Montgomery businesses under massive strain from multiple rounds of water main repairs

Construction machines are humming on 16th Avenue N.W. in Montgomery, but the local business community says the quiet inside their shops and restaurants is taking a toll. 

Traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway between 41st and 46th streets is being detoured onto Bowness Road, as crews continue work on the Bearspaw south feeder main.

Sales at the medical supply store Calmedi have been slashed in half by the road work, said manager Mina Maherali.

"We cater to a lot of seniors.… Even to get to us ordinarily is hard, but in this situation, they can't get to us at all," she said. 

"We have been doing all the online advertisements, but seniors don't look at those. Most seniors don't, anyways. So it's been very, very, very hard on the business."

Maherali is offering free delivery to seniors to keep them from shopping elsewhere but said business is the worst it's ever been. 

"We have been in business for 20 years. So this area is very important to us. We have our clientele who have built up for a long time, so we want to keep them."

It's not the first time Maherali and other business leaders in Montgomery have been under strain because of the water main repairs.  

In June, sections of 16th Avenue N.W. were closed for flooding and to accommodate repair work.  

Pressure from the disruptions could force some businesses to close permanently, according to the Montgomery on the Bow Business Improvement Area. 

"I have heard a couple of businesses contemplating how this summer could be too much for them," said Marion Hayes, executive director of the Montgomery on the Bow BIA. 

"Summer is the be-all-end-all for restaurants, and some may hand in their keys after this year. It's been that dramatic." 

Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Ward 7 Councillor Terry Wong are urging Calgarians to support businesses in Montgomery during this period of disruption. 

At a news conference on Monday, Wong said an anchor tenant in Montgomery is losing about $10,000 a week in revenue.

"There are businesses out there that are surviving barely," he said. 

"If we don't shop in these areas, they're forced to either incur the expenses of the staffing that they have to keep on board or, worse yet, let the staff go and thereby create a bit of a temporary unemployment," he said. 

Business at BK Liquor Store is down almost 80 per cent, according to owner Jasvinder Kullar. 

"These are the peak few months for us to win business, but it's been dead," he said. "It's not even worth it to … open the store right now."

Kullar said Mayor Gondek recently visited the store to show support but added the visit "doesn't mean anything to me."

Work on the feeder main is still on track to be completed by Sept. 23, according to the City of Calgary. 

CBC News contacted the City of Calgary for more information on how it's supporting businesses affected by the construction on 16th Avenue N.W. but did not hear back before deadline.