December 16, 2007 Archives

Le Souk à la Société des Arts Technologiques de Montréal.

A new building revealed itself to dwellers of Montreal's Chinatown over the past week, on the corner of De La Gauchetière and St-Urbain, where a Chinese emporium and post office once had pignon sur rue. It had been hidden behind wooden planks for about a year, or perhaps more, with no signs of what was being developed.

The second floor of the building is occupied by the Montreal Chinese Chamber of Commerce, while a side door adorning a renewed sign also leads to some Chinese Christian organization. We speculated that it could look like a bank, but is not plausible since all major Canadian banks (and HSBC) have locations within a block or two from there. A clothing store would be neat, but to whom would it cater? If it were a restaurant or eatery of some sort, wouldn't they be hiring personnel weeks before opening, as it was the case with Xiao Fei Yang in February 2007?

Or, a simpler explanation, it could well be just the former owners of the Chinese emporium expanding to larger and newer premises.