Ashley Brasgold Cola is a regular at the St-Viateur Bagel on Monkland Avenue in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce but in a few weeks her eating habits will have to change.
“My kids have been coming here since they were born,” she says. “My family comes here on the weekends.”
Robert Morena, the co-owner of the popular brunch spot, said it will close on March 11.
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He says the restaurant tried to negotiate with the landlord, but in the end the parties just couldn’t come to an agreement on their lease.
“It’s his building and we just couldn’t make it at what he was demanding,” Morena explains.
There are eight St-Viateur Bagel outlets around the greater Montreal area, including Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Laval. The oldest one on St-Viateur Street in the Mile End opened over 60 years ago.
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The spot on Monkland Avenue has been open for 18 years. Devoted clients say going to the café has become a part their routine.
“It’s where my family eats on Sunday,” Carole Cohen tells Global News.
“It’s where me and my sister and my mom come to hang out and have a coffee and a bagel during the week.”
The impending closure has disappointed many Montrealers.
“It’s very upsetting to hear,” Brasgold Cola says. “Especially like on the street, there’s not much that’s very family oriented. This has always been the place that we’ve come to.”
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Georgina Dimyan said she loves the smell of fresh bagels.
“I’m going to miss it,” she says while frowning.
The store’s owners say they plan to relocate the 40 employees that work at the Monkland Avenue location, but they haven’t ruled out an eventual return to NDG.
“We’re going to come back in a big way,” Morena says. “Open another location — bigger and better.”