BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

The owner of a Galeries Kirkland wedding clothes and accessories boutique and other merchants at the strip mall are upset at what they deem to be bad business practice by their landlord's representative in Montreal, who is allowing a fashion accessories store to open right next to the wedding store.

"It'll give me a loss," said Antonia Monzioni, owner of Punta Chiara. As she provides a full service to her customers, fitting them with not only their wedding clothes but also fashion accessories such as jewellery, she is concerned the newcomer, Lay Lo Modes, will eat into a substantial part of her revenue.

"I dress the person from head to toe," she added. "And to top it off, (my competitor) is a wholesaler, what he sells at $10, I sell at $20."

"We pay more rent (in the West Island) because we want to be protected," Monzioni said. Allowing similar stores to open nearby is standard practice elsewhere in Montreal, "but it's not the West Island way. We didn't want that here. That's why we fought to get our cities back," she added.

Punta Chiara, however, does not have an exclusivity clause built into its lease. The owner of the adjacent store pooh-poohed the notion they are in direct competition

"(The landlord) would not have rented the same space for me if I was competing," countered Bindra Bunty, owner of Lay Lo Modes. Bunty owns two other locations in downtown Montreal, and said he first heard of the available space at Galeries Kirkland through his landlord. "Let's take a chance, let's see how it goes," he decided when he learned of it.

"We have not even yet opened," Bunty continued. Lay Lo Modes has not had its official opening and the store's signs were not up as of Thursday, but customers were able to walk through its doors.

Another charge by Monzioni is that Lay Lo Modes' storefront is too similar to her own, with various fashion accessories and small items of clothing showing up in both stores' showcases. With no other businesses between Lay Lo Modes and Punta Chiara, Monzioni fears it is too easy to mistake Lay Lo for an expansion of her own store.

"I had a customer come in today to congratulate me on my expansion," she told The Chronicle on Friday.

The company that owns the mall stated the stores are not necessarily competing.

"She did not sign an exclusivity clause," said Philippe Leduc, property manager of Galeries Kirkland in Montreal for Vancouver-based Sunstone Realties Inc. That type of clause is what could have guaranteed her to remain the only wedding store at Galeries. Even then, said Leduc, she would not have stopped an accessories store from opening since that is not her primary business. "I can't stop from opening an accessories store there just because of her," said Leduc. Suggesting another spot at the strip mall for Bunty's business was not an option, he said, since all other vacant lots at Galeries were already taken up.

However, Monzioni is not the only one unhappy with the landlord's decision. Anna Taparella, who manages nearby Coiffures Aventura, wrote a letter of support for Punta Chiara. "I think it's unfortunate, because we need to all help each other out," she said.

Taparella, one of a few merchants at Galeries who have signed letters on Punta Chiara's behalf, said there is no intention to ostracize newcomers on their part, but they feel Leduc did not play fair. "How much more competition do you want?" She asked.

Lay Lo Modes' website front page mentions they carry "the complete bridal collection."

Monzioni said Leduc was in the middle of working out a solution that he would present to concerned parties this coming Friday.

Sunstone Realties' Vancouver head office did not return a request for comment as of press time.