Hi there.

I passed by this website, did not know that such a good website about one of the department stores I roamed when I was a kid (and a teen).

I was 3 or 4 at the time, always did remember the local TOWERS store in St-Leonard, on Viau Boulevard close to Metropolitan (highway 40). I remember before the makeover in the beginning of the 70s (when It changed to Bonimart, never knew why), it had this giant façade with the TOWERS sign. Next door was an IGA-Top Valu supermarket which connected with the said store. The other one which looked alike was the Châteauguay store (my paternal grandparents lived there), where as far as I remembered, I purchased a Corgi car with "THE SAINT" logo on it. Yep, the Roger Moore famous series was quite famous then.

Well, just to give you whatever happened to the stores we had in Quebec as well as the Food City stores we had (had name like Aliments Bonimart and Aliments Hypermarché before IGA and Steinberg's took over, see below.)

QUÉBEC CITY STORE
Build in what would become Quebec's largest Shopping Mall: Place Laurier. The store had at first the original 60s facade before the so many makeovers over the years. Around the mid-60s, a second floor was added over, but used for the shopping mall for trade shows. The east side of the store had later a Dominion store for about 10 years (a competitor for the A&P across the street). Today, Zellers took over, at one point, there was 2 Zellers at Place Laurier, but the old TOWERS spot has the actual store.

By the way, the Quebec City Store never changed for the Bonimart name, it remained a Towers until the Zellers takeover...

SOREL STORE
Like the previous email, the Sorel store was the last Bonimart store being built in Quebec, it turned into a Zellers.

LONGUEUIL (PLACE DESORMEAUX)
Built in 1972, there was no outside door. It shared anchors at Place Desormeaux with Zellers and Steinberg's (my uncle worked at the latter). Since Zellers was there at the time, the store was not used until Metro (yes, those who will replace Dominion and A&P in Ontario) rented the spot and turned into a Super C supermarket and threw away the IGA who took the place of Steinbergs (now a Winners store.)

GREENFIELD PARK (TASCHEREAU BLVD)
One of the original TOWERS built in the beginning of the 60s, shared with a IGA-Top Valu store and a Volkswagen dealer (no joke !). It had the infamous Bonimart face lift. The food store changed names many times: Dionne Econo-Mart (Loblaws franchise in Quebec for so many years!), Provigain, Provigo, then a used car dealership. Since a Zellers was built nearby, the store became the SUPER MERCADO flea market up to 2004, then the whole store was torn down to make way for a HOME DEPOT, and a IGA Extra nearby.

ST-LEONARD (VIAU BLVD)
Another Original 60s TOWERS, shared anchor with a couple of stores, plus a IGA Top Valu (later, became Dionne Econo-Mart, Provigain, Provigo and finally MAXI, who closed to move in a close-by former Steinberg-Miracle Mart complex). It had the Bonimart face-lift as well. Today, it is still a Zellers, who also took over the former Maxi space. The complex was called "Place Viau", and had several stores, a Canada Post office, now an infamous night club.

COTE DES NEIGES (DECARIE SQUARE)
In what was in one of Quebec's first 'Dead Malls' built in 1976, Square Decarie housed what was first a "Magasin Hypermarché" before turning to Bonimart. However the store was located in a semi-posh neighbourhood like Hampstead, no luck. People preferred the nearby Plaza Cote des Neiges. It closed at the end of the 80s. It was then turned into a Winners/Home Sense Store.

LAVAL (DUVERNAY)
The store was built as part of an expansion to turn a 60’s strip mall with already existing anchors like Steinberg's (now Metro), Woolworths (no more) and Zellers (which closed when Bonimart opened, then came back - see below). It opened in 1972. It was part of the Zellers takeover (a good excuse to be back in the mall). Dubbed unprofitable, Zellers closed to make way to Hart's, which remains in these days.

LAVAL (CENTRE 2000)
The store was known first as Hypermarché and opened in 1973. The combination of a TOWERS/FOOD CITY in one stop-shopping. However, Steinberg's did put a competition a few blocks away with Steinberg Beaucoup, the same concept at Carrefour Laval. In 1976, the food and department store segments split and the Magasin Hypermarché became a Bonimart shortly. Was a Zellers for a while then closed down due to unprofitabililty. It shared with Leon's Furniture, which is still standing. While Hypermarché is now torn down. Rumour says it might become Quebec's first Wal-Mart super-store.

CHATEAUGUAY
This is the last of the original 60’s stores. Shared anchor with Spot Discount-O Market (later a IGA then closed) and with "Consumers Distributing". It was part of the "Bonimart" makeover and was until the Zellers takeover. It is still a Zellers, and gained some unwanted fame in summer 1990 when the store was next to the Mohawk barricades and local residents took the parking for a protest.

ST-JEAN (BOUL DU SEMINAIRE)
It was a 70’s shopping mall with Bonimart and Food City (named Aliments Bonimart). Today, Zellers and IGA took over. It is still there!

A section of FOOD CITY bore the name of "ALIMENTS BONIMART" and "ALIMENTS HYPERMARCHÉ".  There was also BONIPRIX and BONI-SOIR who were send-offs.

QUÉBEC CITY (GALERIES QUATRE BOURGEOIS)
Part of a shopping mall had anchors like K-Mart and Beaver Lumber in the 70’s. Aliments Bonimart became "Aliments Hypermarché" before being bought by Steinberg's. When Steinberg was bought in 1992, IGA took the spot, then later moved in the former K-Mart. It is now a Rossy Department store.

SHERBROOKE (STAND ALONE STORE IN GRANDES FOURCHES BLVD)
It started as a "Aliments Hypermarché" for many years. When Steinberg's bought the store, it remained a Hypermarché before it closed. No other tenants since. Store might be demolished.

ST-LÉONARD (PLACE LANGELIER)
When IGA bought UNION MARKETS and SPOT DISCOUNT-O, this store was turned into Aliments Bonimart in 1975 (at the time, IGA was not part of Sobeys, but with Oshawa Group), then Aliments Hypermarché took over. When Hypermarché was sold to Steinberg's, IGA took the store and it located the spot until the beginning of 2000 when they moved across the street. Today it is a health food store shared with an audio-video store.

LAVAL (CENTRE 2000)
Laval was part of the Hypermarché (above) before the split and became Aliments Hypermarché. Steinberg bought the store and turned it into a fancy market place called Marché du Jour. When Steinberg went out of business, Provigo bought the store and turned into a giant Maxi. The store closed at the same time as Zellers, as it was deemed unprofitable. Centre 2000 became a dead mall and it is now demolished, stand alone a Leons Furniture and what may become a Wal Mart.

COTE DES NEIGES (DECARIE SQUARE)
The Aliments Hypermarché store was unique: it was one of the first markets to cater to the close-by Jewish community with a "Kosher Corner". There was also a "snack bar". The store was bought by Steinberg's. It kept the Hypermarché name, but at the front, the "S" logo was next. Later, the store reduced in size and it became a real Steinberg until 1992. However, another grocer took over and it did not work as the mall was not as popular as it should have been. (Decarie Square did never lift up as a popular shopping destination). Today, several stores occupy the spaces.

Mail St-Roch
There used to be another store in Quebec City. It was in the downtown portion part of Mail St-Roch (which does not exist anymore, thank God !), and was named Bonimart.

It was a "Bonimart" that was purchased at the end of the 70s from one of Quebec City's major department stores which went out of business. Bonimart was installed where "La Compagnie Paquet" used to do business for so many years in Quebec City, along with big department stores like "Laliberté" (still exists), "Pollack" (closed) and "Syndicat".

Bonimart took the Paquet space on Charest Boulevard (not related with a certain "Jean" who is Premier here in Quebec) and was there until Zellers took over up until the mid-90s.

However the Zellers closed too. The reason is that "Mail St-Roch" was not a popular place: it took over St-Joseph street in whole, cut a neighborhood like the former "Berlin Wall" (yep, part of the mall cut more than 5 streets, too much for traffic blocking...) and was infested with tramps. And the mall was not esthetic (trust me, I lived in Quebec City for a year, it was the real pits !)

However, a few years ago, the civic administration decided to tear down the strip mall and let the street be a street again.

But Bonimart did not live long enough to see this beautiful change...

Well, this concludes the adventures of "the Oshawa Group" in Quebec.

TOWERS remained a good memory of my early childhood. I maybe did not like the ugly popcorn machine at the beginning of the store, but I did enjoy one of my first root beer, coming out of the Hires "giant keg" tap at the snack bar.

Wish I had photos from these treasured times! Cheers and keep up the good work!