Sometimes the heart trumps reason. Just ask Montreal dépanneur owner Penny Pattison. Ten years ago she and friend/business partner Bernadette Houde were aspiring entrepreneurs looking for a small business they could buy and run together. “We were both at a point in our lives where we wanted to do something different,” recalls Pattison, who worked in business management. Houde—aka Bernie Bankrupt from the band Lesbians on Ecstasy—previously owned and operated a café. The duo’s search led to Chez Maurice, a once-popular convenience store and lunch counter in a hardluck industrial area north of downtown Montreal, but notably close to the Jean-Talon Market, Little Italy and the bourgeois Mile End neighbourhood. “All the needle trade businesses in the area were gone CCentral.ca
and the store wasn’t doing very well, which is why it was for sale,” says Pattison. “From a strictly business standpoint it didn’t look too promising. But the store looked cute, we had friends in the area and we really believed the neighbourhood needed a place like this. It was a unique opportunity and we went for it.” They changed the name to Dépanneur Le Pick-Up, but otherwise Pattison and Houde kept the business looking and operating much the way it had since it opened in the 1950s. “We kept the original lunch counter and stools, which we love and really give the place a lot of charm and make it unique—there just aren’t many places like this anymore,” says Pattison. “The business was really centred on the food. And we kept everything from the original menu, like burgers,
steak subs, hot dogs and breakfast sandwiches, which are the most popular items. There’s no fries or anything like that. We don’t do any deep frying.” The partners also maintained the popular variety of items that stock the store’s fridges and shelves, including beer, wine, soft drinks, chips, candy bars and snacks, as well as cigarettes and simple household items like toilet paper. “There are two large grocery stores nearby that have everything and are open all the time, so we just stock the essentials,” says Pattison. Much to Pattison and Houde’s delight (and perhaps due in part to the confidence and vibe they brought to the neighbourhood) Dépanneur Le PickUp is now a hub in what’s considered the hippest square-mile enclave on the Island of Montreal.
JULY/AUGUST 2019
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