PORTUGAL IMPORTS

Portugal Imports was founded as a wholesale business in 1972 by the husband and wife team of Manuel and Leonor Cardoso. Leonor came from a large family, her father was a carpenter and had several shops in Fatima, Portugal. The shops were run by the children and Leonor began helping her older siblings in the shops as a young child. By the time she was a teenager she was managing one of the family's souvenir shops... Portugal Imports is a small wholesale family business focusing on hand made and hand painted products from Portugal... Manuel grew up about 40km from Fatima, in Calvaria. He began working in a souvenir shop in Fatima when he was 12. Although he was still a child, he would travel the winding road to and from work every morning and every night on his scooter. Manuel always had dreams of going overseas and making it big. Manuel met Leonor while they both worked in the touristy town of Fatima. Manuel immigrated to Canada from Portugal in 1964, and continued a long distance..

Primary location: London Canada