In 1968, the Katsoulis family opened its first fish market the Van Horne Fish Market. The founder, Mr. Kosta, is the first fishmonger to import fresh fish and seafood from the east coast of Canada, the United States, the Great Lakes and regions directly into Montreal several times a week. Mr Kosta and his co-founders, his sister Mrs Diana and his brother Mr Tassy, transformed the seafood business in Montreal by constantly innovating their product offering, logistics and marketing of fresh and local marine products at their fish shop. They became renowned for the quality, diversity and incomparable freshness of their products, and the growing business required an expansion of the premises.
In July 1976, on the way back from a family vacation, Mr Kosta stopped at the foot of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge to announce to his family the purchase of the building that would become, ten years later, the first fish and seafood centre in Montreal: La Reine de La Mer. Bringing together a fish market, wholesale distribution centre and a seafood restaurant under one roof, La Mer continued to expand with the successive opening of several subsidiaries in Montreal, Toronto, and Florida under the banner Groupe La Mer.
Today, almost 50 years later, Poissonnerie La Mer is owned by Mrs Helen Katsoulis, the eldest daughter of Mr Kosta. She is assisted by her husband and Montreal's fish expert, Mr. John, and a loyal and passionate team. We are both a market open to the public, an online fish market, a wholesaler and a distributor. We are continually searching for exceptional products from Quebec, Canada and all the world's oceans. We have maintained relationships with trusted suppliers who share our values, quality standards and eco-responsibility principles for several decades, which allows us to offer our customers the best products from the sea. An iconic Montreal company, La Mer's mission has always been to provide the public with the greatest diversity of fresh products on the market.