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Dépanneurs
- thangalin 1y agohttps://web.archive.org/web/20250612045043/https://walkmontreal.com/curiosities/depanneurs/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250612045043/https://walkmontr...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- dnpp123 1y agoAmericans re-discovering convenience stores before they all got transformed into 7-Eleven due to big corporations. How cute. Before Amazon existed there was a thing called "Librairies" too.
- John23832 1y agoAmerica is a big place. NYC has a corner store on every corner.
- morkalork 1y agoA dépanner and a bodega are basically the same. Wonder what other regional names there are for them.
- AnotherGoodName 1y agoMilkbar in Australia because they used to sell milkshakes and the convenience store aspect was secondary. Over time the convenience store part took over but the name stuck.
- brazzy 1y agoSpätkauf/Späti in eastern Germany. Translates to "late buy", because of the longer opening hours.
- ofrzeta 1y agoAren't these delis? At least when I used to live in Brooklyn we used to call them that. Often they had signs "Deli and Grocery" or something like that.
- helloooooooo 1y agoCouche-Tard owns Circle-K and is looking to buy 7-Eleven. It’s literally the worlds largest dép/convenience store chain
- dnpp123 1y agoQuébec people are so creative with the French language, love it. Why not use the standard French word for it "droguerie"? Dépanneur or Couche-tard does have a lot more charm to it though, agreed.
- kgwgk 1y agoWhy do you think that “droguerie” is the standard French word for “convenience store”?
- dnpp123 1y ago"tabac" feels too restrictive, "Épicerie" feels more like selling fruits/vegetables, "commerce de proximité" feels like it could include things like a supermarket too. I can think of more unsavory/xenophobic/slang terms for it, but droguerie seems more appropriate. And on the other end for someone who never been to Québec, "Je vais au dépanneur" sounds like "I'm going to the mechanics (to fix my car)". Very creative.
- mertleee 1y agoThis makes me miss my ex dearly - but Montreal is an incredible city.
- stevage 1y agoThey didn't explain the etymology. En panne means broken, not functioning. Dépanner means to remove something from that state, to fix it. A dépanneur is therefore a person or thing that fixes stuff, gets you out of trouble.
- gerdesj 1y agoAn online translation tool managed: "out of order" for "en panne". Your translation is far better because it gives the actual, raw and intended (by a local), meaning and not re-translated that meaning into a trite phrase on the destination side. "Out of order" is something you see on a broken machine and not something to do with a shop! One day, the AI kiddies will manage to work out how to stuff "Idia" into their wanky offerings. Until then, I'd rather read comments like yours. Merci.
- esafak 1y agoAs in, they redress your state of lacking whatever you went to buy there? It sounds a bit contorted but okay :)
- stevage 1y agoMaybe it arose from originally being kind of fix it stores that would repair stuff, I don't know.
- kl4m 1y agoYes, it "dépannes" nearby, instead of making a trip to the grocery store.
- make3 1y agoIt is from the word "dépanner", not from the word "panne" directly. "Dépanner" evolved from "panne" to mean just in general, helping someone out temporarily. A tool that would dépanne you would be a tool that would do the job poorly but well enough for now. This is how the name is meant to be understood, a small store where you can buy like eggs, beer, milk, bread (it's a convenience store), maybe batteries, but not a full grocery store or pharmacy or tool place.
- polivier 1y agoDeps are kind of like seven 11. We have a large chain of deps in Quebec called Couche-Tard, but there are tons of no name independent deps, especially in Montreal. You'll often find that many of these mom and pop deps are located on the ground floor of multi-story houses in lower income residential areas, with the owners living in the upper floors. Most of the sales in deps are cigarettes, beer, soda and snacks. Deps generally appeal to younger people and the working class.
- smitty1e 1y agoA bodega.
- minitoar 1y agobodegas usually have bigger selection & hot food
- stevage 1y agoIt's really great that they're still resisting the chains, and the delivery services.
- bryanlarsen 1y agoRelated: Couche-Tard is trying to buy 7-11.
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- pluc 1y agoNothing unique about deps. NYC has bodegas, UK has Spars, US has 7/11. Wherever you can still go to buy cigarettes/vapes, beer, sweets, sugary drinks and porn mags, that's a dep. It has long since lost its etymological purpose. Deps are entirely unhealthy waste of spaces now that grocery stores are omnipresent.
- thomassmith65 1y agoYes, a dep is no different than a corner store with a beer/wine section, but 'dep' is an interesting regional word that is neither used in France nor westward of Quebec.
- fracus 1y agoI recently learned from this web site that "all dressed" pizza is only used by the English population in Quebec to refer to a mushrooms, green pepper, pepperoni pizza The Quebec French use "tout garnie" which a direct translation. I wonder which was first.
- gerdesj 1y agoI'm (UK) old enough to remember the old school type of corner shop that a "dep" represents. It isn't a Spar (Dutch import) and it isn't a 7/11. A dep sounds like the subject of "Open all hours". Nurse Gladys would approve!
- yzydserd 1y agoThey sound like an “Offy”.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- tredre3 1y ago> Deps are entirely unhealthy waste of spaces now that grocery stores are omnipresent. One dep takes the space of one apartment, and it helps the thousands of residents around it to not have to walk 15min to get milk. Seems like a fair trade to me.
- deadbabe 1y agoA depanneur is like a micro-entrepreneur.
- every 1y agoEssentially a bodega... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodega_(store) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodega_(store)
- ctrlp 1y agois there any difference between a dep and a convenience store or bodega or tabac? all look the same. all pretty crappy.
- shusaku 1y agoI think just the bogus nostalgia for > a meeting point for discussion of politics and sports
- jszymborski 1y agoWeird, but delighted, to see this here as a Montrealer. Dépanneurs are still very much a thing here, but like most good things, endangered by suffocating industry capture by oligopolies. Doing my part by doing my late-night party beer runs at my corner dep. https://urbananews.ca/quebecs-corner-stores-vanish-as-locals-struggle-to-stay/ https://urbananews.ca/quebecs-corner-stores-vanish-as-locals... https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/economics/2025/07/06/quebec-neighbourhood-stores-closing-up-shop/ https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/economics/2025/07/06/qu...
- OptionOfT 1y agoI clicked on the link in my RSS feed and expected to see something about cars breaking down in France & Wallonia. In the US people say 'call AAA', and while working in Wallonia it was 'appelle le dépanneur', i.e. the person that gets you going. 'En panne' means 'broken down', and 'le dépanneur' would get you going again. I wonder if the stores originally were 'dépanneurs', as the original meaning, having started a side business next to their car fixing? Like how 7-11 started from an ice house in Dallas. Or is it a play on 'helping you to get going again'?