Walk Montreal is a joint effort between C & D. And we have both walked many a streets on the island of Montreal, discovering awesome neighbourhoods, beautiful buildings and friendly people. But, it seems that whatever neighbourhood we are in, we always ask each other a similar question; “Is there a dep around here?”….What is a dep you may ask….well, a dep is slang for Dépanneur. And a Dépanneur is a corner convenience store that sells milk, bread, cold drinks, beer, wine, lotto tickets, cigarettes, newspapers, and more beer, etc. It is not a grocery store, nor a supermarket, nor a fruit and vegetable market, nor a cafe. It’s a quick and easy convenience store where locals come out of their homes to buy milk, bread, beer, cigarettes, and the like.
A Dépanneur is an integral part of it’s community, particularly in lower income areas. It serves as a meeting point for discussion of politics and sports, and when a dep is locally owned, it can also be a life saver for those who are in need and between checks, where you can buy now and pay later. It’s believed that Dépanneur’s in the province of Quebec bring in about $4 billion of tax money just from beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets and wine every year that goes to the federal and provincial governments.
So we decided to take some random pictures of deps that we encountered during our walks. But, these have to be individually owned and operated , not a franchise of deps, no big name stores. These are the “mama et papa” outfits that we have come to know and love.