By Danna Farhang
Ottawa’s Preston Street needs less focus on pasta and more on providing services for the area’s increasing residential population, says the street’s Business Improvement Association (BIA).
“We’ve got the restaurants covered. . .but we’re hitting a point of saturation. There are only so many people who want to eat pasta in one night,” says Lori Mellor, executive director.
The BIA is hearing increased demand for essential services such as pharmacies, post offices and franchise grocery stores, all of which Preston Street is lacking.
“There’s an influx of an upscale, urban population and they like to have their services close by,” says Mellor.
“We also have a huge government population and we constantly hear that they can’t run their errands. (Preston Street) has such great potential to provide all these services,” Mellor says.
The high turnover rate of newer restaurants on the street is also a problem.
Although landlords do not need to consult the BIA before renting or selling their property to potential entrepreneurs, Mellor says she feels that understanding the increasing needs of Preston Street would save owners and entrepreneurs precious time, effort and money.
“They open, then they close. We want to encourage land owners to look into other types of businesses. These continuous closures hurt everyone involved,” says Mellor.
However, she says restaurant entrepreneurs are investing money without having done the proper market research. She adds that they assume they will survive simply because they are an Italian restaurant on Preston Street.
“No one is bringing anything new,” says Mellor.
“We need to bring in a new formula, some brand awareness,” she adds.
However, Pat DeGrazia, owner of Osso Buco’s says that restaurants are the lifeblood of Preston Street.
While he agrees that an increase of basic services is important, he believes that too many Italian restaurants are not a problem.
“There’s no competition between us (the restaurants). Everybody does their own thing and there’s enough to go around,” he says.
“There might be one or two that close down but anyone that comes to Little Italy tends to stay. In a way, people know Little Italy for the restaurants.”
Like many Preston Street restaurants, Osso Buco’s has been in business for 18 years and has carved out its own niche market and loyal clientele during this time.
DeGrazia doesn’t face the same types of problems that new owners encounter.
He and other restaurant owners agree that advertising is important, but it takes word of mouth to succeed, too.
“Marketing is only one key to success,” says William Morris, an employee of Il Garage restaurant.
“We have ourselves in different publications and we’re advertised in different venues. But it’s also about location. The good locations stay open,” he says.
Morris adds that it would help Little Italy if different types of businesses opened up.
Sam Giannetti, owner of Preston Hardware, sees no problem with the supply of restaurants but says clothing stores and an increase in basic services would bring more customers to the area as a whole.
“Overall, any added business is good for the community,” he says.
Although Mellor has not seen any real changes, she says the potential for improvement is huge.
“I can’t even buy stamps on this street. We need a liquor store, a grocery store,” she says.
“We need retail to give people something to look at. Preston Street is such a huge untapped opportunity.”