It began with the construction of Canadian Tire, IGA & followed with the first Wal-Mart Canada in the western Laval area.
It now has almost every major department store, restaurant, hundreds of boutiques and two locations open 24 hours.
Given the proximity of Ste-Dorothée to Pierrefonds, Saint-Laurent, the rest of Montreal and major highways, it was only a matter of time that it would be developed.
A small seasonal cable ferry carries cars across the Rivière des Prairies from Sainte-Dorothée to Île Bizard (part of Montreal).
[1] Sainte-Dorothée is delimited west by Laval-sur-le-Lac, north-west by Laval-Ouest, north-east by Fabreville, east by Chomedey and south by the Rivière des Prairies and Îles Laval.