Archambault sold to Renaud-Bray
Company divests itself of book, music stores as it sheds assets
Continuing to divest itself of conventional media and cultural properties, Quebec communications giant Québecor announced Tuesday it plans to sell its 14 Archambault book and music stores, along with the Archambault website and the English-language Paragraphe bookstore in Montreal, to the Renaud-Bray chain.
Financial details of the transaction, which requires approval of the Competition Bureau of Canada, were not disclosed.
Renaud-Bray, founded in 1965 and currently Quebec’s largest French bookstore chain with 30 outlets, said it plans to operate Archambault as a separate entity.
“The two companies share numerous values in common and both are customer-focused,” said Blaise Renaud, president of Renaud-Bray.
“Through this acquisition, we are proud not only to maintain the company’s sustainability and its control by Quebec interests, but also to ensure greater vitality for our sector, and by the same token, for the book chain industry as a whole.
“Given the current difficult economic conditions that have severely affected a number of Quebec retailers, Renaud-Bray and Archambault are also required to adapt and renew themselves in order to face the future.”
The company wasn’t prepared to elaborate on its plans for Paragraphe, acquired by Archambault in 2000. At the time, there were suggestions it would become the flagship of a national English chain, but that didn’t happen. Paragraphe has operated locally since 1981.
Renaud-Bray’s only previous experience with an English bookstore, in Toronto, did not end well. It opened on Yonge St. in 1995 and closed a year later.
“We are pleased that this transaction will keep Archambault’s retail operations in Quebec hands. Renaud-Bray has built its reputation by developing the market for French-language cultural goods and offering Quebecers quality products,” said Québecor president Pierre Dion, adding that the company remains committed to the book industry through its continuing ownership of 18 publishing houses. The sale of Archambault Group follows the sale earlier this year of Québecor’s 175 Englishlanguage newspaper and digital properties to Postmedia for $316 million, after spending almost $1 billion to acquire them in 1999.
Archambault, a prominent name
Renaud-Bray has built its reputation by developing the market for French-language cultural goods and offering Quebecers quality products.
in Quebec’s retail sector for more than a century, is not the first major acquisition for Renaud-Bray. In the late 1990s, it snapped up the Librairie Garneau and Librairie Champigny chains.