p>\n Sheldon Mulligan says his business struggled more because of the recession.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do government work and people in the government were being told to watch what they\u2019re ordering. So they were doing the photocopying there, instead of coming to us,\u201d he said. \u201cThe recession is still bothering us because people are still watching their spending.\u201d<\/p>\n Mulligan says a couple of timely contracts were critical in keeping his business afloat.<\/p>\n