EcoDepot Montreal is the kind of store that, when you walk in, you just don’t know where to look.
In the 10,000 square foot store, there’s stuff everywhere — far, wide and high.
“EcoDepot came into existence because there just seemed to be too much junk, especially furniture and larger items, that were just heading to the landfill,” said owner Robert De Pellegrin.
“It seemed like there would be an opportunity to create something where there was nothing before.”
The EcoDepot owner calls it a vintage store.
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There’s a little bit of everything; from chairs, clothes and tables to vintage workout equipment and other odd items — like a 50-something-year-old cigarette dispenser.
“Often, we get them in an anonymous sense, that we don’t have their provenance,” said De Pellegrin.
“We just get them for what they are and then add to their story of ‘where did it live?’ and ‘where did it come from?’ and ‘how many houses has it been in already?'”
De Pellegrin said the store mostly gets its stock from clients, moving companies and junk removal services.
Items range anywhere from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars.
However, not everything that comes through the doors is easily identifiable, so the store turns to social media for help.
“It happens a lot that we get stuff that we don’t even know what it is,” De Pellegrin said.
“That’s when we reach out to our community of customers, who seem to be more knowledgeable than us, often. We’ll do a post on Facebook and say, ‘hey anybody have any idea what this is?'”
At times, not knowing what an item is, is exactly what makes it so special.
“There are so many interesting things, different things, that you can’t find at any other store,” said Montreal resident Ron Bridgman. “It’s something unique.”
De Pellegrin points out sometimes, people leave with exactly what they were looking for, but most of the time, they leave with something they never knew existed.
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