La Contessa

Denise Bélanger is the third owner of La Contessa, but she has kept it true to its roots. Located in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-des-Grace neighbourhood, La Contessa is known as the place to find one-of-a-kind lamps and lampshades to outfit your home.

As you walk in the door, you quickly get the impression that you certainly won’t find the type of things here that you might see at big box stores. “That part of the business has always interested me,” says Denise, who took ownership of the store in 2005. “We have pieces that come from estates. We deal with antique dealers everywhere. The idea that we have that piece that you can't find in every store was interesting for me.”

La Contessa is a prime of example of the old adage, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” “We have great clientele. Some of the people coming here are the third generation," says Denise. "I had a couple here not too long ago, and their grandmother was a customer here. They got married and the grandmother sent them here to buy their first nice lamp. I thought that was adorable."