"STUCK-STUCK"

Monique and Patrick Vignaud, traders

“French by origin, born one month apart in 1954, we met at the age of 11 and realized 7 years later that we loved each other. A marriage and three children later, we immigrated to Quebec in 1982. A butcher by trade, Patrick worked for specialized butcher shops as soon as he arrived, while I was employed by UQAM as an administrative assistant for 25 years. We realized Patrick's dream and took the leap in 2008 by opening Le Coin des gourmets, our specialty grocery store in Otterburn Park.

What brings us together is our passion for good food. It was and still is a challenge to be around each other from morning to night, even after all these years. Communication, respect for others and their ideas, is essential, but sometimes difficult to apply. Illness and an accident have put us to the test over the years. It is in adversity that we have come closer than ever. These episodes have revealed in us this love that sometimes we thought we were going away.

The store keeps us, too often for our liking, far from our little world (our sons and grandchildren); but one day, we will retire and take full advantage of it. It's a crazy life that we lead. When you think about it, still being together after 45 years of marriage, 10 of which were stuck together, you could call that LOVE!" – Monique Vignaud, co-owner of Le Coin des gourmets

SAME WAVELENGTH

Dr. Michelle Bernatchez and Dr. François Poirier, chiropractors

“We studied together at university. After we graduated, François wanted us to work together, but I resisted. I didn’t want to put all our eggs in one basket and be together 24/7. We worked in different offices as partners for 10 years before deciding. This decision was the best of our careers and our lives. All the constraints and difficulties that we could have encountered in the past with a partner disappeared. The company is truly in our image, everything is thought out according to our shared vision,” – Michelle Bernatchez, chiropractor and co-owner of the Chiro Ste-Rose clinic

“Decision-making is much easier. We always try to move forward and innovate at all levels. There is no constraint of having to negotiate with an associate who would have different values and who would be in his routine,” François Poirier, chiropractor and co-owner

FROM SOLO TO FAMILY GROUP

Marie-Claude Plante and Daniel Juneau, health and safety distributors

“We fell in love while I was working for Daniel’s company, Canado Nacan Équipements. After a few years, the entrepreneurial bug took hold of me and I started a distribution company, then another a few years later. Our three companies are under the same roof. We share accounting, administrative and shipping resources. We each have our strengths, responsibilities and tasks in the companies and are currently working to bring more synergy to the whole to form a group. We are complementary while having the same values.

As lovers, we mostly find each other through our hobbies like golf, traveling and the arts. It allows us to talk about things other than business. Our entrepreneurial story as a couple is turning into a family story since one of our sons has just joined us and the youngest says he is very interested,” – Marie-Claude Plante, CRHA, president at Solutions Prox-Secur and Secur-T