Faces of our history: Omer de Serres, adapting and lasting

DESERRES, A FAMILY BUSINESS

Everyone knows the name DeSerres, the store with the red palette where you go to feed your creative desires. However, the origins of one of the brands well known to Quebecers are very different from its current sector of activity! Its founder, Omer de Serres, is one of those who debunk the old prejudice that French Canadians did not have the business bump. It was in 1908 that the young Omer, then barely 27 years old, took possession of an ironworks, at the corner of Saint-Denis and Sainte-Catherine streets, to set up a neighborhood hardware store there which quickly became very busy. . Over time, the son of Omer de Serres, Roger, got involved in the adventure and took the lead in 1949, when Omer died. Roger made the chain a virtual “department store” of hardware, where you can find the next washer and coffee maker as well as hunting and fishing equipment. Today, the founder’s grandson, Marc, still holds the reins of the company.

PARTS AND HARDWARE

An old company catalog from the 1920s shows some of the branches of Montreal’s largest hardware chain. Depending on the neighborhoods and the needs of local customers, the auto parts, sporting goods or graphic material departments are more stocked. This is somewhat why art materials are beginning to appear on the shelves of the Sainte-Catherine Street branch: the nearby presence of the Institute of Applied Arts with its architecture and graphic design courses encourages purchases. local! But the hardware store is not losing ground and several major construction sites see Omer DeSerres representatives offering them their products for doors, locks or plumbing. The construction of the metro in the 1960s and the major changes in the sector now occupied by UQAM adversely affect the company’s traffic and slow down its activities. It was in the 1980s, under the direction of Marc DeSerres, that we made the decision to specialize in art and creativity materials.

CREATE WITH YOUR HANDS

Not only did Roger DeSerres ensure the prosperity of the family business, but he also became one of the most prominent businessmen of his time. Involved in various philanthropic movements, he contributed to the foundation of Centraide. He would also have been the first Francophone to head the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and like his father Omer, he supports their employees for continuing education, offers them social activities and respectable working conditions. Omer DeSerres (which became DeSerres in the early 2010s) now has 29 branches in Quebec and Canada. The company’s activities are well supported by an undeniable trend: despite the fact that graphic designers are now working on their computers, more and more people are turning to creative hobbies and the fine arts, from very serious oil painting to the creation of costume jewelry, including framing.

– Research and writing by historian Éliane Bélec