Quincaillerie Dante’s shopping bag proudly declares “C’è tutto per tutti” — there’s something for everyone — and it’s true. The 3,000-square-foot space in Little Italy is chock full of pots and pans, Italian coffee makers, toasters and pepper mills, olive oils and sauces and pastas, knives and cutting boards and lasagna pans. That’s before you get into the shop’s many other nooks and crannies, where fishing rods, binoculars and firearms can be found in one direction and everything for baking, measuring, serving and preserving in the other.
And don’t forget the canning equipment and pasta machines: It’s all there.
The quincaillerie is a happy place all year round, but in summer it’s especially fun. The angled entrance to the shop at the corner of Dante and St-Dominique Sts. boasts pots of red and yellow flowers, the steps are flanked with colourful shopping carts just waiting to be filled with produce from nearby Jean-Talon Market, and yellow benches and picnic tables offer pedestrians a respite from the hot sidewalks. This year, there’s an addition: fluttering from the balcony of the apartment upstairs is a banner celebrating the shop’s 70th anniversary.
The Vendittelli-Faita family has operated this store since 1956, with co-owners and siblings Elena Vendittelli Faita and Rudy Vendittelli now at the helm. Award-winning cookbook author Elena runs the housewares section and Rudy runs Dante Sports, the hunting and fishing side. Both departments play equal roles in the store’s revenue — though it’s the kitchen side of the business that has made the shop a household name. Here, generations of Montreal home cooks have flocked to equip their kitchens and learn how to make fresh pasta and pizza at Elena’s Mezza Luna cooking school next door. (Elena’s free tomato canning demos will start up in late August).
“It’s not Williams Sonoma,” says Cristina Faita, Elena’s daughter and one of her closest business confidantes, now based in Italy. “The abundance you find, and the fact that it looks a little chaotic, makes you feel comfortable when you walk in there — it’s not a crystal shop. And that’s part of the vibe.”
When celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain visited in 2011, he wryly observed that Dante has not only what’s needed for cooking, but also everything needed to hunt what to make for dinner, too.
Pasta machines on display at Quincaillerie Dante: Award-winning cookbook author and co-owner Elena Vendittelli Faita taught generations of Quebecers how to make pasta. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette
Started out serving immigrants
Quincaillerie Dante started out as a traditional hardware store catering to a wave of Italian immigrants— mostly men working in construction, who called for their families once they were established. For a taste of home, they also needed the equipment to make wine, as well as the damigiana, the straw-covered glass vessel, for storing it. Dante met those needs.
Adapting to the customers’ needs — and the times — have contributed both to the longevity of the business and the destination status of the store. That’s why in 1962, a request from a customer who wanted to buy a rifle for hunting resulted in the founding of the sporting goods section.
There are fewer Italian residents now in Little Italy, but the neighbourhood remains a draw. The allure of the Jean-Talon Market and the old-school shop vendors that know their merchandise and their customers are an attraction to many, including the young couples now moving to the area.
“It’s a certain kind of phenomenon, where the personalities give life and soul to a place, the place gives life and soul to the neighbourhood, and the neighbourhood becomes something really special,” says Quebec food and lifestyle icon Josée di Stasio, a loyal customer and friend.
Elena Vendittelli Faita in the kitchen where cooking classes are held next door to Quincaillerie Dante. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette
A shift from paint to pasta
Originally owned by their two older brothers, the business officially became Rudy and Elena’s in the early 1980s, when the recession necessitated some tough business decisions. Other hardware stores in the neighbourhood were shutting down, and they were worried they would face the same fate. They had been promoting the shop and the sporting goods section through local Italian media but realized they needed to reach out to the larger Quebec public to introduce their offerings. Out went the paint section and in came more housewares.
At her daughter’s urging, Elena rented a booth at the 1991 Salon national de l’Habitation, setting up the space with a pasta machine to demonstrate what she did best: connecting with the public to give the show’s visitors a totally fresh experience.
It’s a certain kind of phenomenon, where the personalities give life and soul to a place.
Josée di Stasio
Quebec food icon
“Fifteen hours a day, ten days in a row, making pasta!” remembers Elena. Three hundred thousand people passed through that show at Place Bonaventure, she recalls. “And then people were coming to the store like crazy.”
The store created a website in 1997, but after March 2020, the online business really took off; it now represents about 30 per cent of their business. “Thank god we’d set that up before the pandemic,” says Elena. “That saved us.” Customers would line up on the street to pick up their orders, the mandated distances on the sidewalk delineated with painted images of San Marzano tomatoes.
Consumers shop differently these days, says Elena’s son Stefano Faita, the chef, restaurateur, media personality and businessman. “People look around to check our price for something like a Le Creuset pot,” he says. “They’ll go online and see if it’s cheaper somewhere else. But they’ll still buy here, because ordering online doesn’t give you the kind of service we do.”
Classic stove-top Bialetti espresso makers, imported from Italy, for sale at Quincaillerie Dante. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette
Headquarters for Italian food culture
Di Stasio remembers the early days, when Elena was building the reputation of the store as a haven for home cooks, evolving into the city’s de facto headquarters for Italian culture and homemade Italian food.
“It’s difficult to separate the store from Elena herself,” says di Stasio. “The authenticity and the generosity you feel walking through the door is all part of her DNA.”
Elena remains convinced that if Montrealers and Quebecers know how to make pasta, it’s because of the cooking school and her appearances on numerous shows, di Stasio’s included.
Marc-Olivier Frappier, co-owner of acclaimed restaurant Mon Lapin, a relative newcomer to Little Italy’s dining scene, adores her. “Without Elena, we wouldn’t be making pasta at our restaurant!” he says. (She gave them a machine for the restaurant’s opening.)
Small businesses like ours give you the human approach.
Rudy Vendittelli
Quincaillerie Dante’s co-owner
That theme of generosity runs through the business’ values. It’s something that their mother imparted to them along with a strong work ethic, both Cristina and Stefano Faita say. “Making that connection — a pat on the shoulder or a handshake — is something I learned as a young boy working in the store,” Stefano says proudly.
This year’s 70th anniversary commemorative hats and raffles (with generous prizes lasting until December) will raise $10,000 for the Quebec Cancer Foundation, a cause close to the family’s heart. “We always help in our little way,” says Elena. She’s been known to roll up her sleeves for various causes, including filling up bags at Moisson Montréal food bank and encouraging others to do the same.
“Small businesses like ours give you the human approach,” says Rudy. “We offer integrity, we offer quality, we offer service. But we also offer knowledge of the product. That’s what big box (stores) simply cannot provide.”
Elena’s warmth is visible in videos she posts online, to keep that connection with customers. Always, she signs off with a smile and her jaunty, enthusiastic “Venez-nous voir! Bye-bye!”
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