A Canadian Family

“To Scan A Poem From A Shopping List …” pt.2

Claude Leduc and I have been coresponding offline after he was kind enough to share an image of the 1960s Lasalle department store, the Mon Mart. 

I’ve asked him why he was interested in Quebec vintage stores  and it turns out he’s quite the family historian himself – and his (late) father, his mother and his brother all worked for Steinbergs. With his permission I’m reprinting some of what he’s shared with me, as I think it may inspire other family historians – as it has inspired me – to think about our “shopping history” and perhaps even to take a few photographs of our local commercial landmarks before they too disappear.

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Claude Leduc’s Comments

The reason I built this picture website is that many people do post photos of supermarkets, department stores and malls across America, but lest we forget we have our own shopping cathedrals.

My dad’s first job was at “Steinberg’s” (and yes I will certainly champion the fact that the first trademark had the 19th letter in the alphabet at the end…). [see my illegal 'S note below] and worked his way up  in the food store business. He died in 1984, however, if he did not bring me to most supermarkets around town and outside, well, I would not remember the architecture at all…  And of course, when I was a kid in the 60s-70s, Provigo was just a name on a warehouse, but there was “Steinberg’s”,  ”Dominion”,  ”A&P”,  ”Union Market”, “Spot”, “Dionne”, “IGA”.  Metro was only a small corner store then. And our deparment stores: Miracle Mart, K Mart, Zellers, Woolworth’s, Kresge’s, United, Greenberg’s, LaSalle, Wise Brothers, Hart and the biggies like Eaton’s, Simpson’s, Morgan’s, The Bay and Dupuis Frères. Yet Sears was not part of the picture, they were with Simpson’s at the time… Anyway, at the Bibliotheque Nationale, I happened to find many scans of these stores. It is not over yet. Wanted to prove that we have something in retail here…

And about shopping centers, it is not in Vancouver that was built the first one, but in Montreal, which is the Norgate shopping center, still standing at the corner of Côte Vertu and Decarie. Wicked that Steinberg’s was not the first food anchor store there (It was Dionne, which is now a big profitable Provigo…), but later, the supermarket chain would develop so many shopping centers around Montreal…

The last big shopping center to be built in Montreal ?  It is in LaSalle: Carrefour Angrignon (I am not counting what was done in Marché Central, 10/30 in Brossard and Boisbriand, they are not malls to me…)”

Just want to invite you to visit my other web photo sites: Grocerymania Photostream

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***   Note by Evelyn: Why the ‘S  is illegal in Quebec !!!   ***

For non-Quebeckers who are wondering about Claude’s  reference to the “19th letter”  - it refers to the fact that at a certain point legislation was introduced in Quebec to protect the French language. One part of that law mandated that public signage be in French and since the apostrophe s (‘s) doesn’t exist in French, signs using the possessive are now illegal. If you’re a Quebecker I imagine your reaction to this sign law (depending on your politics) is probably either satisfaction, anger or amusement. If you’re not from Quebec, I imagine your reaction is complete confusion!

Related Posts:
Smile For The Camera 11th Edition – Brothers & Sisters
“… To Scan A Poem From A Shopping List” pt.1

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Ghost of Steinbergs

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March 4, 2009 - Posted by Evelyn Yvonne Theriault | . | Montreal, Quebec