Lightning strikes, and clair pop-up bookshop is born

Stop me if you've heard this one before: A bookseller, a baristaand a baby walk into a caf...

No, it's not the setup to a jokeor the premise behind a rom-com, but the story of how a chance encounter led to the founding of an intrepid little pop-up bookstore called clair.

When lightning strikes

Our setting is CafOdessa, an intimateneighbourhood hangouton BeaubienStreet in Montreal'sRosemontdistrict.

That's where mother-of-two Chantale Potiewould go to escape the house for a few hours, with hernewborn son Noah in tow.

"I would just stand and, like, rockand drink my coffee when he wasn't crying. It would be a nice break," said Potie, who was on maternity leave at the time.

It wasn't long before othercaf patrons came over cooing to Noah's strollerand started striking up conversations.

But Potie,a lifelong reader and an employee atDrawn & Quarterly, found hermost interesting conversations were with the person behind the counter baristalonoreSchreiber.

"I would come in with a book, and we'd talk about books, and I'd say, 'I want toread more in French; what do you recommend?,'and she would suggest things," said Potie.

Eventually, Potieopenedup about an idea she'dhad two years earlier of launchingher own pop-up bookshop that only sold aselect few,hand-picked titles.

"You walk into a bookstore andsometimes, it can be so overwhelming. There are so many options, and you don't know what's goodand what's not," saidPotie.

An unlikely partnership

Her ideas didn't fall on deaf ears. Schreiber, herself an avid readerwho takes on everything from French poetry to Stephen King's thickesttomes,was eager to see the concept become a reality.

"[Her] youngest kid was stillvery much a baby," said Schreiber,"so it wasn't something she could do right away, but she kept telling me, 'Iwant todo this, Iwant todo this!'"

After long afternoons over countless cups of coffeeand more poking and prodding at the concept, Schreiber made her move.

"I really want to work with you on this," Schreiber says she told Potie.

"I think it aligns with something I would want tobe doing."

"I have no money to pay you," Schreiber says Potie told her.

"I don't care," she replied.

Making it happen together

It's not a typical business partnership,butthe two women have anodd-couple dynamic that works to their advantage.

ThereservedPotiepoured overa two-pagelonglistto select books forthe shop,while Schreiber took careof social media and the shop'swebsite.

"It's a lot of like, going on a terrasse and having a beer lots of craft beer, so, thank you craft beer makers of Quebec, this project is dedicated to you!Or like, going to Chantal's house when her kids are sleepingor refuse to be sleeping," said Schreiber, eliciting laughs from Potie.

For Potie, turning clair from a bucket-list dream to a reality couldn't have happened without Schreiber as a partner. And it all happened by chance, over a mid-afternoon cup of coffee.

"I've had this long career of searching, like a lost little puppy, trying different thingsbut not really finding my path," said Potie.

"I feel like with this project, this is how it's all supposed to culminate like this is what everythingis leading me to."

clair'sfirst pop-up shop launches Nov.2atCafOdessa, 65 BeaubienStreet East. Titles will be on sale at the caf for the whole month of November. More pop-upevents will be planned throughout the year.