Mr. Zéphirin Paquet at PR Distribution
For more than a month now, the bronze bust of Mr. Zéphirin Paquet welcomes you in the main entrance of the PR Distribution headquarters. Given that our address is 6500 Zéphirin-Paquet, we asked the family of the famous merchant, to offer him a resting place of respect on our streets.
The oldest boy in a family of 18, Zéphirin Paquet did not go to school. Hired at the age of 14 by a farmer in his village, he began working for a dairy in the faubourg Saint-Jean at Quebec in 1834. Two years later he bought his first cow and set up his own business in that district. He soon increased his herd and by 1840 had 20 cows grazing in Upper Town. His was the largest dairy in the city and by 1845 he had accumulated a small amount of capital. That year his barn burned down when fire swept the faubourg Saint-Jean and faubourg Saint-Louis, but he managed to save his cows and relocated his business to a fast-growing district in Lower Town near the Hôpital Général. His wife opened a small store in their home, selling hats, notions, and clothing.
Late in 1848 Mane-Louise told him that she was earning more in her store than he in his dairy and suggested that he join her in the clothing business. When Zéphirin refused to believe her, she challenged him to compare the earnings of the two businesses over the next year and to accept her suggestion if the figures proved her claim. At the end of 1849 the results were conclusive and Paquet sold his cows. The store occupied the entire ground floor of their house. Marie-Louise took care of sales and Zéphirin was responsible for purchases from John McCall of the Quebec firm of A. Laurie and Company as well as for customers, employees, and merchandise. By 1858 the enterprise had grown, expanding its clientele and increasing sales while operating strictly on a cash basis. The store burned down in the Saint-Sauveur fire of 1866, but the Paquets were able to remove their inventory quickly enough to save it. They took up residence on Rue Saint-Joseph, in the heart of Saint-Roch ward, where they remained in business.
Although they initially thought of their Saint-Roch location as temporary, it gradually assumed a permanent character. Paquet went from being a tenant to a property owner in 1878, when he gave up his live-in store and purchased a four-storey building. In the next dozen years he acquired adjacent blocks of land and buildings between Rue Saint-Joseph and Rue des Fossés (Boulevard Charest) for $60,000 cash. The business, run entirely by Zéphirin while his wife raised their nine children, continued to grow and diversified its line of products. Paquet built and expanded, and hired increasing numbers of employees. In 1890, although 72 years old, he still ruled over the ever-growing enterprise, whose workforce by then included some 150 people.
Zéphirin Paquet died on 26 Feb. 1905 and thus did not live to see this settlement. However, Le Soleil on 1 March 1905 published an advertisement that was a sign of the times: “Colossal Sale, Gigantic, Absolutely Unique . . . . Our special huge sales had to be interrupted for our three days of mourning. We wish to make up for these three days of inactivity as much as possible.” A new era had begun.
Come and meet Mr. Zéphirin Paquet at our head office at 6500 Zéphirin-Paquet in the Armand Viau Park.
