Our Story
Our Story - A Family Story
THE BIRTH - 63, rue du Petit-Champlain
The adventure begins just before the 1984 Tall Ships Parade.
Paul Drolet (Jacques' uncle) opens the shop which he will name "Le Capitaine D'a Bord". The old sign displayed "Les Copains d'abord" and he will only hide the word "Les Copains" at the beginning to minimize the costs of changing the old sign (December 15, 1983).
Subsequently Sivlio Lagacé (another great-uncle of Jacques) will produce the sign that we know now with the captain and the buoy (inspired by an old Armor-Lux logo on a metal rod).
The Le Capitaine D'a Bord boutique is located right next to the Point de Mire boutique (which will become Jourdain), the boutique of his wife Suzanne Jourdain, with the door communicating from the inside (which is still in use).
On the death of Paul (cancer), Jacques Bourbonnière and Suzanne Bélanger bought the boutique from Suzanne Jourdain (1992).
On December 15, 1992, David, son of Jacques and Suzanne, will start as a sales consultant. In the following years, their daughter Catherine (late) also began as a sales consultant at the store for several years.
LE PLEIN AIR D'A BORD
In 1995, with the technological revolutions in the outdoor world (Gore-tex and others) an expansion will take place and thus the Plein Air D'a Bord shop will be created and also accessible from inside the Captain D'a Bord. At the time, we were one of the largest retailers of the Chlorophylle brand (59 rue du Petit-Champlain).
With the advent of big-box chains that sell a lot of outdoor clothing and fierce competition, a change had to happen. It will be the transformation of the shop which will become an enlargement of Capitaine D'a Bord.
ONLINE SHOP - captaindabord.com
The year 2000 - Our first website was born and it was even transactional! Several suppliers at the time were cautious (including Paul & Shark). It was therefore necessary to stop online sales for several years...(we were too fast!)
Now everything is fine, don't worry!
MOVING OF JOURDAIN
In 2013, Geneviève Drolet and Suzanne Jourdain decided to leave the premises of the Jourdain boutique (65 1/2 rue du Petit-Champlain). They had opened another local a few years ago on Buade Street with a larger area.
We then decide to take this room to have more space. Our shop is then found on 3 premises and therefore also with 3 doors and all accessible from the inside.
THE 4 CHILDREN
Since 2019, David's 4 children have worked part time and even Marina (the 2nd daughter) has worked full time!
40 YEARS OF LIFE! (2023)
This year we celebrate our 40th anniversary!
Surprises await you...renovations are in the planning stages...we say no more!
In the meantime, come see us!
David, Jacques and Suzanne
THE PETIT-CHAMPLAIN DISTRICT COOPERATIVE
Since its inception Le Capitaine D'a Bord has been part of the Cooperative du Quartier Petit-Champlain.