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Owner of spice shop in hot water with OQLF over English-only website

WATCH ABOVE: OQLF drama in Montreal.

The owner of a Montreal spice shop has drawn the ire of Quebec’s language watchdog because of an English-only website.

READ MORE: Vaudreuil mayor says English website coming after OQLF changed their mind

Peter Bahlawanian, who owns a Los Angeles shop that has an outlet in Montreal, has been under pressure to translate the company’s website into French.

He says he set up the site when he originally opened his Spice Station store in the United States in 2009 and has been serving his American clientele since then.

READ MORE: Le Pois Penché gets notice from OQLF over English stickers

Two years later, he opened two shops in Montreal, gave his business a French name and translated the names of the 450 spices he carries.

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One of the stores later closed.

READ MORE: Montreal West cupcake shop under the OQLF microscope

This past June, the province’s language watchdog advised Bahlawanian to translate the website into French, which he says would cost him $4,500.

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