Cuisine Gourmet R.I.P.?
Both the Drummond and Monkland locations have been "closed for inventory" for over a week. Voice mailbox at the Drummond is full and the message on Monkland says "closed for change of administration". While I was never a big fan of their aggressive pricing policies I enjoyed both stores for their quality inventory and product range. Also both locations were very convenient.
It will be interesting to see what happens next.
By eat2much
on Jun 12, 2009 05:47 PM
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The Drummond location has had a 30 or 40% off (can't remember which) all items in stock sale for the past few months, so this isn't surprising news. Whenever I've been in there, I've usually been the only person in the store aside from the salespeople.
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The downtown store was huge and expensive. It stocks luxury kitchen goods. We're in a recession. Everything adds up that way.
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Oh, I wondered if the Monkland spot was going to survive, despite the downtown location's obvious distress (the staff told me they were going to renovate so had to move the stock out of the way, but I had my doubts).
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I walked past the Monkland store today and there was a sign on the door saying they'd be open again at the end of June, for what it's worth.
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Okay so color me naive, but I don't get it. The store is always quite empty, the prices ridiculously high - they recently renovated and expanded the Monkland store, there is a recession going on, and now they close for a month? How do you run a profitable business that way???
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You don't. To the best of my knowledge Cuisine Gourmet is bankrupt but there are efforts underway to buy the store & inventory hence the previously mentioned "change of administration".
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Since you replied directly to me: I don't know. I've never even been in the store. I was just passing by and remembered this thread :)
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There's an endless stream of West-End business decisions that make no sense at all. The latest goof is the sushi place in the Cote St. Luc shopping centre. You don't need experience in market research to spend 5 minutes in that mall and know that it sure as hell ain't a sushi crowd.
I've never seen one single person in there eating.
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I'm so curious about that place! It seems like utter insanity. Part of me hopes it's actually common-sense-defyingly awesome and will become a heart-warming success story retold through generations. The rest of me is scared to go into a sushi shop with practically no turnover whatsoever.
Have you eaten anything from them?
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Egad, no! Their fish sure can't be fresh daily, or they'd have closed after a month for lack of cash. No, I'm staying well away from that place. Trust your second part.
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Ooooo. I hope they have another 40% off sale! That's the only time I have ever bought anything in that store (twice on Monkland and once downtown). It's also the only time i can afford anything there!
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Ugh, I must admit, the one time I've purchased anything from CG (on Monkland), was a rainy Saturday when all I needed was a vanilla bean, and being new to Montreal, I was running out of places to look (Loblaws people looked at me like I had 2 heads). Much to my chagrin, I paid $10 for a dried up, shattering-on-contact, vanilla bean. I vowed then and there never to go back:( Even at 40% off, I find it hard to justify the prices.
My alternative purchase since then was vanilla bean paste from Amazon.com, which was relatively cheap and gives a great flavor. I haven't seen it in Montreal yet, but if so, I would highly recommend it!
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Anyone have more info about what's happening? As a "lucky" coincidence, my wife and I got married the same weekend that the store seemed to go under... and we had our wedding registry there. :( We're having a tough time getting any info so far.
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I could be wrong but if they are indeed bankrupt you are probably s.o.l.
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Confirmed: they went bankrupt about 2 weeks ago.
Expanded too quickly with too many stores. It actually makes sense if you break it down. The store on Monkland, for example, was enormous. They took over the store that was next door to it and knocked down the wall to make it bigger. Imagine the rent?? Monkland is not a cheap place to have any business (similar to Sherebrooke). They would probably have to sell $10,000 worth of equipment in each location! The location on the corner of Drummond and Maisonneuve probably has a higher rent than Monkland.
The stores were great, but their products were sooooooo expensive.
Too bad. Could have had a clearance sale and maybe made some money back.
Good luck to them.
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Too bad, but sadly predictable. I couldn't for the life of me understand their decision to expand into the old Uniprix. I think uber-luxe has reached its saturation point on Monkland.
I feel really bad for the folks who had their wedding registry there.
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No kidding, I've just moved to NDG, and honestly, I'm not too sad seeing the uber-duper-yuppy stores going under... CG prices were absolutely ridiculous!
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I passed by this weekend and the sign on the door said "Closed Temporarily. Reopening Soon." Who knows what that means...
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Dusty, they were on clearance for months at 40% ; only the all clad was not discounted. I bought knives and Emile Henry crocks in april when they first had the sale.
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40% off for some items are good, but most of them are still pretty expensive even with the discount. I still think that if anyone needs kitchen equipment, going to a restaurant supply store is the best solution. I particularly like Au Bout (mostly for big grocery orders, and some pots and pans) and the kitchen store a few doors down from Waxman's Tuxedos on Parc ave. (forgot the name).
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Do you mean Aubut?
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I think Dusty08 means Monas for the kitchen store near Waxman's.
Personally, I'm not going to shed a tear for CG. Salesgirls who would be better off working at MAC's, some pushy coffee-capsule sales guy insisting that I buy his product, etc., just made any trip there unenjoyable.
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Umm, no, he said he particularly liked Au Bout and I was curious what store he was referring to.
Yeah, no tears for CG here either.
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hi adnix: I had the same problem. I don't know who bought what off the registry, and some people who bought it way *before* they declared bankruptcy were not sent the items that were paid for. Have you had any success with your situation? cheers
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FYI the store is now pasted with Bankruptcy Sale 25% off signs which is less than the 40% off they were offering earlier in the spring. The sales clerk explained that the staff was all working for the liquidator - no great deals left here, unless you are in the market for any odd sized Creuset pieces at what amounts to regular price elsewhere.
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Now what do I do with my 200$ gift certificate?????
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Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure you're gonna have to do like I did for my 75$ Les Chèvres gift certificate and forget about it.
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We used to sell Jura espresso machines to CG and we closed the account almost 2 years ago. We could apply your $200. gift certificate on certain model on a Jura espresso machine. Visit us at www.juraquebec.com, call us at our office, and ask for the sales director. Will be a pleasure for me to help you, if you are looking for an espresso machine Swiss Made!
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Thanks so much Was in there today and they honored certificate
marilynarona
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what a great gesture on their part; I'm glad you did not lose out.
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The CG on Monkland is open, but only a few items are on sale: Kitchen Aid appliances are 30% off, and "selected" cookbooks are 70% off. Some Bodum products are 40% off, and some CG-label products are deeply discounted. Otherwise, everything is at regular price (including Le Creuset).
I'm curious to see if the prices drop in the coming weeks...
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To the best of my knowledge the Monkland store was bought as a going concern and the new owner will probably sell off the CG brand items and then run it with their own staff and products.
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Is the new owner Stokes? That seems to be who's handling the sale at the downtown location.
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I was just in the Monkland store yesterday and the clerk said that all the Cuisine Gourmet stores are closing except for the new Monkland one.
I also went in the Drummond store on Friday and they are having a 25% off sale right now but the liquidators said that the discount will probably continue going down.
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thanks for the info, Roycey. I'll keep my eye on the Drummond store and see if the discounts keep dropping.
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I went yesterday - everything in the store is 40% off!
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