'Don't close it. Please.'

Businesses and the City of St. Albert are set to send Canada Post a message about the proposed closure of the city’s downtown post office.

This week, both city council and the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce have voted to send letters to Canada Post to advocate for the office to remain open.

Canada Post’s deadline to send in comments on the proposed closure of the Perron Street post office to Canada Post is two weeks away. Notice the closure is being considered was issued Feb. 25, beginning a 30-day comment period for the public.

If that location is closed, people would have to go to one of the privately-operated Canada Post outlets in St. Albert. Post office box holders would be able to keep their address but would have to go the depot in Campbell Park to pick up their mail, or change addresses to use the post office boxes at one of the outlets.

“I would miss it so much,” said Christine Genoway outside of the office on Thursday. She said she comes downtown almost every day to pick up her mail, and has done so for 28 years.

Maxine Alguire, a business owner who has her business post office box at the Perron Street location, is not happy about the proposed closure.

“It’d be very inconvenient,” she said of possibly having to go Campbell Park or switching her address. She said if she had to change her address, it would be a cost of both time and money, including the need to update her business stationery.

A mix of people went in and out of the post office on Thursday who didn’t know or had just learned about the proposed closure. No one asked was in favour of the closure.

“I like having a central post office,” said Jackie Froment. She does not live nor work downtown, but she has a business post office box at that office. It wouldn’t actually be inconvenient for her to go to Campbell Park instead, but she said she likes the concept of having a downtown post office.

Rhonda Sinclair of Hillside Dental feels so strongly about the closure she appeared at council on Monday to encourage advocacy to keep it open.

She said the closure would have a huge impact on downtown businesses who use the post office. But she also worries about the seniors who live downtown and won’t be able to just walk to the new locations.

She also praised the expertise of the post office workers at that location.

“They are so knowledgeable and so experienced,” Sinclair said.

Stuart Loomis also appeared at council on Monday. In a follow-up interview he said he was advocating for council to write a letter for a few reasons, including the historical value of retaining the building and its use downtown.

Having a post office downtown also helps other stores in the area, he said. People will go downtown to go to the post office and then might have a bite to eat or stop in one of the stores.

Loomis said the additional population coming with the planned Grandin Parc development would also be served by the post office. There’s also better security at the office for post office boxes, which he prefers over the community boxes.

St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper said he has received a lot of correspondence from concerned community members about the proposed closure. He plans on contacting the minister responsible for Canada Post and the corporation itself to hear the business plan for mail service in St. Albert.

“I want them to explain the business case for shutting down the post office if in fact that is the intent,” he said. There are many businesses and residents who use the downtown post office, including his own constituency office, he added.

Gisele Sinclair, owner of the Candy Bouquet, is one of a few downtown business owners who have put up notices in their stores about the proposed closure.

“We want it to be here,” she said. “We ship a lot of stuff.”

It also just works to have a post office downtown, she said, noting there are a lot of businesses and residents for whom it’s convenient.

“Don’t close it,” she said. “Please.”