Larocque’s, catering primarily to Ottawa’s French-speaking community, was a rarity along Rideau Street — a business district renowned for iconic Jewish-owned retail establishments such as Freiman’s and Caplan’s.

When Larocque’s founder had floundered in the 1920s, it was ironically a Jewish family, the Vinebergs, who had ended up taking over and then running the department store for most of the next half century.

The Vinebergs, however, held true to the department store’s French-Canadian heritage — keeping the name, continuing to offer bilingual service to customers and employing a largely Francophone staff.

Robert Vineberg recounts the story of the department store his family operated for more than three decades, as part of the HSO pamphlet series: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/publications/bytown-pamphlets/pamphlets-available-for-download/111-the-store-a-personal-history-of-larocque-s

In 2021, Robert Vineberg also shared the story for our Speaker Series. Here is a recording of that Historical Society of Ottawa Speaker Series presentation: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/resources/videos/a-personal-history-of-laroque-s-department-store

James Powell also details the Larocque’s legacy: todayinottawashistory.wordpress.com/2021/08/28/larocques

Visit our website to view the entire collection of 100+ HSO digital pamphlets: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/publications/bytown-pamphlets