Soares Inc

An inextricable part of Plateau life since 1970, Duluth Avenue’s Boucherie et épicerie Soares & fils was opened by Julio Soares and passed down the generations ever since. “When my grandfather and his family arrived in Montreal, there still weren’t that many Portuguese immigrants in the neighbourhood. But as the community grew and settled on the Plateau Mont-Royal, so did the need for products from the Old Country. That’s when he decided to open Soares & fils,” explains granddaughter Fatima Soares Mesquita, who now runs the shop with her sister Manuela Soares Mesquita.

The beloved neighbourhood grocer-butcher shop quickly came to employ much of the family. “My aunts, my grandmother, as well as my parents all worked here at one point. It was the latter my parents Manuel Mesquita and Julia Soares who took the reins from my grandfather when he retired," says Fatima; "I grew up here, spending many hours here during my childhood and teenage years. It’s really the kind of place where the Portuguese community could find the products they loved from back home that were hard to find here. Nowadays, our clientele is more diverse, since the community is scattered all over town. But on the weekends, they still make the trek out to see us!”