NOTRE-DAME-DE-GRÂCE – Stephanie Carrière and her husband have owned a jewelry store on Sherbrooke Street in NDG for the last five years.
Along with most of the other businesses in the area, she considers her store to be a mom-and-pop shop.
So, the opening of a western-style bar right across the street came as a bit of a surprise.
“Initially, my hackles went up and I was like ‘oh,'” she said.
“Because I looked at the video and I was like, what is that?”
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The promotional video features scantily-clad girls dancing on the bar.
Carrière told Global News as soon as she finished watching the video, she called the owner, Peter Sergakis.
“He said, ‘would you like to come to our private grand opening Thursday night and see for yourself?’ so I said ‘yeah, okay,'” she said.
After checking it out for herself, Carrière admitted the bar isn’t as scandalous as she previously thought, and it may just bring more business to the area.
However, some residents don’t seem to be on the same page.
“This is a family area,” said one NDG resident.
“I have children, grandchildren around here. I don’t want them walking around and seeing that.”
Residents said that with a school nearby and a park down the street, the bar doesn’t seem to fit into the family-oriented neighbourhood.
“It’s good business, but it may not be the best location for it,” a resident told Global News.
“We don’t have anything against the business, it’s just not the right location.”
Carrière said she understands the concerns, but is willing to see how it plays out.
“I’m willing to just let it go,” she said.
“I saw it and I don’t think it’ll be that much of a big of the deal and hopefully that’ll be the case for everybody and everyone will just relax a little.”
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