Rue Sainte-Catherine (English: Saint Catherine Street) is the primary commercial artery of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the central business district from west to east, beginning at the corner of avenue Claremont and boulevard De Maisonneuve in the city of Westmount, traversing the borough of Ville-Marie, and ending on rue Notre-Dame Est just east of rue Viau in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
The street runs parallel to the largest segments of Montreal's underground city. The series of interconnected office tower basements and shopping complexes that make up this main thoroughfare lie immediately north of the street.
Educational institutions located on or near the street include Concordia University, McGill University, Université du Québec à Montréal, Dawson College and LaSalle College.
A general view of downtown rue Sainte-Catherine.
Morgan's on rue Sainte-Catherine, 1890.
Rue Sainte-Catherine has been home to many of Montreal's prominent department stores, including such former retailers as Eaton's, Morgan's, Simpson's and Dupuis Freres. Today, the Morgan's building is home to Hudson's Bay Company, which acquired Morgan's in 1960. The Simpson's building is now shared by the La Maison Simons department store and a multiplex cinema, while Eaton's was converted to the Complexe Les Ailes. Dupuis Frères, located further east at Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Hubert, is now a shopping mall and office complex
The Ogilvy's department store remains a fixture on Sainte-Catherine, although it is now a collection of boutiques rather than a single store.
Other major retailers along the street including an Apple Store, Indigo Books and Music, Chapters, HMV Group, Archambault, La Senza, Future Shop, Roots, Adidas, Puma, Guess, Parasuco, Zara, Mango and an H&M flagship store at the corner of Peel and Sainte-Catherine. Additionally, many of Montreal's most prominent shopping complexes, including the Centre Eaton, Complexe Les Ailes, Place Montreal Trust, Promenades Cathédrale, les Cours Mont-Royal (a high fashion shopping mall), the Complexe Desjardins, Place Dupuis, Place Alexis Nihon, the Faubourg Sainte-Catherine and Westmount Square are all located along the street.
The Montreal Forum, once home to the Montreal Canadiens, is also located on rue Sainte-Catherine at Atwater Street. It has since been turned into a shopping and movie theatre complex called the Pepsi Forum. Due to the Forum's presence on this street, Sainte-Catherine was used as the parade route whenever the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. This was once referred to as the usual route by Mayor Jean Drapeau, during the Canadiens' dynasties of the mid-century, when a win would occur quite frequently.
The segment in the district of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is also an important commercial area in that neighbourhood.
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