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Mile End record stores facing steep fines for staying open late

One owner says they feel targeted: 'They seem intent on fining the businesses an amount none of us can actually pay."

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The inspector showed up on Record Store Day, of all days.

Several Mile End record shops were celebrating their unlikely survival along with the rest of the world on Saturday, April 13, when a little past 5 p.m. they got a not-so-friendly visit from Quebec’s Ministère de l’économie et de l’innovation.

Shop owners were informed they’re not allowed to be open past 5 p.m. on weekends, and issued a warning. Eight months later, those warnings have turned into hefty fines they say threaten their livelihood.

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Jordan Robson Cramer began working at Phonopolis — then on Parc Ave., now on Bernard St. — in 2007, and took over from the former owner in 2015.

This is the first time he has ever heard of the regulation, which he considers unfair and unreasonable.

“This came as a big surprise to us.”

Nonetheless, he has done his best to comply.

“We changed the listed hours on our website. But when 5 p.m. rolls around, there are often a lot of people in the store. We’re not in a position to be able to kick everyone out; we can’t close that early on weekends. Sometimes we do one-third of the day’s sales in that 5 to 8 p.m. window.

“We won’t survive (if we close earlier), with the amount of taxes we’re paying. We have to open when there are people in the store.”

“It feels like harassment, like the little guys against the big guys,” Sonorama’s Edouardo Cabral says.
“It feels like harassment, like the little guys against the big guys,” Sonorama’s Edouardo Cabral says. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

Quebec law stipulates that all commercial establishments aside from pharmacies and grocery stores can open only between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekends. Fines range from a minimum of $1,500 for a first offence to $3,000 and up for repeat offences.

But there are several exceptions, some of which Robson Cramer believes should apply to independent record stores. Shops in a tourist area, book stores and shops selling artisanal products or antiques are all allowed to remain open later.

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“It could be argued we sell antiques, because we have a lot of used merchandise,” he said. “We also sell works of art and locally made music zines and posters.”

Robson Cramer thinks the biggest case can be made for Mile End as a tourist zone, with the busloads of visitors shipped in to the neighbourhood to visit St-Viateur Bagel, grab a coffee at Café Olimpico or Club Social and try the special at Wilensky’s.

“How is Mile End not a tourist zone?” he asked. “We see tourists or out-of-town tour groups every day, and try to appeal to them as much as possible.

“Mile end is presented as being an artistic and trendy neighbourhood by government officials and within Tourism Montreal’s own website.”

Phonopolis received two fines recently, totalling nearly $3,000, as did nearby shops Sonorama and La Rama. Another store, La fin du vinyle, on St-Laurent Blvd., received the same warning in April but has yet to be fined.

“I’m not sure why or how this whole thing started,” Robson Cramer said. “They seem intent on fining the businesses an amount none of us can actually pay, and I think that might be the point. It feels like a targeted attack.”

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Sonorama co-owner Edouardo Cabral agrees. He has owned record shops in Montreal for 35 years, and never been told he had to close early.

“Being fined $2,500 is enormous for a little store,” Cabral said. “For me, it’s like going two or three months with no salary. I don’t want to be paranoid, but it’s as if they’re doing this on purpose, to target record stores on Bernard so that we close down.

“It feels like harassment, like the little guys against the big guys.”

Both owners have filed not-guilty pleas.

According to the Ministère de l’économie et de l’innovation, the record stores are not exempt from the law and are not situated in a tourist area.

“A record shop is considered a retail store and therefore must conform to the law and the regulation,” the Ministère told the Gazette in a statement.

The city of Montreal says its hands are tied since the fines were issued provincially, but that it is working on a solution.

“We are more than willing to support our local businesses and we can grant specific exemptions, if the businesses ask us to do so,” read a statement from Projet Montréal.

“Currently the city is working on a framework for the night opening hours of businesses, under the powers which were granted to us by obtaining our status as a metropolis.”

In the meantime, Robson Cramer, Cabral and their fellow record store owners are left in a potentially very expensive limbo.

tdunlevy@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/TChaDunlevy

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