Les Gens du Vieux Team Up For Some Fun!

Vanessa D’Amora is the businesswoman behind Bar à Beurre, the bakery-pâtisserie on Notre-Dame Street East. Following the new government restrictions in the face of the second wave of COVID-19, Vanessa has not yet thrown in the towel. To the contrary; she has opened up her arms to all Gens du Vieux, a vivacious community in Old Montreal that she’s proud to count herself among, and she has decided to organize a wave of contests on Instagram with her neighbours. A handy way to both satisfy customers and help give some exposure to businesses in le Vieux all at once.

A Shared Platform with Assured Visibility

“I’ve already organized giveaways before, and I asked myself: Why not help other local stores? Instagram is an excellent platform to discover new things and places. The 12-Week Contest in Old Montreal is a great way to give visibility to our beautiful area,” this neighbourhood entrepreneur explains.

12 Weeks, 12 Neighbouring Stores

To share her idea with other business-owners, she asked her graphic artist (@camillepq) to create a poster for this “12 Week Contest in Old Montreal”, and contacted certain merchants by email and Instagram. The response from the other Gens du Vieux was enthusiastically unanimous: the first twelve she talked to immediately signed up for the project! Vanessa was deeply touched by this passion, which goes to show once more just how tightly-knit a community the Gens du Vieux are.

Foodie, Fun, Sweet, and Nostalgic: the Prizes Keep on Coming

At the time of writing, this wave of contests is in its second week. The winner from the first week happily received a gift basket containing products from the boutique Le Petit Duck Shoppe and Bar à Beurre. “People have been participating en masse, and seem to really like the prize packs that we’re drawing for,” Vanessa informs us.

Showing Off the Gens du Vieux’ Unity and Solidarity

This great initiative from Madame D’Amora to bring the Gens du Vieux together to collaborate with one another, is another link in the historic neighbourhood’s chain of support and solidarity that has only grown in scope over the past few months. Vanessa’s main goal is to help others discover, as she herself says, “the incredible shops we have here.” And she follows that up by stating: “I want to give the people of Montreal even more motivation to come visit the extraordinary boutiques that Old Montreal has.”

Discovering new businesses all while running for the chance to get some magnificent (and delicious!) prizes? We think the proprietor of Bar à Beurre has found the perfect recipe!

© Photo credit 1 - Bar à beurre
© Photo credit 2 - Geneviève Giguère