Jamil cheaib biography of williams county

When the third-largest Canadian food retailer seeks to acquire a Lebanese supermarket in a Canadian province, and is willing to pay millions of dollars for it, it tells you only one thing: That Lebanese supermarket is the best and most successful in the province, and not just as an ethnic supermarket. It started as a very small 93 m2 food store at a corner of a street in Montreal.

Sons of the Lebanese coastal town of Damour, the Cheaib brothers and their friend George Ghrayeb lived their first years in Montreal in a very small apartment, barely furnished with three mattresses, a table, and a fridge. They opened their small store under the apartment, providing Lebanese ingredients to the Lebanese community and the Middle-Easterns.

Entrepreneurs at heart and with a sharp mind for business, they started developing the idea of introducing Lebanese culture to the new world and trading Lebanese food in Canada. Their vision would come to gradually materialize, and quicker than expected.

Jamil and Elie Cheaib are Lebanese-Canadian entrepreneurs based in Montreal.

By , the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean communities increased exponentially in Montreal, and the three partners decided to expand in order to meet the demands of their increasing regular customers. They expanded by enlarging the warehouse, turning the store into a space of m2. In no time, the expansion of their store became synonymous with success.

The three partners thought even bigger and went for a more strategic location and a much larger store to service even larger areas. The same year, they opened a new branch of about m2 in the district of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Montreal. In addition to their meat, poultry, and fish counters, their shelves are filled with products carrying the labels of Lebanese importers from our homeland: Olives, extra-virgin olive oil, tahini, debs molasses , rose water, halewe , dry zaatar mix, canned foods, and you name it.

Lebanese labels are there in abundance to speak of Lebanon in Montreal.

In brothers, Elie and Jamil Cheaib arrived in Montreal with their friend Georges Ghrayeb.

Grosso modo, stepping inside an Adonis supermarket in Montreal is like entering a Lebanese food embassy. When the famous Target retailer closed down in the Gatineau region, at the edge of the Canadian capital of Ottawa, the three partners did not hesitate. They took the massive store and opened another Adonis branch. By then, Metro Inc, which is the third-largest Canadian food retailer with locations between Quebec and Ontario, approached the Cheaib brothers and their partner Ghrayeb with a proposal of acquisition.