History

In 1988, Presse Commerce was born out of a desire to provide Canadian waiting rooms with quality publications while allowing select publishers to increase their readership, subscriptions, and newsstand sales and, through all of this, their visibility. Presse Commerce therefore collects over 2,000,000 unsold magazines annually and redistributes them to more than 13,000 waiting rooms across Canada, giving magazines that were headed to the shredder for recycling, a second life. In addition, they purchased 3 (three) magazine retail outlets under the name of Presse Boutique.

To add to the companies activities, 3 (three) Multimags® were purchased in 1989 which was a natural extension of the company. The acquisition of these magazine retail outlets brought the total to 6 (six) with the previous purchase of the Presse Boutique outlets which were officially renamed to Multimags® in June 1993.

In 1990, Presse Commerce expanded its operations by creating the Presse Commerce Chain, which today has more than 300 magazine retailers. The role of Presse Commerce is to provide management and development tools to retailers who share our passion, with marketing of magazines and newspapers. In addition, our close collaboration with publishers allowed us personalized promotion of magazines.

Having established itself in Montreal, Quebec City proved to be the perfect location for Presse Commerce to continue its expansion. In 1999, The Company purchased the Jac & Gil® outlets, which were already a part of the Presse Commerce Chain and which had enamoured the citizens of the National Capital for over twenty years. Presse Commerce decided not to change the name, as it was an established name in the industry. There are 4 (four) Jac & Gil locations in Quebec City.

In 2003, Presse Commerce diversified into toy distribution across Canada, with the creation of the Presse Commerce Distribution division (D’Artagnan Distribution). The activities of Presse Commerce Distribution are concentrated around the resale of goods to a network of retailers specializing in the world of toys and hobbies. Presse Commerce Distribution offers mainly exclusive product lines in Canada. In particular; Papo figurines, high-end wooden toys from Le Toy Van, Deglingos plush toys and Lion Touch costumes.

In 2014, Presse Commerce acquired Librairie Clio, an independent English-language accredited bookstore located in Pointe-Claire on the west of the island of Montreal. It carries a large selection of novels, non-fiction, classics, children’s books, as well as a large selection of previously published titles. It also offers a wonderful selection of greeting cards, stationery and gifts for both children and adults.

2016 saw Presse Commerce acquire Express Mag, a specialist in subscriptions of international and specialized magazines, which delivers to homes across North America. Express Mag manages nearly 500 international titles, with a portfolio of more than 100 titles exclusively in North America including Paris Match, Psychologie, Pianist and Daphne’s Diary.

Most recently, Presse Commerce acquired Librairie Charbourg in 2018. Located in Carrefour Charlesbourg for 27 years, Librairie Charbourg offers a warm and inviting atmosphere, conducive to reading and exploring. It is a supplier to public and school libraries in the National Capital and accredited by the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications. Presse Commerce continues to act with rigor in all of its current activities, and will continue so in the future, at all levels of the company. By being very careful with profitability as well as with the quality of the products and services offered, it will allow the company to be solidly positioned for the future and to ensure the sustainability of the business.