Posted May 03, 2018 07:33:16In a new interview with The Globe and Mail, the late and great Jean-Claude Trichet, a former Montreal mayor who served from 1967 to 1974, said the neighbourhood market is “absolutely” the best place to eat.
The neighbourhood market, located on the south side of St. Laurent Boulevard, opened in 1971 and served up a mixture of regional food from France, Italy and the U.K. Trichets daughter, Christine, remembers it as “the best Montrealer’s market.”
The former mayor also remembered a time when the market was very small and “there was a lot of chaos, violence and crime.”
He said the market has evolved into a thriving, diverse, safe and well-managed community.
The market is run by an advisory board and has an advisory staff of more than 30.
Trichet said he’s proud to have been a part of the neighbourhood and has been in the market for decades.
He said his son, Jean-François, who was born in the neighbourhood, “totally understands” why people love it.
He said the family will continue to operate it, and he plans to keep it open for as long as he can.
“It’s the neighbourhood that makes it so special,” he said.
“It has a very strong community spirit and it’s a place where everyone has an interest.”
The neighbourhood was created in 1967 as a small market with a few stalls for local food.
Today, it’s an eight-lane, four-story shopping mall with a mix of boutiques, restaurants and specialty shops, including a grocery store, department store and even a barber shop.
The city acquired the land in 1992, and in 2004 the neighbourhood was rezoned from residential to commercial and now is home to about 7,000 people.
In his book, Trichert said the community is growing because people are looking for ways to engage with their communities and have a sense of community.
“I think what we are seeing in the marketplace is a reaction against the city’s over-development of the area,” he wrote.
“The market is becoming a place of the people, a place to meet, a space for cultural events and for people to share their ideas.”
Trichet also said that when he was mayor, the market had “no money,” and it would have been difficult to attract new business to it.
“The only reason we could find it was because of the federal grants and the city gave us a guarantee,” he recalled.
The market also has a reputation for having a diverse selection of products and fresh ingredients, and it has a “great” and “amazing” customer base, Trachet said.
The new neighbourhood will be open every day, except on Saturdays and Sundays.
There is no advertising or marketing on the market website.