New display provisions were unveiled this week and some merchants are already thinking about redoing their windows or adjusting their storefronts to comply with the new requirements.
“We’re going to redo it,” says Joe Scalia, owner of the Mille Gusti café, speaking of his window. He has already placed the order with the man who does all his lettering, Jonathan Rheault, who will have to redo the signs of several businesses in the coming months. Sitting at a table in the Petite-Patrie café on this Thursday morning, the two men discuss plans to make the window compliant, heartily. “I’m a Francophile,” says Jonathan Rheault. It’s easy in my job to talk about it with my clients. I have always done my lettering in French. »
Is the Il Bolero store display compliant? “Yes,” says without hesitation the boss of the place, Gianni Sardelli, who believes he has an acquired right. When he opened his business in Plaza Saint-Hubert, more than 30 years ago, the place was simply called Bolero. But the corset maker had to add the word “Il” to comply with the rules, he explains, specifying that “Il” is a French pronoun. That said, Mr. Sardelli believes that retailers should be entitled to a little relief and that these new rules represent additional pressure for merchants who are already under a lot of pressure. “It’s too much,” he said, like a cry from the heart.
The new provisions of the regulation on commercial signage will come into force on June 1, 2025. We ask that French occupy twice as much space in the signage area, if there is another language. Quebec has already announced that the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) will increase its surveillance. Here, a Top Discount store which specializes in foods from France, but whose name is in English. On the other hand, all the indications on the window are in French.
Ammar Habib owns four Branche d’Olivier markets, which sell Middle Eastern products. There is a little Arabic on the shop fronts, but French has been undeniably predominant since the beginning. The owner is uncompromising on this: there is no question of doing otherwise. “The display is permanent,” he says. It reflects our city. »
At the Sabor Latino food market, all the descriptions have already been added in French in the windows that overlook the street and inside. We also have a French language program for employees of this store, 80% of whose customers speak Spanish, explains the human resources manager we met on site. The team will have to assess whether the current signage meets the new standards that require French to be predominant.
In addition to having a monitoring role, the OQLF has the mandate to support companies that will have to make changes, because some are unaware of the rules. “The Office plans to carry out awareness-raising activities to inform businesses of the new requirements. It will offer personalized assistance to allow companies to validate their correction project, if necessary,” the organization’s spokesperson, Chantal Bouchard, told us.
Although no one is supposed to ignore the law, some businesses are run by entrepreneurs who speak little French, if at all, like this restaurant-fruit shop in Plaza Saint-Hubert where no one had heard of the signage rules. , Thursday morning. “Because it has supported Quebec businesses in their efforts to comply with the Charter since 1977, the Office has developed the necessary expertise to provide personalized support in order to meet the needs of each business,” specifies the spokesperson Chantal Bouchard.
The display of Quebec branches of the Canadian chain GameStop is compliant for the moment, but does not meet the new requirements announced Wednesday by Quebec. According to the manager of the Plaza Saint-Hubert store, despite the costs incurred by these modifications, the signs should be redone since the chain has nearly 40 video game stores in Quebec.
