A Snapshot of Montréal’s Best Bookstores

by Claude Potts (cpotts AT library.berkeley.edu)

Browsing in Montreal

You don’t have to fly across the Atlantic where you’ll spend more than $250 a night on a hotel room smaller than most of the cubicles we work in to immerse yourself in the world of French publications. Montréal – gateway to L’Amérique française – is home to some of the finest bookstores in North America and is a refreshing alternative to intercontinental travel. Bookstores –new, used, big, small, independent, commercial, anarchist, conservative, French, English – abound in the island city and cultural center of francophone Québec.

One bustling arrondissement in particular called the Plateau-Mont-Royal is home to some of the best. North of downtown and east of the picturesque Mont Royal and namesake of the city, the Plateau offers a reprieve from the tourist-ridden Quartier Latin adjacent to it. Though considered one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Canada, the Plateau’s ethos of ethnic diversity, working class roots, and bohemian soul have endured decades of gentrification. Childhood home to Québécois writers like Michel Tremblay and Mordecai Richler, who set many of their novels there in the 1950s and 1960s, it now home to a new generation of literati. While the pages jaunes of Montréal may certainly lead you to other bookstores not listed in this snapshot, it is a starting point for anyone who has a few days to spend feasting one’s intellect thumbing through delightful publications in French.

Quaint and inviting Le port de tête offers a meticulous selection of critical theory, literature, humanities, art, comics, and social commentary from francophone Canada and France. The gallery-like space is not large, but the knowledgeable staff is very helpful, and the display of new and used titles is enough to keep one occupied for an entire afternoon. One highlight of the bookstore, which opened its doors in May 2007, is its ample stock of new releases by local small presses such as Le Quartanier and Éditions Rodrigol. Plan your visit ahead and you may even catch a reading or book release party. It is located on avenue Mont-Royal between rue St.-Denis and boulevard St.-Laurent.

Le port de tête

262, avenue du Mont-Royal Est

Montréal, QC H2T 1P5

(514) 678-9566

portdetete@videotron.ca

La Bouquinerie du Plateau and La Bouquinerie St.-Denis offer together, or alone, an impressive collection of new and used books with two points of sale in the Plateau – one on rue St.-Denis and the other on avenue du Mont-Royal. While both provide a broad general selection of books in French, the uniqueness of secondhand and antiquarian titles really make a visit to both necessary if being thorough is your aim. Open since 1985, La Bouquinerie du Plateau’s hard-to-find editions and unusual collections are its forte. Amongst La Bouquinerie du St.-Denis’s two well-stocked floors (plenty of rare books here too) is one of the largest history sections on the island of Montréal. While the ground floor is as cozy as a living room with chairs and benches galore, the basement is where the bargains can be found.

La Bouquinerie du Plateau

99 avenue du Mont-Royal Ouest

Montréal, QC , H2J1W9

(514) 523-5628

La Bouquinerie St.-Denis

4075 rue St.-Denis

Montréal, QC, H2W2M7

(514) 288-5567

Not a bookstore per se, La Boîte Noire, with two other locations besides this one in the Plateau, offers the best selection of new and used international videos/DVDs for sale in Montréal. Films are arranged by director and by country of origin facilitating easy browsing for titles not available in the U.S. market. There’s a small section for cinema books and a mammoth selection of rentals ranging from obscure independent to Hollywood blockbuster.

La Boîte Noire

376 Mont-Royal Est

Montreal, QC H2T 1P9

(514) 287-1249

Not to be confused with another bookstore with the same name on rue St.-Denis, L’Échange is on the opposite side of the street as La Boîte Noire and a few blocks east. While both Échanges sell books in a broad range of subjects, the aforementioned is known throughout Montréal for its overflowing shelves of literature, science fiction, comics, film, music, and more. Sections on literature, history, and politics of Québec are particularly strong. And if you’re running low on cash, they’re always willing to exchange.

L'Échange

713 avenue du Mont-Royal Est

Montréal, QC H2J 1W7, Canada

(514) 523-6389

With 24 branches across Québec and a robust online presence, it’s hard not to liken Librairie Renaud-Bray - French Canada’s largest online bookstore chain - to Border’s or Barnes & Noble. While other booksellers like Archambault (better for music and DVDs) and Chapters.indigo.ca (better for English materials) not included here might offer comparable selections and convenience, the personalized service at the Plateau branch sets this bookstore apart. The St.-Denis store also boasts the largest inventory of new books in French in the Americas. With two spacious floors and a well-organized layout, it’s quite a pleasant and easy place to fill up a book truck or two and send your titles back home. They’ll even hold them for you while you bib-check overnight. Renaud-Bray also offers institutional discounts and are very experienced working with libraries.

Renaud-Bray

4380 rue St.-Denis

Montréal, QC H2J 2L1

(514) 844-2587

(800) 667-3628 (for services to libraries and institutions)

Not quite big enough to be labeled a megastore, Librairie Marché du Livre sprawls across more than 1,300 square meters on two distinct floors. While its general selection of books and other media in French is decent, its claim to fame is that it is a mecca for fans of comics and graphic novels, particularly hard-to-find series and editions from France. It brands itself as “le spécialiste de la bande-dessinée au Québec.” Conveniently located near la Grande Bibliothèque and the Université du Québec à Montréal, this Latin Quarter institution is always busy and deals in both new and used merchandise.

Librairie Marché du Livre

801 boulevard de Maisonneuve Est

Montréal, QC , H2L1Y7

(514) 288-4350

Librairie Gallimard

Librairie Gallimard de Montréal just might be the only place in North America where you can peruse every available number of the editorial giant’s Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, or the various Folio collections all lined up on the shelves, not a single volume out of place. The hip and chic Montréal bookstore, well situated on boulevard St.-Laurent, is an affiliate of Paris-based Éditions Gallimard known mostly for poetry, theater, essays, French and international literature (including many French Canadian authors), and children’s literature. Open since 1989, the bookstore also sells imprints in all disciplines by other French publishers such as Actes Sud, P.O.L., Fata Morgana, Éditions Textuel, and by local publishers. The store regularly hosts both virtual and in-store readings by Francophone authors and actively promotes Quebécois culture. If you can’t visit Montréal anytime soon, the web site, now in its third iteration, is particularly fun to explore. It comes with its own virtual libraire whose name, for the moment, is Ferdinand.

Librairie Gallimard de Montréal

3700 boulevard St-Laurent

Montréal, QC H2X 2V4

(514) 499-2012

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