Life, the city | Les Dames d’Alcantara: florist for five generations

Our journalist travels around Greater Montreal to talk about people, events or places that make the heart of their neighborhood beat

“This is our home,” says Dany Gaudet, owner of the Dames d’Alcantara.

For three years, the florist has occupied a magnificent glass space that it owns on rue Sherbrooke Est, a few steps from the Langelier metro station, in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district.

If his business has moved and breathes light in a decor inviting to current tastes, behind its doors hides nearly 125 years of history, at least since the arrival in Montreal of Carlos d’Alcantara by boat.

The little story

But who was the one whose name the Faubourg Contrecœur park bears? “A Belgian count of Spanish origin,” says his great-great-granddaughter.

In his spare time, the professional lawyer took care of the rose garden and greenhouses of the family castle. One day, at the turn of the 20th^e century, he fell in love with a former ballerina, Claire-Laure Catteau, who was pregnant with a girl^⁠ (see capsule). “It was unacceptable and unthinkable for them to be a couple,” says Dany.

Listening to his heart, Carlos d’Alcantara decided to renounce his titles of nobility and cross the Atlantic to fully live his love with his sweetheart in Montreal, or rather in the ancient City of Maisonneuve. He worked a number of different jobs before realizing his dream of growing flowers and vegetables in his own greenhouses. “Carlos was one of the first to have a stall at the Maisonneuve market,” emphasizes Dany. He rented land in Viauville, then in 1925, he bought a house on the corner of rue Notre-Dame and boulevard Pierre-Bernard. »

But the following year, Carlos died of cancer, the day before he turned 57^e birthday. “His wife Claire died of grief six months later. »

Joseph, the eldest of their five sons, was only 21 years old. He was the only adult child of the siblings and the only one to have passed on his father’s knowledge. He was advised to sell the business, but instead it became a family affair.

We skipped steps, but his brothers Pierre, Paul and Jules ended up opening their own floral business. The first settled in Saint-Lambert while the other two remained in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

Marcel, Joseph’s son, who happens to be Dany’s grandfather (and who will be 96 years old this year!), for his part took over the original business and land from his grandfather in 1987. However, the floristry industry has changed a lot in the meantime, so much so that 12 years later, when you could now buy flowers at the grocery store and plants in big box stores, he decided to sell.

In the meantime, Dany had opened a florist (DM) in Longueuil with her mother Micheline d’Alcantara, which she closed five years after taking over her uncle Paul’s at the corner of Boulevard Langelier and Rue Sherbrooke.

Are you still following?

In 2015, Dany received an eviction notice: her uncle had been a tenant since 1949, but she had 45 days to vacate the premises. For five years, she rented another premises on rue Sherbrooke Est, before purchasing the space she has occupied since 2021 at the corner of rue Desautels, in front of the cemetery where Carlos d’Alcantara is also buried.

Like a family

It may be a professional distortion when you are the heir to a family business, but Dany Gaudet speaks of her long-time employees as her daughters.

There is “Gabou”, Gabrielle Harvey-Bergeron, in office for 14 years. “My oldest,” she said.

And there is “Bibi”, who has worked there for 10 years, since the final internship of her studies in floristry.

Gabrielle is responsible for social networks and purchasing flowers while Bianca takes care of sourcing the plants. For their 10 years of loyal service, each was entitled to a trip offered by Dany. The first in the Netherlands to see markets and a floral auction and the second in Florida to take part in the Tropical Plant International Expo (TPIE).

“Dany is full of love for everyone. We are like a family here,” boasts another employee, Aude Frenzi. “It’s a real gift to work here. We do beautiful things every day. »

The “youngest” is Joe Gonzaga, a recent floristry graduate from the École des métiers des Faubourgs de Montréal. “I am a computer graphic designer by training and I was looking for something that would keep me busy all day, and where I could use my creativity and my knowledge of colors and composition. Floristry is very dynamic: we don’t stop all day,” he says.

“We transmit the emotion of flowers to people according to what they are experiencing: mourning, celebration, love…” he adds.

“We have the privilege of experiencing all the major stages of their lives with clients,” adds Dany Gaudet.

With Mother’s Day approaching, the employees of the Ladies of Alcantara will be very busy this week.

From one bouquet to another, through death and the wishes of a life together, Dany and her “daughters” are always listening. “Sometimes we are like psychologists. We go through the whole range of emotions with our customers,” emphasizes Dany Gaudet.

It’s Carlos d’Alcantara who would be proud to hear it!