The Gillman store is gone, for good.

Ripples gets smashed, buildings burn down or get destroyed and stores close down on St-Laurent blvd. And I'm not seeing any of that because it's so unpleasant to walk on my favorite street right now that I just don't go there anymore.
One of the things that I missed, and not the least, is the disappearance of the Gillman's store.

I once took a picture of a beautiful demolition site on Duluth street but never realized that in the same building was located what remained of the store previously owned by the Gillman family. I had stopped many times in front of the mysterious deserted store though, to look from the window at its shelves filled with grocery products of another time. P. Gillman kept the store as is after the death of his father, an immigrant from Ukraine. But he died last year and the building was sold to the owner of Fuchsia, a vegetarian restaurant on the street, who will turn it into her new coffee space. She says she will include the old store into her new concept in a way, but of course it will never be the same.

I see people leave all the time in Montreal. I'm just starting to realize that the places that I love and have known since I'm here also go away.