Anjou Quebec had been open on Laurier St.  since 1953 as the go-to place for French charcouterie and butchering. They cooked delish prepared meals every week – things like duck, Roqufort beef, halibut with leek, veal liver Lyonnais, lamb Provencal, lobster bisque, quennelles, and my favorite: potatoes Dauphinois.

After a beautiful renovation and new ownership, the store mysteriously closed. It was supposed to move to Old Montreal and I  searched for it, to no avail.

Imagine my surprise when I found Nita Urech, the chef/owner on the Notre Dame St. antique strip. The concept is more catering now but there is take-out food too, a little bistro – and a party room. There’s a weekly menu with 3 entrees, 8 mains, 4 sides and 3 desserts. And yes, she still makes my potatoes Dauphinois. Yay!

Location: 1638 Notre-Dame
corner: Guy
Tel: 514-272-4065
anjou@bellnet.ca

Here’s a win-win situation. If you need money to cover some of those holiday bills and you have been thinking of clearing out some of your furnishings, why not sell them at a consignment store?  Galerie M is a beautiful new retail  environment which buys and sells finer home furnishings, furniture, decorative accessories, art, china and crystal, pewter and silver.

The 5,000 sq ft showroom is filled with affordable luxury in Antique, Modern, Vintage Art Deco and Contemporary styles. New merchandise arrives several times a week.  There are some high end samples of brand-new luxury merchandise at exceptional prices. This is also a place to find unique gifts for a special friend.

Location: 8160 Devonshire, VMR
corner: Royalmount
Tel: 514-564-3600
www.galeriem.ca

It is totally confusing to try to figure out which products are genuinely green and responsible or not. Greenwashing is a term used where companies make statements about their products that they are environmentally friendly when they really aren’t at all.

A study of claims on labels found that 98% of 1,000 items reviewed had in fact greenwashed  the information on their labels. Questionable claims involved everything from their Energy Star rating to fake official looking logos to make consumers think they have gone through a legitimate green certification process.

The word “natural” is a term that is so misleading because it doesn’t mean anything at all. Everything is natural if you think about it.  Chemicals came from nature and they are natural too.

So along comes www.ethiquette.ca, a Montreal company to the rescue. They spend their days checking out the environmental and socially responsible background of companies. Companies are monitored  so changes in how they operate could cost them their certification in the future if they lower their standards.

They look at whether the products are truly made with organic ingredients, if  they are made locally or nationally. Is it a non-profit or co-op? Are the working conditions above average for the employees?  Some of the areas they have covered are: green barbecues, eco gardening, green drinks, body care and cosmetics, back to school, baby bottle safety, eco renovations, green electronics, green and ethical stores.

So to help you buy green, check out the companies that are vetted on their site. Please note though, that companies pay an evaluation fee to appear on their site, so other companies might be okay but haven’t ponied up the cash.

Target is a popular US chain store which sells housewares, clothing, furniture, bedding and beauty supplies. It is moderately priced.  On their on-line store I’m seeing dresses clearing for $6 or $7 bucks. Can’t get much lower than that. Wonder what the prices will be like here?

There will be 16 stores in Quebec and 6 in the Montreal area: Cote des Neiges Plaza, Place Versailles, Centre Commercial Domaine (east near Langelier),  Brossard, Longueuil and Carrefour de de la Pointe (Pointe aux Trembles).

In the rest of the province, they will be in Pincourt (Le Faubourg de l’Ile), Beloeil,  Chicoutimi, Joliette, La Pocatiere,  Magog, Sherbrooke, Sorel and St-Eustache.

After all the holiday cooking, it’s time to re-stock your pantry. Buying food by the pound is a good way to save money, because you buy exactly the amount you need for your pantry or for that one recipe.

At this spacious newly enlarged store you’ll find herbs de Provence, toasted corn nuts, psyllium husks, jelly bellies, blackstrap molasses, 12 kinds of chocolate-making wafers, brown basmati rice, glazed fruits, probiotic cereal, Montreal steak spice, pickling spices, whole nutmeg, flax seed, buttermilk powder and chia seeds.

You can rent one of their 150 cake mold pans, and find many cake decorating necessities, and even buy pinatas. You may be looking for soy beverages, retro candy, or Japanese rice candy.

For gluten-free diets, there’s a nice selection of: bread (even quinoa), pizza dough, cakes, cookies, pasta pie dough and frozen dinners. There’s an organic section now, gourmet groceries and chocolate letters ($2.39).

Location:303 boul. St-Jean, Pointe Claire
corner:  Highway 20
Tel: 514-697-5157
Hours: Mon-Fri 9-9, Sat 9-5, Sun 10-5

Femme de Carriere is a popular Quebec fashion brand which brings in styles from France and Italy. They have opened a permanent retail store and liquidation spot right in a storefront on the ground floor of a Chabanel building. It is bright and spacious.

The front of the shop will show off this season’s fashions (dresses, skirts, pants, accessories) and the back is where you will find all the bargains.

Location: 221-225 Chabanel ouest
corner: Meunier
Tel: 514-382-0220
Hours: Mon-Wed 10-6, Thurs & Fri 10-7, Sat 9-5

I   We love to write about a store where everything is made in Montreal. At L’Arterie Boutique & Friperie, you can buy from the 50% that is the friperie (men and women) or from the 50% that is handmade crafts.

So shop for the vintage look jeans, tops, skirts, windbreakers, or  buy the jewelry, soaps, and hand-made animal creatures. This is the place to head to for vegan shoes made with micro fiber that imitates leather.

Location:176 Bernard ouest
corner: Esplanade
Tel: 514-273-3933
Hours: Tues-Fri 12-6, Sat & Sun 11-5
www.arterieboutique.ca

Feel is a store on St-Hubert St. There are tops there for men, women and kids for $5.  Pricing for other things (sparkly tops, hoodies) are 3/$20 or 3/$10. But it is the first time I have come across a real deal for big guys. In sizes XL-4XXL there are polo shirts for only 3/$20.

Location: 7074 St-Hubert
Tel 514-278-9138
Hours: Regular

If you have an old fur coat, you have such value in your closet. Why let it sit there when Les Fourrures Elextra, a fur magician can transform it into something wearable and beautiful?  Spiros Ladovrechis opened his own fur business in 1972, so he knows how to make patterns from your body and how to be very imaginative with fur. Sure, he can make you a brand new coat out of mink, beaver, Persian lamb or chinchilla; however, give him an old coat and his eyes sparkle with ideas.

It can be your old coat, your Mother’s or an aunt’s coat, and he will take it all apart, re-size it and restyle it, and then put it all back together in a completely different way. You can easily just put it inside a reversible waterproof winter coat, which is snuggly warm and oh so soft inside – and amazing light. If it was a long coat, the bottom can become a hood.

When remodeling your coat, he will make a new pattern himself – this is truly shopping directly at the manufacturer – and then he takes his tools and cuts, carves, shears, grooves and can add inserts with patterns like falling leaves, curves and squiggles, or he can even out fur ruffles. If you would like, the coat can be dyed a different color.

Besides the total re-modeling, he can of course clean your coat, do alterations, store it for you – or sell you a new coat.

Location: 1625 Chabanel W, Suite 960
corner: Jean Pratt
Tel: 514-845-9287
Hours:514-845-9287

Tis a bit chilly these days so why not cuddle under a cozy duvet?

In this building right off the Main, Ungava Factory Outlet sells high quality duvets at low prices – starting at $59. They do special constructions, create made-to-measure sizes (even for cribs), feather mattresses and can restuff your old duvet.

You can buy pillows or wool mattress covers and wool pillows, and now, silk duvets. Better quality futons (1.5 cu. ft. density foam) are made here too, as well as futon covers, bases, bolsters and duvet covers. Egyptian cotton sheets and ones of 400 & 600 thread count are here, and ready made curtains too.

Location10 Pine ouest, Suite 112
cornerboul. St-Laurent
Tel514-287-9276
Hours:Tues-Wed 10-6, Thurs & Fri 10-8, Sat 10-5