Meeting with Yanick
When you enter the Dactylographe VR shop. what you notice right away are the large commercial printers in the entryway. The repair and sale of this type of machinery occupies the majority of the company's employees' time; but it's behind the counter that the magic happens...
It was Serge, Yanick's father, who started his business in 1974. Initially in the west of the city, he chose to move it to the east, explains Yanick: "We've been here since 1984, before we was corner Jarry-Viau.” Serge then bequeathed his know-how to his son who now runs the shop: "It's a family business, we've been in business for 47 years!" Yanick tells us. Here, the employees are also loyal to the job; for almost 40 years, and it shows in the good-natured atmosphere that reigns between them.
The owner diligently shows us a few typewriters behind the counter: "That's a 1970, here an 1800 and there an 1900," he explains with precision. But the question we ask ourselves is “who still uses typists today?” According to him, people from all walks of life: “People from 10 to 80 years old! With the pandemic, many young people wanted to know what the typewriter is, there is a special attraction. In addition to that, Yanick adds that his typewriters were also used as set props in Maurice Richard's film a few years ago.
He then invites us to go down to the basement where there are whole rows full of old typing machines, printers and parts to be recycled. It's a bit of a workshop, it's here that employees repair and clean printers and refurbish typists. Today, typing machines have almost disappeared from the landscape, VR Typing. being in the last companies to repair it - if not the last: “10 years ago we said to ourselves that we had 10 years left. And in the end, we still tell ourselves that we have 10 years left!” laughs Yanick. Indeed, he seems to have a renewed interest in this century-old object. “At the moment there is a buzz with typists, young people want to know what it is. It’s the same thing with VHS and records are coming back into fashion.”
