In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mostly on the run, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
The opulent stretch of Laurier Avenue West is coming out of a difficult situation after years of disruptive work followed by the debilitating pandemic. This street, half in Outremont and half in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, is experiencing a renaissance with new, original businesses. I went to see this optimism which contrasts with the ambient gloom almost everywhere else.
The big flaw of Laurier Ouest: it’s difficult to walk in front of the windows of clothing stores like Philippe Dubuc, Michel Brisson or École de Pension without saying to yourself: “Yeah, I really should start earning more money.” money!”
It’s the kind of street where, upon entering a dentist’s office, you notice a grand piano in the vestibule (this is the case at Les Dentistes d’Outremont).
The great quality of Laurier Ouest is its almost purely local character. There are pretty much just freelancers here. Are you looking for the owner? He’s usually there, in the business, working.
Première Moisson and Columbus Café & Co are the only chains present on Laurier between Côte-Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Laurent, as far as I have seen.
During a walk, Gabriel Dallaire, the general manager of the Société de développement commercial de Laurier Ouest, points out the few empty premises to tell me what will soon be installed there.
“A well-known company is moving its headquarters here, but I can’t tell you which one, it’s a secret.”
In front of a building with boarded-up windows, Mr. Dallaire announces to me: “A restaurant will open this spring and occupy all three floors!”
To have a coffee, we cross the street and enter Pâtisserie Mélilot, open since July, which offers incredibly aesthetic pastries, creations of the young pastry chef Aurélien Kerzerho.
Louis-Philippe Messier
“We use sweet clover, a local plant, to replace vanilla, imported from far away,” explains Clémence Corbier, 25, one of the owners.
I taste a sort of ball of flavor placed on a lemon cake base and which contains a haskap compote surrounded by ganache.
A few meters away, the beauty and personal care boutique-clinic Les Bains de Cléopâtre moved its store and its family from Saint-Sauveur to Avenue Laurier West last summer.
“My son goes to the school next door and I already feel at home!” says Élisabeth Houde, who describes to me some of her flagship products… like high-end aromatic candles, including one with perfume lipstick.
“My customers often come from far away and buy a lot each time they visit.”
The disarming and verbose Élisabeth Houde moved her boutique Les Bains de Cléopâtre from Saint-Sauveur to Laurier Ouest last summer.
Louis-Philippe Messier
Another new address: MUZ, a curio shop, which has been vegetating in the shadows for a year on Atateken Street in Centre-Sud. His business boomed as soon as he arrived this fall on this street, which is more suited to his offer of extravagant chic decorative objects, including “vegan” cardboard moose heads to decorate his living room.
“Vegan” moose heads are among the curiosities offered at the MUZ boutique.
Louis-Philippe Messier
“When we sell something here, it’s because we have exclusivity, that’s what makes it interesting to come and visit us, it can’t be found elsewhere,” says Coco, the daughter of the owner Nathalie. Collar.
Coco, the daughter of the owner of the MUZ boutique, is holding a Mouchkine pillow.
Louis-Philippe Messier
Near the corner of Saint-Laurent, the famous Brasserie Dieu du Ciel has had a facelift and doubled its surface area by annexing the building next door where the Laurier dental spa and the decorative hardware store Par le hole de la key were housed … who moved to larger premises elsewhere on Laurier West.
“I want Laurier West to become Montreal’s 5th Avenue!” ambitions Mr. Dallaire.
“If you really want to get the pulse of Laurier Ouest, you have to come in the evening, with the restaurants and bars!” he said.
Something tells me I’ll be back here soon for another off-road column.