![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/wp-content\/uploads\/storefront.jpg\" "\\"storefront\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nDiane Gravelle poses with the cardboard cut-out of her husband, the Beer King, in front of their Aylmer d\u00e9panneur.<\/p>\n
The two embraced the name and \u201cit just boomed after that,\u201d Diane said. Now a cardboard cut out of the king himself stands outside the store to advertise weekly specials.<\/p>\n
Diane said the depanneur \u2013 or Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois convenience store – has been in her husband\u2019s family for 50 years. She and her husband took over the store, which included a large butcher shop in the back, from Denis\u2019 parents about 27 years ago.<\/p>\n
They decided to extend the store hours to attract business \u2013 and it worked. Within four years, they ditched the butcher shop at the back of the store to make more room to store and sell beer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started to open seven days a week from eight in the morning to 11 at night. […] In those days it was a different lifestyle.<\/p>\n
The big stores weren\u2019t opened on Sundays. It was different,\u201d Gravelle said.<\/p>\n
The store continues to grow. Just three years ago they added a second walk-in beer fridge to the building.<\/p>\n
Business model <\/span><\/p>\n The Gravelle\u2019s business model involves selling cases of beer at the lowest legal price, or close to it, in very high volumes. \u201cI make less profit. But in the long run, the more I sell the better it is for me,\u201d Diane said.<\/p>\n She estimated that the store sells more than 100,000 cases of Labatt and 100,000 cases Molson beers each year.<\/p>\n