Sunday, July 09, 2017

Let's Go To The Dep

New York City has the bodega but Montreal has the dépanneur, colloquially known as "the dep". They are ubiquitous convenience stores; many neighbourhoods have one on every corner. Couche-Tard Inc., a Quebec chain, bought up a lot of dépanneurs in the 1990s but there are still many small family-owned deps in the city.

This image is from Sacré Depanneur, a book by Judith Lussier with
photographs by Dominique Lafond


The winding outdoor staircase is a signature feature of Montreal architecture
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C'est beau un dépanneur la nuit 

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Dep Leo
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Besides milk, bread and lottery tickets they also sell beer and wine.
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This one is on my nephew's street in Ville Emard
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Most dépanneurs offer free delivery which is appreciated
 during Montreal's cold winters.
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Hipster alert: Some dépanneurs are going upscale
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When I was a petite fille growing up in Ville St. Pierre the local dépanneur sold penny candy, spruce beer and tiny waxed paper bags of chip crumbs from the Humpty Dumpty factory in Lachine for 2 cents apiece. I checked on Google Maps to see if it was still around but it appears to have been converted to housing:






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