Quebec hobby retailer pushes back against language law, warning rules drive niche products, and customers

A prominent Quebec-based hobby retailer is challenging the province’s strict French-language regulations, warning that the rules, while aimed at protecting francophone identity, are increasingly undermining local businesses by limiting access to niche products and driving customers toward global online competitors.

Imaginaire, a major Quebec-based retail chain, caters to a wide spectrum of hobby enthusiasts, offering everything from Pokémon cards to collectible Matchbox cars, though board games remain its strongest and most consistent source of sales.

Its most formidable rival, however, is not another brick-and-mortar chain but the vast and borderless reach of online retail.


“The hardest part for a retailer these days is competing with the major American online retailers,” said manager Paul Labelle according to CTV News website. “When we don’t have something, the first thing somebody is going to do is look online for it.”

Strict language regulations in Quebec require hobby retailers like Imaginaire to ensure that every product carries bilingual labelling or a French-only equivalent, an obligation that, when unmet, often pushes customers toward unrestricted online alternatives, eroding in-store sales.

“This is an example of a game that we would love to be able to offer in French,” said Labelle. “Unfortunately, the manufacturer doesn’t distribute in French. It hasn’t been translated and localized.”

At Imaginaire, even a common title like Scrabble highlights the issue, if the French version sells out, displaying only the English edition could put the store in breach of regulations.

Calling the regulations overly restrictive, owner Benoit Boyon has launched an online campaign seeking changes to the law.

“I want to protect French,” he says (in French). “But not at the cost of the hobbies.”

“We’re not asking for the impossible, and we’re not asking to be the only one that’s that’s going to be a part,” said Doyon. “We just want to jump in that group of exceptions.”

According to CTV News website, The Office québécois de la langue française maintains that the rules, rooted in Charter of the French Language, have long required retailers to provide French labelling and instructions if a French version of a product is unavailable.