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From there, business only went downhill.

“There are not as many people coming in. We’re always trying to figure out what we need to do. It’s a subject of discussion all the time.”

Peter McGregor, who has been working at Champagne Dit Lambert on Bank Street for 28 years, said the shop closures have been a loss to the street’s identity.

“Antiques were the main draw to (Old Ottawa South). People liked to visit from store to store. The less antique stores you have, the less energy,” he said.

Cheryll Smith, at Antique Hoarders in Ottawa, said her sales have easily dropped by 80 per cent.

“Today’s young people don’t like these heavy duty Victorian or Canadiana pine furniture,” she said. “Those beautiful dining room sets your grandparents owned — people used to pay tens of thousands of dollars for them. Today, you’re lucky to get $600 for it.”

At 68, Smith said collecting for an antique business is like an addiction. “It’s the thrill of the hunt,” she said.

Now that so many people buy online, she said aging antique vendors, many of whom don’t have a significant digital presence, are losing their credibility.

“You don’t need that touch and feel like we did,” she said. “You can find everything off Amazon and eBay. You don’t need us any more.”

Smith said she’s tired of customers who accuse her of being a “crook” for selling an item at a higher price than what they’ve found on a bargain website. “You just get beat down and down,” she added.

A 2016 report on “game-changing consumer trends” by the Business Development Bank of Canada says millennials who are born between 1980 and 2000 are “driving a profound transformation in habits of all consumers.” Ninety-two per cent of them like to shop online, far more than the generations before them. They’re also frugal when it comes to saving money on household items, the report finds.