Merchants association to start again

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

With its restaurants, art shops, and diverse boutiques, the Beaurepaire Village in Beaconsfield is a gem waiting to be discovered, and according to business owner Hillary Harubin, it is up to the merchants to put it back on the map.

“I still get the question, from people who live just a few streets over, how long have you been here?” said Harubin, who opened the Boutique Woof! Meow! pet products and grooming business a year ago in July. Harubin is currently in the process of starting up a Beaurepaire Village merchants association with the philosophy that there is power in numbers. “You know, you get more accomplished as a group,” she said. “It’s absolutely about exposure and it’s about doing things for the community.”

Over $7 million was invested into the Beaurepaire Village revitalization project between 2001 and 2004, which included major infrastructure work in 2003. During this time, citizens, and municipal representatives formed the Rues Principales association, however the business organization disbanded in the years following the construction.

Harubin said starting the merchants association up again became important to her when she was organizing the Beaurepaire Village “Pawfect Match” pet adoption day in September, an event that brought in about 1,000 visitors to the stretch on Beaconsfield Boulevard between St. Louis and Fieldfare Avenues.

“I wanted to ride on that positive wave that came from the pet fair, and I thought it would be a good time for this,” Harubin said, adding planning for next year’s pet event is already in the works.

One issue she hopes the association will resolve is the signage rules many merchants in the village disagree with. When it comes to things like temporary banners, neon signs, and sandwich boards and related fines merchants can face, a number of Beaurepaire business owners feel the laws are too constraining.

“I conformed, but, in the back of my head I said, we’ve got to change that,” Harubin said, adding the city of Beaconsfield is open to discussion. “To get the sign issue off the plate, it makes no sense in my mind for individuals to go down (to the city). You’re not going to get any attention, but as a group, there’s a consensus and you can present something to the city.”

Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti said he is glad to see the merchants are going to be working together, and said the city is looking at making some minor changes in its sign bylaw in the future, specifically concerning temporary banners on certain occasions.

“I hope (the association) is successful,” he said. “It’s up to the merchants themselves to pull up their socks and do things. We can support them to a degree, but when it comes to a merchants association, we can’t sort of jam one down their throat.”

Alison Birss, a retail councilor with the CLD West Island, helped Harubin start up Boutique Woof! Meow! and will also be lending a hand in getting the merchants association on the right track. From her experience working with merchant groups in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Dorval, and Pointe Claire, she believes an organized association will be the best way to capitalize on Beaurepaire.

“As an association, they can work closer with the city hall. They can do event planning, and it doesn’t end up on one person’s shoulder. They’re pulling together to make the village work,” Birss said, adding it is also less expensive to advertise as a group. “Big box stores do it, Fairview does it, plazas do it, and villages have to do it, too.”

While Harubin said she is expecting a few “no’s” as she goes down her call-list, with 35 businesses already on board and the first meeting planned for mid-November, she sees a bright future for the village and its merchants.

“It’s very preliminary right now, but when we all sit down, I’m sure we’ll have some great ideas,” she said.