Ste-Catherine recovers its flair
Ste-Catherine Street has recovered some of its flair, having posted extraordinary Christmas sale numbers and seeing the appearance of new stores and the revival of old ones.
How long will it be before Ensemble takes credit for this revival? And will the revival calm down some of the demand for a return to the office as a means of resuscitating the downtown core?
Blork 14:05 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
I think it’s been reported elsewhere (as well as in that La Presse article) but the REM seems to be playing a big part in the revival. It should come as no surprise since the biggest obstacle for most people when it comes to downtown shopping is simply getting there. Unless you live close to a Metro line it’s not easy for many, especially people who live in the farther reaches of the city.
Those people have been going to suburban malls simply because they’re easy to get to if you have a car (and most people who live in the less dense areas do have a car, or at least access to one). But malls can be boring, whereas downtown can be fun.
I haven’t seen any data on whether or not the REM has increased traffic to the Dix30 but I suspect it has not, at least not significantly. Compare taking the REM to McGill station vs. taking the REM to the Dix30.
McGill station: as soon as you arrive, you’re there. Right smack downtown, with the downtown malls and street shopping right there. If the REM goes down, there’s still the Metro, plus plenty of stuff to keep you busy for hours, including the option to take the Metro to the Plateau or elsewhere. You have shopping, sight-seeing, movies, shows, parks; lots of variety.
Dix30: After you arrive you still have to walk 400 metres or more (across bleak and windy parking lots) before you get anywhere. And once you’re there, it’s more bleak and windy walks to get anywhere else. Lots of walking and most of it not fun. There’s some variety but zero surprises because everything has been manufactured to loosen your wallet. If the REM goes down you are trapped.
Kate 14:31 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
Blork, thanks for describing the scenario at Dix30. I’d been talking with a friend about buying all‑day passes and going to explore the extent of the REM network, but when I started looking at the location of the stations outside the city core, I realized something I already more or less knew – that once you’re in the suburbs, distances between features are meant to be driven, not walked. You do not want to be doing this on a day like today.
Once I’d reported on the placement for most of the stations, we stopped discussing it. We might get back to the idea in May or June.
Nicholas 15:40 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
A hot tip is that an evening or weekend pass covers all zones, which will often be cheaper than buying individual AB or ABC tickets or a day pass for AB or ABC. So if you can time your outing you can save.
Kate 18:23 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
If I understand the ARTM fare grid correctly, and the REM doesn’t extend outside Zone C, a 24-hour pass would cost $17.75, not unreasonable money for a day’s jaunt. We wanted to be able to get on and off the train as we fancied, too.
Sadly, my friend is from England, so had visions of getting off at random stops to find quaint shops or pubs to linger at, but my inspection of the REM station sites shows that you’re expected to get off the train and go to your car, so in most cases there’s nothing but a huge parking lot within reasonable distance.
It might be kind of interesting to walk around Île Bigras in the summer, mind you. I’m hoping they find some way to ferry people from that stop over to the Île Bizard nature park.
Blork 19:38 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
Your perception of the suburban REM stops is correct. That’s not to say there aren’t quaint villages out there at the edge of the known universe (or at least the edge of the known ARTM zones) but since the REM line and stations are new they’re not going to stop in the villages — where construction would have been expensive and very disruptive. It’s not like in the UK or Europe where the villages often grew up around the old established lines and stations.
Going south is particularly bad. The area around the Panama station is literally a parking lot and highway dystopia. Next stop at the Dix30 isn’t much better but at least there’s that whole new Griffintownesque “town” on the east side that seems to have popped up overnight, and the wind-blown parking lots of the Dix30 which end with a couple of serviceable shopping and dining areas for the kind of people who like Disneyland and cruise ships.
Kate 19:48 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
The older bits of Laprairie look nice, on Streetview, but you’d probably want to take a bus from one of the Brossard stations – it’s some distance from any of them.
I don’t think the idea was to go drinking at Dix30, either.
DeWolf 00:10 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
On the DM branch, it’s mildly interesting to walk around downtown TMR, and there’s at least one good café around there. While the area around Bois-Franc isn’t entirely pleasant to walk around, there a lot of interesting grocery stores and restaurants. It’s also not far from the riverfront which is quite nice. A little further along, Île-Bigras is fun for a jaunt.
Your English friend might be pleased by Grand-Moulin. From there it’s a 20-30 minute riverside walk to Vieux-Terrebonne, which is a genuinely nice neighbourhood with pubs and cafés and historic buildings.
Kate 13:06 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
DeWolf, it looks like Terrebonne is a long way from Grand‑Moulin on the map. Grand‑Moulin is just north of Île Bizard whereas Terrebonne is north of the eastern half of Laval.
Blork 17:34 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
@ DeWolf: There’s a downtown TMR? Where?
The village of La Prairie is indeed quaint, but tiny. You can see pretty much the whole thing from this spot: https://maps.app.goo.gl/qKMXEwLYf1wL8YLM8
Take a walk down that street, hang a right at the next corner, walk a short block, hang another right and walk back to the main street and you’ve pretty much seen it all. There’s a nice little old-fashioned candy shop to the right of the big church that also serves ice cream cones (not house-made). That’s a nice place to stop in on a warm day. I don’t think it’s worth the ride to go there on public transit unless you’re really curious or want to check it off a list or something.
The old village of Boucherville is also a quaint place to walk around for 10-15 minutes on a warm day. It’s weirdly quiet, which is almost unnerving sometimes, as if you just dropped into a Twilight Zone episode and you’re the last person left on Earth. No quick way to get there though, but getting there by bike can be interesting.
Blork 17:41 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
FYI, this is pretty much ground zero of Old Boucherville. That building with the Quebec flag has a decent café in it (Café St-Laurent), which specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches. https://maps.app.goo.gl/W2ppfU9FmsWLrizy7
Turn 180 degrees from this view and it’s about 150 metres to a nice little park on the river’s edge with a view of the Boucherville islands. (I once saw a sturgeon as big as a human break the surface, roll over, and go under again from that spot.) That’s also where the bike path that runs along the river passes by.
CE 19:01 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Right at the TMR train (now REM) station there are some shops and services and a very nice rose garden. There is also, oddly, a large lawn bowling club. It’s a planned town based on British garden cities. Pretty much everything you need for day-to-day life is there. It’s worth a visit, especially now that it’s easily accessible by REM. Lots of nice houses to check out ringing the centre.
I once went to the old centre of La Prairie to check it out based on a previous comment by Kate. It’s cute but not very big. They have a nice archeology museum that’s worth checking out. The problem is that no matter where you are, you can hear the roar of the highway. The locals don’t notice it anymore but someone at the museum told me that before the highway was built, they had river access and there was a very nice beach. It was all lost when they built the 15.
I bet that sturgeon gets a bit bigger each time you talk about it Blork!
Blork 19:43 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Well, it was as big as a walrus! 😉
Kate 20:49 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Friends who cycle through TMR tell me that Connaught Park, the bullseye on the layout, is nice. It’s right beside the REM station.
Thank you for the map locations and info, Blork.
Incidentally, Connaught Park is named after the same person that Prince Arthur Street is named after: Queen Victoria’s third son, who was Governor‑General of Canada from 1911 to 1916.
DeWolf 21:48 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Vieux-Saint-Eustache, not Vieux-Terrebonne. Whoops!
DeWolf 21:53 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Also, aside from Saint-Eustache, you can also walk from Grand-Moulin to what was historically known as Laval Beach (today listed as Berge aux Quatre-Vents on Google Maps). The riverfront is nice and the adjacent residential area was originally developed with summer cottages so it’s a pretty eclectic mix.
Tim S. 22:57 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
I have taken the REM out to Dix30 a few times to meet up with South Shore folks, and while I would have designed it differently, the accessibility from transit is not that bad (snowstorms and polar vortexes aside). Maybe a 4 minute walk, one big ugly street to cross, and you’re in the little manufactured village. Not travel from England worthy, but I don’t hesitate to make the trip when it comes up.
Kate 23:02 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Tim S., thanks for the details. Friend has been living here for decades, but is still partly in England, culturally.
DeWolf: That makes more sense!
GC 23:31 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Thanks for the tip, DeWolf. I’m also not heading out there in the polar vortex, but it sounds like it could be a fun day trip in milder weather.