Customers are hooked on Bernadette Robichaud’s business. The Porters Lake, N.S., woman, known as The Fish Lady, began selling seafood in 2019. “We had been coming back from a trip down West Pubnico where we have some great friends and the fishing industries is huge down there. I’ve always wanted to run my own business and do something and I said to my husband on the way home, ‘I want to sell fish,’” said Robichaud. “I always wanted to do something and dabbled with different little things. But when I turned 50, I just wanted to make a change in my life. This was it.” The business began with Robichaud selling out of the back of her car. Soon after, because of the demand for her product, she invested in a trailer. “It’s just been growing ever since. The customers are awesome, and we’ve got our regulars. We like to keep a community feeling to it,” she said. Robichaud says 90 per cent of her products are from Atlantic Canada. “The halibut sometimes I get from Sambro, sometimes it’s through Digby. I carry Atlantic salmon; that’s from New Brunswick. I carry fish cakes from P.E.I. and I carry mussels from Newfoundland. So, I made sure I have all the Atlantic provinces covered,” she said. “(The customers) like it because they know they’re supporting local. They’re supporting us. They’re also supporting the local fishermen as well.” Robichaud says she has her customers to thank for her success. “I never in my wildest dreams dreamt that we’d be selling at the capacity that we are now. It’s the customers that are doing it. They’re awesome and we love servicing them.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
