Coop La Maison Verte

At Coop La Maison Verte, in Montréal’s NDG neighbourhood (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce), the memory of the 1998 ice storm flickers in hot cups of espresso, is the velvety frost of fresh blueberries, and fills the oceanic sidewalk.

Coop La Maison Verte began as a café and bulk store to encourage neighbourhood solidarity, and today it is a lively, general store-like centre, harbouring a market, café and restaurant. The Coop offers hot meals and a vaster selection than ever of local, ecological and fair trade groceries. Businesses like the Coop encourage residents to come out and socialize, making for a more vibrant street life, and attracting crowds who otherwise wouldn’t have been inspired to hang out in NDG as often as they now do.

“This is not just a store, we want people to be implicated,” says Pascaline Lauzé Malouin, marketing coordinator for Coop La Maison Verte.

Since its opening in 1999, Coop La Maison Verte has been empowering consumers and local businesses. More than 10,500 members later, the families of the six NDG residents who perished in the ice storm can find comfort that their tragedy inspired the mission of the Coop: to reduce community isolation and vulnerability.