Maison Bramble House

Like many entrepreneurs, owner of Maison Bramble House, knows all about starting a business through trial an error. After earning her PhD in education, she spent two years helping students finish their master's theses, but it just wasn’t enough to live on so when her mother decided that she wanted to own her own business, Diane got on board. Together they began selling herbal remedies and essential oils that her mother produced.

Those early days in business served as on-the-spot market research as they got to chat with clients and find out what types of products they were looking for. Diane’s mom and sister Karen were both mad tea drinkers and one day, a customer asked if they sold PG Tips, a tea from England, so they found a company and ordered the specialty tea along with some Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Jaffa cakes.

“It was like a light had turned on,” said Diane. “A man came into the store, picked up a can of the golden syrup and tears came to his eyes. I mean, anything that can evoke that kind of emotion...” she concluded.

They kept adding inventory and today, 14 years later, they can’t quite believe how crazy people are for these items. Word of mouth spread and it seemed that Maison Bramble House had found a niche that no other retailer in Quebec had managed to fill — specializing in British imports.