Published August 29, 2024

Provisions Inc. building to be sold by order of bailiff

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The iconic Provisions Inc. building on Ave. Cartier could have a new owner within weeks, the result of a court-ordered bailiff’s sale.

Signs for a real estate agent went up in the windows of the once-popular family-run grocery store on Aug. 21, ac- companied by another sign saying “vente sous contrôle de justice.”

The building, with two apartments above the grocery, has been in limbo for months since the would-be new owners, a couple from France, fled town back in January. In the fall of 2022, Christophe Bouillon and Stéphanie Bouillon Guessas had acquired the grocery from cousins Vincent and Bruno Drouin, whose family had operated the store since 1949.

In July, according to the Journal de Québec, the National Bank of Canada won control of the property through the courts after the Bouillon couple defaulted on a $2.5-million mortgage. The couple had put the building up for sale for $4 million before taking flight back to France.

According to Remax agent Hugo Asselin, who is acting on behalf of a bailiff, several interested buyers have already submitted offers. The deadline for offers was one week from the notice of sale.

The listing says the “grocery store that currently occupies the ground floor could be put back into operation very quickly since the equipment can be included in the transaction.”

It also says, “Sale without legal warranty of quality, at the buyer’s risk.”

The apartments are described as recently renovated with bright rooms and high ceilings.

City zoning permits a variety of uses for the building, including restaurant, retail and “general tourist accommodation.”

According to media reports, the proceeds from the sale will first be used to repay the municipal and school taxes unpaid by the Bouillons, then the bank, as well as the former owners of the grocery store, who are suing the couple for $446,250.

Scroll to Top