J.H. Menzies could be considered the first man to invest in a commercial venture. In 1877, he grew a vineyard and built cottages to create a summer resort. Then Frank Upton bought the Grove in 1891 to convert it into a hotel. Subsequently Camille Legault built the Reliance Hotel on Saint-Charles in 1905. Legault and Pilon families erected also a post office, a tavern and rental apartments around where the Beaconsfield Shopping Centre is today. A lumberyard is also nearby. In 1924, R. Gilbert was given a permit to open a gas station at 244 Beaconsfield Blvd.

The Beaconsfield Shopping Centre was official opened on May 11, 1961, almost two years after the building of its first store, the Steinberg food market.

Another shopping plaza was built on Saint-Charles in the 1970s on a lot sold by the Fabrique of the Parish of St. Edmond of Canterbury.

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