ADAQ announces its 2013 Hall of Fame inductees
The Association des détaillants en alimentation du Quebec (ADAQ) has announced the 2013 winners of its Hall of Fame awards. The recipients will be celebrated at the association’s annual convention in Quebec City’s Château Frontenac on Nov. 16.
Winners are chosen by consensus by a committee of representatives from each chain and some smaller stores.
Joining the Hall of Fame is Claude Dépatie, who, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, built a grocery store in Montreal in 1969, a Métro, and later, as supermarkets went super-sized, in 1981 built a 50,000 sq. ft. Métro store in the Montreal suburb of Laval. Today Dépatie continues to work full time in the business that has been his life-long passion.
Also being lauded is Louis Jacques Poulin for his more than two decades as the owner of Le Marché Ami in the centre of the small town of Sainte-Aurélie in the Beauce region of Quebec. Poulin’s 3,500 sq. ft. shop with 12 part timers and one full-time butcher has thrived and he is preparing to hand it over to his son Jerome, who is now learning the ropes.
VIEW: Gallery of 2013 ADAQ Hall of Fame winners
Joining the Hall this year are René Lapointe, and his daughter Linda Lapointe, a unique supermarket duo who started with a Provigo in the Montreal suburb of Boisbriand. Lapointe was delivering bread until the long hours got to him and he bought a grocery store in 1969. His daughter Linda fondly remembers growing up in the store and starting work there at the age of 15. They joined the Provigo chain in 1980, owned a second store for three years and then Linda took over the family business in 1997. In 2006, she sold the store and went into provincial politics.
François Girard enters the Hall of Fame after a long career that began as a clerk in a Montreal Dominion store in the early 60s. His rise was rapid and he was soon in charge of a dozen stores from Sorel to Thetford Mines. Before deciding to buy his own IGA Boniprix in 1983, he was supervising 44 stores and Dominion was purchased by Provigo. Over the years he added more stores, perhaps the most noteworthy being a partnership with the town of Bois-des-Filion that allowed him to relocate his store on grounds that included a public soccer field and a swimming pool. Today the Girard family business owns five supermarkets and a convenience store with 950 employees totalling 180,000 sq.ft.
On the manufacturing side, Agropur will receive the Hall of Fame honour as a company, most notably for its Ultima iögo yogurts; while Réjean Nadeau CEO of Olymel, makers of processed meats, will be inducted as well.