Can't speak to this situation, but some good restaurants where I live were forced to move due to exorbitant rent increases. Successful restaurants that'd been around for many years, one of them having been there as long as I'd lived here which is quite awhile.

You can only charge so much for a breakfast.

I'm not sure how it operates in Quebec, but commercial real estate is very different from residential: your landlord is basically your business partner, and, for good or (usually) for ill, they see themselves as having a share in your business.

Ergo, when you do well, they'll suck more blood out of you. When you do poorly, they'll...also suck more blood out of you and wonder why you aren't doing as well when all of your income is going to rent.

Larger companies that have the wherewithal to arm-twist their landlords into favourable contracts are generally better off, but there is generally no industry that's as parasitic, rent-seeking and non-value-adding as commercial real estate.