The history of La Cordée can be divided into two parts: changes in business activities and physical changes.

CHANGES IN BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

The origins of La Cordée, first established in 1953, can be traced back to the Montreal scout movement. First founded as a cooperative whose mandate was to sell scout uniforms at reasonable prices, the first ten years of its existence were essentially devoted to serving the needs of the scouting community.

Over time, a larger clientele, attracted by a growing range of specialized products, began to shop at the store, which rapidly became the uncontested Quebec leader in the sale of outdoor products.

Within a few years of dealing with the general public, La Cordée developed into a complete camping retailer able to satisfy demands for light hiking wear. In the 1960s, climbing gear first appeared in Quebec and La Cordée become the meeting point for climbers from all regions of the province.

In the early 1970s, La Cordée played an active role in the growth of cross-country skiing, when thousands of Quebecers discovered the sport. A number of skiers were equipping themselves with Norwegian Norge skis, which La Cordée imported exclusively for its clients and which were, for a long time, considered to be the best products available.

In the 1980s, the company made its mark as one of the main bike retailers in the Montreal area. La Cordée was, for a long time, Montreal's only cycle touring specialist. It was also a mountain bike pioneer, with the first models featured in-store in 1985.

Paddle sports were introduced in the late 1990s and the store quickly gained a reputation as a major player in the area of canoeing and kayaking. At the same time, La Cordée was also introducing a book and accessories section designed to satisfy the needs of travel and nature enthusiasts.

Although most outdoor enthusiasts refer to La Cordée as the store on St. Catherine St., right near the Jacques Cartier Bridge, it wasn't always located there, and now, with the opening of the store in Laval in 2001 and in St-Hubert in 2005, La Cordée has three great location.

PHYSICAL CHANGES

First located in a school on de Bullion St., La Cordée moved to Sherbrooke St. in 1954. With business on the rise, the store moved eastward on Sherbrooke St. in 1961, this time to the corner of Berri St. Three years later, the company bought a building and set up shop at 453 Ontario St. The experience was short-lived, however, as fire ravaged the building a year later. Following a month of intense effort, La Cordée reopened its doors at 2012 Berri St. The current building at 2159 St. Catherine St. was bought in 1974.

Since then, the inside has been continually renovated to better satisfy customer needs, growing from one to two and finally to three floors in 1990. In the winter of 1996-97, La Cordée underwent major changes, with the addition of a new section and the complete renovation of the old part of the store. In 2003, the year of our 50th business anniversary, other renovations permitted to add floor space to an already large store.

In September 2001, La Cordée opened a superstore at 2777 St. Martin Blvd. in Laval, just west of Highway 15. The store is designed to better serve customers on Montreal's north shore.

In October 2005, La Cordée opened another superstore at 1595 boul. des Promenades in St-Hubert, this time to serve our ever expanding clientele on the south shore.

These 3 stores enables us to be the most important outdoor retail specialist over the Montreal region, if not the Quebec province.

From the tiny boutique on de Bullion St. in 1953, La Cordée has become one of the largest superstores in North America dedicated to outdoor sports. An area of 75 000 sq. ft. divided equally between the Montreal, Laval and St-Hubert stores allows even the most demanding shoppers to find everything they need. In addition, customers benefit from high-quality service and sound technical advice from a competent sales staff, which have been the hallmarks of La Cordée for more than fifty years.