Downtown Paris businesses still hurting as Grand River Street nears reopening

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The main street in downtown Paris is set to reopen in November, but some business owners say they’re not celebrating yet.

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Grand River Street North, the town’s central artery, has been under heavy construction since May 8 as part of a massive, multi-year project to rebuild aging underground infrastructure, widen sidewalks, improve accessibility and give the historic core a fresh look.

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But it has made the last six months a challenge for business owners like Marylou Bergman.

“It’s been bad, I’m going to be honest with you. I never thought it would affect me because my clients are always appointments,” the hairdresser said.

She has been operating Paris Coiffures on the main strip for around 45 years.

But some of her loyal clients have had knee replacements or use walkers, and find navigating downtown difficult during the construction.

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It means longer days for Bergman — working at the shop in the day, and travelling to the homes of clients who can’t make it to her shop in the evening.

But that’s not been the only challenge she has faced with the reconstruction the county has dubbed the “downtown dig.”

When the asphalt was first torn up, her salon floors and walls got covered in cement dust that took her around four days to scrub off, she said.

Now, she has covered her floor in rugs from Costco, and taped a sign to her door asking clients to “please wipe your feet really, really, really good. (Thank you).”

The water main out front also got hit several times, cutting off the water to her salon unexpectedly.

In one instance, she was partway through dyeing a client’s hair. It meant having to send the client home to wash it out on her own. “I can’t charge them for a job half done, right?” she told The Spectator.

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Bergman has been surviving, but not exactly thriving. “I am so grateful I don’t have a mortgage, I don’t have a vehicle payment … if I wasn’t in that position, we’d be closed,” she said.

Another shop owner made the decision to move her business, One Sixty One, away from Grand River Street because of the construction.

“My lease was up. I was obviously paying prime real-estate pricing there … there were really no supports being offered, so my option was to renew the lease again and hope for the best for the next few years, or look for options elsewhere,” Val Simpson told The Spectator.

She ended up moving to a smaller space around the corner on William Street.

Foot traffic and sales are “significantly down,” but it’s hard to know if it’s because of the location, the construction, “or a little of both,” she said.

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Simpson said the work itself is not the issue for her — “we all know it’s going to be nice in the end, we all know it needs to be done” — but she wishes there were more supports in place for the business owners.

Both Bergman and Simpson asked why there couldn’t be a program to help cover some of their losses, similar to during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Mayor David Bailey indicated there would be in an interview with Brant Blog in May, Simpson said.

“There’s government support behind this, not only from the County of Brant but also contingency funds available. If businesses lose significant income because of the construction, we have measures in place to help them,” he was quoted as telling the blog at the time.

But when Simpson called the county, they told her about an interest-free loan program. “Nobody wants more debt,” she said.

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Because municipal funding is “subject to strict regulatory and budgetary constraints,” it limits the county’s ability to offer direct financial compensation to businesses, Melissa Connor, the county’s manager of communications for operations, told The Spectator.

Connor said the supports Bailey was referring to included:

• The Paris Dig Sustainability Program through Enterprise Brant, which involves loan programs and free consulting services.
• Information, resources and free professional consultations through the Brantford-Brant Business Resource Centre.
• Access to financing and advice through the Business Development Bank of Canada.

As for the dig, the contractor is on track to have Cobblestone Commons fully completed in time for the Remembrance Day service at the cenotaph.

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Grand River Street North is on track to be repaved and reopened for Jingle Bell Night on Nov. 21, Connor said.

Shop owners are hopeful locals will come out and show their support by doing their holiday shopping downtown, because they’re already bracing for the next blow.

“I think people forget that it’s a four-year-plus project. So, yes, Grand River will be done, but we’re all going to still be impacted for the next few years,” Simpson said.

Grand River Street North will be closed again in 2026 when construction season begins again.

“Plans for downtown are continuing to be confirmed and public messaging will be shared in the near future about next steps,” Connor said.

Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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