Dupuis Frères was a large department store on

Sainte-Catherine Street Sainte-Catherine Street ( ) () is the primary commercial artery of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the central business district from west to east, beginning at the corner of Claremont Avenue and de Maisonneuve Boulevard in Wes ...

East, in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The store was founded in 1868 by Nazaire Dupuis, and closed permanently in 1978. Dupuis Frères was a symbol of

French-Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...

economic success at a time when Montreal's economy was dominated by

Anglophones The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

(native English-speaking Quebeckers, mostly with British and Irish roots).

History

On April 28, 1868, Nazaire Dupuis opened a small novelty store at 865 rue Sainte-Catherine est, in Montreal. He managed to interest several of his brothers in his business, which he called Dupuis Frères in 1870. Despite the economic crisis of 1872, the business continued to prosper. In 1876, following the death of Nazaire Dupuis, the family participated directly in the management of the company. The store moved a few times before settling permanently in 1882 at the corner of Saint-André and Sainte-Catherine streets, where it remained until its closing in 1978. In 1924, Albert Dupuis became president of the company until his death in 1945. His son Raymond took over. In the 1950s, around 1,500 people worked at the company. The decline of the store began in 1952 with the strike of a significant majority of employees. The 1952 strike at Dupuis Frères^{[ fr]} lasted 13 weeks and ended with the victory of the employees (mostly women) and the Confederation of Catholic Workers of Canada. A lockout in 1976, as well as financial problems, led to the bankruptcy of this famous Montreal institution and its closure in January 1978. For 110 years, Dupuis Frères was one of the most important department stores in Montreal. It had a great influence on the development of commerce in the eastern part of the city.

Place Dupuis

Place Dupuis (Dupuis Square) today anchors the southwest end of The Village a.k.a. The Gay Village, and is a

mixed-use development Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...

with retail and office space as well as direct access to the

Montreal Metro The Montreal Metro (, ) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure ...

's Berri–UQAM station, where the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

and

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

lines intersect. In 1972, the Place Dupuis

neighborhood shopping center A neighborhood shopping center (Commonwealth English: neighbourhood shopping centre) is an industry term in the United States for a shopping center with of gross leasable area, typically anchored by a supermarket and/or large drugstore. Versus ...

was opened to complete the development of the block surrounding the store. Two office towers as well as the Gouverneur Hotel (now a

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational corporation, multinational hospitality company headquartered in the 150 North Riverside, Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchise ...

) Place Dupuis were added in 1973 and 1974. Finally, following the closure of the Dupuis store in 1978, the building housing it was redeveloped to create the Les Atriums office building, opened in 1981. Currently the shopping center has a ''Bureaux En Gros'' ( Staples) office supply superstore,

IGA IGA or IgA may refer to: Businesses and organizations * IGA (supermarkets) (initially Independent Grocers Alliance), a name used by many independent supermarkets throughout the world ** IGA (Australian supermarket group), the local Australian v ...

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

, Jean Coutu pharmacy, SAQ

liquor store A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom ...

, and an 11-outlet

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

. On October 2, 2023, a gigantic mural paying tribute to the artist

Françoise Sullivan Françoise Sullivan LL.D (born 10 June 1923) is a Canadian painter, sculptor, dancer, choreographer and photographer whose work is marked by her ability to switch from one discipline to another. Biography Early life Françoise Sullivan gre ...

was inaugurated next to the Hyatt hotel, part of the complex. Titled ''Damiers 2023'', the work is 108 meters high and includes 33 colored squares. The mural is part of a collection created by MU^{[ fr]} muralists which pays tribute to Montreal's cultural builders

In popular culture

Dupuis Frères is mentioned in the song "23 décembre"^{[ fr]} ("December 23") by the group

Beau Dommage Beau Dommage was a rock band from Montreal, Quebec, who achieved success in Quebec and France in the 1970s. The group's style included rich vocal harmonies and elements borrowed from folk and country music. History Beau Dommage started in 197 ...

Robert Charlebois Robert Charlebois (born June 25, 1944) is a Canadian author, composer, musician, performer and actor. Charlebois was born in Montreal, Quebec. Among his best known songs are ''Lindberg'' (the duo with Louise Forestier in particular), ''Ordi ...

also talks about the famous store in his song "Québec Love"^{[ fr]}. In a Sonnet Insurance advertisement, with hockey stars

Jonathan Drouin Jonathan Drouin (born March 28, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left winger for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). After a stellar 2012–13 QMJHL season, 2012–13 season with the Quebec ...

Doug Gilmour Douglas Robert Gilmour (born June 25, 1963) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for seven different teams. Gilmour was a seventh round selection, 134th overall, of the ...

and the former coach of the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

Mario Tremblay Joseph Daniel Mario Tremblay (born September 2, 1956) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). As a player, he was a five-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens. He was hon ...

, mention Dupuis Frères.

External links

*
Website of the Dupuis Frères Fund of HEC Montréal (archive, in French)

References

* ''DUPUIS FRÈRES, le magasin du peuple : plus d'un siècle de fierté québécoise'', par Josette Dupuis-Leman, Éd. Stanké, 2001 * {{coord missing, Quebec Department stores of Canada Buildings and structures in Montreal Ville-Marie, Montreal Retail companies established in the 1860s Companies based in Montreal