The Garment District () is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in the city of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It is located primarily along Chabanel Street in the

Ahuntsic Ahuntsic (; , ) is a district in the northern part of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Originally an independent village, Ahuntsic was first annexed by Montreal in 1910, then merged into the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville in 2002. It is home to Coll ...

neighbourhood of the

Ahuntsic-Cartierville Ahuntsic-Cartierville ( (local accent)) is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The borough was created following the 2002 municipal reorganization of Montreal. It comprises two main neighbourhoods, Ahuntsic, ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

. The Chabanel Station (train) is located close by.

History

Montreal's Garment District was originally located

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

De Maisonneuve Boulevard De Maisonneuve Boulevard (officially in ) is a major westbound boulevard located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is named after the founder of Montreal, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve. It is a one-way street westbound. De Maisonneuve ...

between

Berri Street Berri Street (officially in ) is a major north–south street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Berri Street links De la Commune Street in the south and Somerville Street in the north. The street is interrupted between Rosemont Boulevard and J ...

and

Saint Laurent Boulevard Saint Laurent Boulevard, also known as Saint Lawrence Boulevard (officially in ), is a major street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A commercial artery and cultural heritage site, the street runs north west–south east through the near-centre of ...

. Furriers such as the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

and warehouses lined the streets in this area at the time. The Garment District later moved to the

Mile End Mile End is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is east of Charing Cross. Situated on the part of the London-to-Colchester road ...

neighbourhood in the northernmost edge of the borough of

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Le Plateau-Mont-Royal () is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The borough takes its name from its location on a plateau, on the eastern side of Mount Royal and overlooking downtown Montreal, across its south ...

. The massive 1960s buildings built by the fur traders along De Gaspé Street still stand today. It has since moved again to its current location, along Chabanel Street. From 1964 to 1985 and running from Saint-Laurent Boulevard in the east to Meilleur Avenue in the west, eight large multi-storey buildings were built along Chabanel. The first address is 99 Chabanel (500,000 sq. ft.), followed by 111, 125, 225
333
433 and 555 Chabanel followed. The largest of the buildings is 333 Chabanel (approximately one million square feet) which boasts the second largest floorplate on the island of Montreal (110,000 sq. ft.) after

Place Bonaventure Place Bonaventure () is an office, exhibition, and hotel complex in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, adjacent to the city's Central Station. At in size, Place Bonaventure was the second-largest commercial building in the world at the time of i ...

. The total square footage of the buildings along Chabanel is estimated at five million. The street is still considered the centre of the fashion industry in Canada, with several hundred companies and thousands of employees operating from Chabanel addresses. However, in recent years with manufacturing moving offshore due to the G-8 policy of "trade-not-aid" for

Least Developed Countries The least developed countries (LDCs) are developing countries listed by the United Nations that exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development. The concept of LDCs originated in the late 1960s and the first group of LDCs was listed b ...

(LDCs)

Market Access Initiative Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

, contraction in the industry and vacancy rates increasing, there has been a move t
promote the area
to other industries, and one of the buildings (125 Chabanel) has been slated to be redeveloped as a residential condominium project.

Chabanel in Literature

The nove
The Rent Collector
b
B. Glen Rotchin
which was a finalist for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award is set at 99 Chabanel.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Neighbourhoods in Montreal Garment districts Textile industry of Canada Ahuntsic-Cartierville