Archambault - History

History

Archambault was founded in 1896 by Edmond Archambault, who had originally wanted to open a sheet music store. In partnership with J.A. Hurteau, a major retailer of pianos, instruments and music accessories, Mr. Archambault opened his first store on the corner of Saint Denis and Sainte Catherine streets in Montreal. In 1919, Edmond Archambault became the store's sole owner, and in 1930, he decided to move to the corner of Berri and Sainte Catherine streets, where he built a seven-storey building, which he dubbed the "House of the Future". To this day, this building remains the home of Archambault Group's main office.

In 1947, Mr. Archambault's nephews, Rosaire Sr. and Edmond Sr., took over the reins of the business and pursued their uncle's dream of substantially expanding the range of cultural products offered by the store. In the 1980s, the son of Rosaire Sr., Rosaire Jr., became President. Then began a period of expansion during which many new Archambault stores opened across Quebec. The 1980s saw also the creation of Distribution Select, the largest independent exclusive distributor of music in Canada. In 1995, Archambault was purchased by Quebecor Media and is now operated through the subsidiary Archambault Group Inc.

Camelot-Info, a computer bookstore, was acquired by Archambault in 2000. Started in 1978, at its peak, Camelot-Info had six stores and an online shopping site, with 10,000 titles in its inventory. By 2007, however, in face of competition from large chain stores and the Internet, only the original flagship Phillips Square store remained. Camelot-Info's last store closed in January 2009.