L. Berson & Son, a vendor of funeral monuments, has itself become a monument over the firm’s 93-year history.

First, a monument to Montreal’s Jewish history; then, to the eclectic Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood, with its funky stores and bars that grew up after the Jewish community moved on.

Now, Berson has become a testament to something else: the disappearance of mom-and-pop shops from Montreal’s commercial streets. That trend seems to have accelerated in recent months, with several high-profile local institutions being shuttered for good, including a famed tavern.

With gentrification of many older quarters has come “generification” – streets lined with soulless, cookie-cutter Starbucks, Gap stores and other chains that have been better able to withstand the vagaries of doing business in Montreal.

But independent shops often are the soul of neighbourhoods, providing the character and colour that helps to distinguish one commercial strip from another. For the sake of a vibrant atmosphere and a fun city, it’s in the interest of all to help out the independents. Often, however, the city does just the opposite.

Berson’s granite-slab storefront, for instance, has been a fixture on St. Laurent Boulevard since 1922. But a “for sale” sign went up in March and the firm is moving to a nondescript industrial area in the suburbs. Berson’s fourth-generation owner says the business never recovered from a two-year road reconstruction project that scared away customers.

Merchants on nearby St. Denis Street also are living through tumultuous times. In 2014, 36 businesses closed there and 30 opened, according to a local association.

Across town, a restaurant made headlines when it announced it was closing in a press release that listed many of the oft-repeated complaints of restaurateurs. The family owners of Taverne Magnan – a restaurant famous for its roast beef – blamed high taxes and fierce competition for customers (and employees).

The tavern’s list left out the lure of suburban malls with multi-store convenience and plenty of parking. That’s probably because the family’s business is moving to the suburbs. The Magnan name will live on in a butcher shop at Quartier Dix30, a sprawling South Shore mall that attracts 20 million shoppers annually.

The developers of that very mall now have their eyes on another location that potentially will be even more disruptive to the unique and vibrant character of the city’s retail scene, proposing to build Quebec’s biggest mall right in the middle of Montreal.

A city councillor from a neighbouring borough says if the new, $1.5-billion mall opens, nearby commercial arteries could lose up to 30% of their businesses, enough to cut merchants’ profit margins completely, close businesses and send streets into irreversible decline. Montreal City Hall is promising to consult the public and merchants before deciding on the mall.

Unfortunately, the city is not promising to end roadwork. However, it has vowed to co-ordinate work better so stores and restaurants with streetfronts have a better chance to survive.

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