Historic Quebec City grocery store set to close

After more than 150 years in business, North America’s oldest grocery store is set to close.

J.A. Moisan opened its doors in 1871 and survived both the great depression and the pandemic – making the decision to close the grocery store that much harder for co-owner Donna Willett.

“It's sad to see institutions like this go, but a lot of our clientele come in and they just take pictures like it's a museum. And unfortunately, that's not, it's not sustainable for our business,” she said.

Willett bought the building on Saint-Jean Street in 2019.

She keeps the shelves stocked with staples, fine goods and Quebec cheeses, all of which are currently marked 25 per cent off.

Locals have been stopping by to share their memories, and soon memories and maybe some non-perishable goods will be all customers have.

Willett expects the store to close by the end of the month. She says several factors like rising costs and competition from large grocery chains led to its demise.

“We see the grocery store taking a big loss year after year for years in a row with no really sales growth and the cost of everything just increasing,” said Willett.

Across the province, small grocery stores are working hard to stay open.

Family run Marché Esposito has been in business since 1960.

Assistant manager Normand Shannon says its a fight to get the best prices to keep customers.

“It's always hard. It's always hard. We have to be aggressive. If you're not aggressive, you're not going to survive in the market. There's all kinds of all kinds of competition, now you got deliveries at home,” said Shannon.

While J.A. Moisan will close, Willett has no plans to sell the building. She is planning to rent out the historic space and said there is already interest.

“Somebody that just buys it and does the same as I did and same as the past owners did, are going to end up in the same boat as I am right now,” said Willett.

She hopes whoever takes over can give the space a new life that stretches on another century and a half.