|
Edmond Archambault was 16 years old when he moved to Montréal in 1886. He had taken piano and organ lessons and he had a love of music. With nothing else to recommend him, he walked into the piano shop at 1626 Ste-Catherine St. to propose a partnership to owner J.A. Hurteau. The rest is history.
In 1919, Edmond Archambault bought out Hurteau. In 1930, he bought a lot at the corner of Berri St. and Ste-Catherine St. and built his new store on the site, a seven-storey building dubbed the "Maison de l'avenir" (future house).
In the late 1950s, the legendary Québec folk singer Félix Leclerc became the first artist to sign with Archambault's new music label, which became Select in the early 1980s. Today, Select is one of the largest independent distributors of CDs and videos in Canada.
Rosaire Jr. and a third generation of Archambaults took over the family business in the mid-80s and gave the company a new face. Archambault grew rapidly, opening a string of superstores selling cultural products.
In October 1995, Archambault became part of Quebecor Media and the Archambault Group Inc. division was created. Today, with 15 stores, Archambault is the largest retailer of recorded music in Québec and one of the largest retailers of books, DVDs, newspapers, magazines, musical instruments and sheet music. The www.archambault.ca e-commerce site, launched in September 1999, is the largest online retailer of French-language cultural products in North America. The ZIK.ca site, launched in January 2004, is the first French-language music download service.
In November 2004, Archambault Group, in partnership with Warner Music France, launched the Exclaim label, a new European producer, publisher and distributor of cultural content.
For more than a century, Archambault has been part and parcel of Québec's cultural life. It is proud of the historical role it has played and committed to exploring the infinite possibilities of new technologies for the future. Archambault is exploiting new media and Internet downloading to continue offering customers quality, variety and the latest in culture.
Paragraphe Bookstore
Paragraphe Bookstore, the largest independent English-language bookshop in Québec, has been known for more than 20 years for its selection and service. Publishers from across Canada hold book launches for their Montréal authors at Paragraphe because of its reputation for excellence.
|