A Shopping Stroll along Montréal's Amazing 'Antique Alley'by Ron Harvie
Montréal is blessed with a whole, long, major street full of all that. Notre-Dame Street, or 'Antique Alley.' At last count, there were fifty different shops in a half-mile stretch. And that's not including multiple-dealer co-ops. New shops are constantly joining the ranks. And the city planners are adding to the ambience by making the strip more amenable to strollers -wider sidewalks, old-style lampposts, etc. Oddly enough, most visitors tend to do Notre-Dame Street east to west, while native Montrealers go west to east. On this tour, we'll be strolling à la Montréalaise! The first place to check out is Boutique Eklektik, a new store featuring Art Nouveau, Art Deco and 1960s furniture and decorative objects. Next door is Proulx and Synnett, a spaciously elegant, yet friendly place where the wares range from formal to fun-like a ceramic opium pillow, for example, or an old autoharp-cum-lamp.
A few more steps leads to Dynasties Art, a very aptly named place full of interesting European furniture. Its owner, Jean-Claude Raschella, really has started a dynasty on Notre-Dame Street. After immigrating from France and establishing a business, he brought his brother François over to help out. But he too opened his own shop, specializing in armchairs, curio cabinets and bibelots. Finally, the youngest Raschella, Sylvain, arrived, who took over the lamps and lighting fixtures, eventually opening his own shop, Claire Obscur, a few doors away! Skipping over to the south side of the street, a must-visit institution is Grand Central Antiques. This is one of the 'old timers,' in business here for almost 25 years. It's located in one of the most architecturally striking buildings on the strip, a mock-Venetian palazzo, complete with a top floor colonnaded loggia. Inside: great furniture, dining room sets, brasses, and chandeliers. Hundreds of glittering gems dangle overhead. It's like walking through a series of treasure caves with ceilings of diamond stalactites. Just beyond here is break in 'Antique Alley.' For a few blocks , Notre-Dame Street is lined with parks, apartments, even a large food company's plant. This little intermission gives you a chance to rest your eyes-and your credit card! It also affords you a view of some of the little streets of new condominiums opening off towards the old Lachine C anal park area. This is one of the most newly-fashionable neighbourhoods in Montréal, worth a short side-stroll of its own. After Canning Street, the shops continue. Now, they're all on the south side of Notre-Dame Street, so dodging traffic is no longer part of the fun! What is fun, though, is discovering Deuxiemement, a store that almost defies description. Let's just say that a pack-rat will think he's died and gone to heaven! Owner Richard Lévesque has been here for about twenty years and he's kept everything he's ever seen. Or so it appears. Of course, he sells a lot of stuff. And a big part of his business is renting props to film companies-believe it or not, he's actually got a storage facility equally packed with stuff! His specialties? Well, just about everything. But start with his amazing collection of hats and helmets. And don't forget the proprietor himself-one of the most charming and articulate characters on 'Antique Alley. '
Also in this stretch are two large multi-dealer antique 'malls.' One is Le Village des Antiquaires, where about a dozen dealers specialising in as many different things have set up booths along a little interior 'street.' This is a true co-op since the owners are all on-site and able to explain their wares, as well as negotiate prices on the spot.
Finally, in this same block is the Salvation Army Family Thrift Store. And if this seems like a sort of unglamorous way to end the stroll along 'Antique Alley,' consider two things. One: guess where a lot of the guys on Notre-Dame Street find some of their goodies? And two: where else could a shopper pick up a Jessica McClintock ensemble in moiré silk for $7.00? For more on Montréal' amazing Antique Alley, contact the website: www.montrealantique.com Or contact: |
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There's a new idea on the loose among thinkers and theorizers these days. It takes an old notion and stands it on its head. Rather than shopping being seen as part of our culture, the new view says that our culture is shopping. Period. 
Well, if culture is shopping, then Montréal must be one of the cultural capitals of the world! But while the city's always been a magnet for food and fashion shoppers, it may be less well known as an antiquer's paradise. And, sticking with our theory for a moment, when we're shopping for antiques, what we're really buying is history, memory, community, beauty, in other words, our culture. 
A few feet further on, and across the street-this tour is going to zigzag from sidewalk to sidewalk-is Deni Blanchet. Its corner-facing building is one of the prettiest on the street, and inside is full of fascinating finds, chosen because they appealed to the tastes and whims of Mr. Blanchet and his assistant. A sub-speciality here is antique taxidermy-wonderful old stuffed birds and beasts! Unique too are their 'recycled' antiques, like old coffee tables turned into elegant upholstered ottomans. And a set of Louis XV bed-stairs, refurbished and equipped with a secret compartment.
A few doors along is Retro-Ville. This is Montréal's original nostalgia store and its owners boast of their unrivalled collection of old advertising, magazines, toys, neon signs, country store items, bottles, tins, signs, memorabilia. Once inside, most visitors are immediately and joyously awash in nostalgia, surrounded by objects from their youth-things believed long lost or forgotten. Next is the Cascades Lounge, specializing in old toys. Model trains, Dinky toys, Meccano sets, games-talk about nostalgia for the male animal! 
And now for something completely different! A group of elegant, up-scale shops clustered in the next two blocks. Antiquités Claude Blain, Freddy Weil, Antiquités Michelle Parent, Daniel Malinowsky, Vendome-all display elegant continental furniture and furnishings, as well as their various specialties: mirrors, silver, paintings and other objets d'art.
The other co-op is a newer concept for Montréal but quite familiar to Americans. Michael Bergeron and his staff manage a two-floor space “Antiquités Le Design” which is rented to 23 members of a co-operative. The owners fill anything from a showcase to a corner 'store,' but they are not actually present themselves. Instead, the staff has price lists along with bargaining limits set by each individual proprietor. Items on display range from the mid-1800s to late 1900s, with each owner having a different niche market. So the whole space feels fantastically varied.