Latest news with #BFactory
CBC
10-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
This Montreal suburb's only grocery store closed. Now a local goods shop is filling the gap
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., residents have a new spot to do their groceries. After being on the verge of bankruptcy, B Factory, a locally owned shop, expanded its space to include a small grocery section called Mon Marché Local.
Montreal Gazette
05-07-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue gets grocery store after more than a year without one
By For more than a year, residents of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue had no local grocery store after the town's only supermarket closed, forcing residents like 75-year-old Diane Madden to take a 30-minute bus ride or rely on friends to buy food. That changed last week when a local beeswax shop, B Factory, expanded its space to include a small grocery section, called Mon Marché Local. It marks the first time since last April the West Island town has had a place to buy essentials. The closing of the Metro grocery store last April hit particularly hard for seniors and students. With limited public transit options or nearby alternatives, quick grocery runs became a logistical challenge for many in the community. Madden, who's lived in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue for more than 30 years and doesn't own a car, says she's relieved. 'I think one of the reasons people were upset or sad about losing our grocery store, (is) because there are a lot of people in Ste-Anne who don't have cars,' she said. 'Elderly people, or people in wheelchairs … could just run in and get stuff right at the old grocery store.' Valeria Martial, 24, who moved to Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue a year ago to study parasitology at McGill's MacDonald Campus, says she's happy she can now buy staples in town, since she used to commute 45 minutes each way on transit to buy food. 'Sometimes, I need, like, for example, a tomato — things that are so basic,' she said. 'I cannot go one hour to the grocery store for one hour … just to cook.' The new grocery store offers a small, curated selection of local vegetables, organic dairy products, butcher items and snacks. In contrast, Metro was a large supermarket chain with a wide variety of goods. 'That other grocery store had everything you need. It was really nice,' said Martial, who had visited Metro while interning in town before moving there. Although she's thrilled to finally have a place to shop nearby, she still wishes there were a one-stop shop where she could pick up staples like flour and sugar. President of the Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue merchants association, Wine Mansfield, said part of the reason the Metro supermarket closed is it struggled to cover its expensive rent. 'One of the problems we had with the previous shop, it was very big, and it had franchise fees to pay and things like that. So I think this is probably more suitable to the requirements of our village,' Mansfield said. Until a grocery section was added to the shop last Friday, it exclusively sold bee products such as beeswax candles, honey and beeswax food wraps. Owner and founder Margaux Murray said her business faced numerous challenges during and after the COVID pandemic and, by February 2025, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Adding the grocery section was a last-ditch effort to save the business. 'As soon as I started even talking about the idea, people were like: 'Oh, my God, a grocery store! You're gonna bring back groceries? Are you gonna have this? Are you gonna have that?' And so I was like, OK, I think I might be onto something here,' she said. Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Mayor Paola Hawa says Mon Marché Local will ensure food security in the town. 'Now, (residents) will have a place to go buy their milk and their their butter and eggs and all of that stuff,' she said, adding Murray works with local farmers to bring in fresh produce. Hawa says a town grocery store is a community hub and hopes to see Murray's business expand. 'You've got to start small, and then from there you grow. I was joking with her the other day, in a few years from now, you're going to take over the whole bottom of this whole entire block,' she said. 'Just to have had the courage to even try this is a fantastic … thing for the community.'
