HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-12-07, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017.
Scrimgeours look back on nearly 45 years in Blyth
Looking back
It's been five years short of half a century that Lenora and
Don Scrimgeour have been providing meat and/or groceries
for Blyth and the surrounding areas, but the story goes even
further back with Don working locally as early as 1964. The
couple, shown above some time after opening Scrimgeour's
Food Market in 1984, recently sold the grocery store. Don is
shown below shortly after taking over the Blyth Meat Market
in 1973 in a photo that was published in The Blyth
Standard. (Submitted photos)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Come mid-February, Don and
Lenora Scrimgeour will have
officially retired from the grocery
business after nearly 45 years.
The couple started in the industry
locally in 1973 with Don taking over
the Blyth Butcher Shop on the
village's main street. Eleven years
later, the couple opened
Scrimgeour's Food Market at its
current location which they sold to
brothers and business partners
Pragnesh and Krunal Patel last
week.
Looking back on the years in
the industry, both Don and Lenora
say that one thing stands out: the
people.
"We've had a lot of good
employees and a lot of good
memories with those
employees,"Don said, adding that a
lot of the stories bring back smiles
and laughs.
Lenora agreed, saying that, back
when the couple took over the
butcher store and opened up
Scrimgeour's Food Market, times
were different.
"We had a lot of good fun and
things were a bit different back
then," she said.
The two look back on those
memories with great fondness,
saying they built a lot of good
relationships with great people.
"We would dress up for
Halloween and we were always
taking part in the Lions Club
Christmas parties and dinners,"
Lenora said. "There were a lot of
good times."
The two also said that part of what
made having a community store
great was watching people grow in
the village.
"We have had kids that used to
work for us come in and say hello,"
she said. "It really means a lot to us."
Don agreed, saying that as
recently as November there were
people visiting who worked in the
store as teenagers and have since left
the village to find their place in the
world.
"Kerissa van Amersfoort, Herb's
daughter, came to visit us," he said.
"She used to work for us. It's great
seeing people like that."
Lenora said Jeff and Lisa Watson
visited recently, bringing back more
memories of the store and Don
pointed to volunteer firefighter Mike
Pawitch of Blyth who worked at the
store, saying Mike's son had
recently worked there as well.
"Having fathers and sons work
like that is a pretty nice memory," he
said, and Don would know, having
worked with his own children and
grandchildren at the store.
The visits aren't just from
previous staff, as Don explained that
a former driver for a soft drink
company was at the International
Plowing Match earlier this year and
stopped by.
"He said he couldn't be 10
minutes away from Blyth and not
come visit us," Don said laughing.
"Those kinds of connections bring
back good memories."
Staff, delivery drivers and sales
people become like family, Lenora
said, and that extends beyond the in-
store reunions.
"When we gave notice to the staff
about the store being sold, there
were a few tears shed," she said. "It's
like saying goodbye to members of
the family."
Some of the life-long friends the
Scrimgeours have made include
other grocery store owners from
around the area and Lenora said they
still have visits with them.
"We've made some great
friendships over the years," she said,
with Don adding that many of them
came from the grocery store
originally being under the Knechtels
brand.
While Don and Lenora took over
the butcher shop in 1973, their story
started years earlier when, as a
teenager, Don worked in the Blyth
area for Arnold and Jean Berthot
after school before working for Hary
and Doreen McCallum. He left the
area in 1964 to work for the
Dominion chain in London and was
there until 1969, having married
Lenora in 1967. The couple then
moved to the Seaforth area where
Don worked at the IGA store until
1973.
Over the years, the two have met a
lot of people in the grocery business
and they look forward to being able
to continue those relationships after
retiring.
As far as other retirement plans,
Don said that he is looking forward
to putting his feet up.
"Having retirement ahead of me
feels great," he said.
Lenora agreed, saying she will be
happy to have Don at home so they
can enjoy life together after being
career grocery store owners.
The two laughed when explaining
that, for the past 50 years they have
been together 24 hours a day,
working, at home and sleeping and
they were looking forward to
continuing that trend.
As far as plans for their retirement,
the two said they are looking
forward to time with their children
and grandchildren, doing some
travelling across Canada and
routinely eating dinner a lot earlier
than they are currently accustomed
to.
Due to the time involved with
running the store, the two don't
typically sit down to dinner until
most other people have found their
way to bed.
Last week, Don said, he was able
to get home and have dinner at 6
p.m. and get out to see his
grandson's hockey game. Lenora
said she couldn't remember a time
when they had enjoyed dinner so
early on a Friday evening.
Spending time with their
grandchildren will also be
something they look forward to,
though Lenora claimed she might
miss the dichotomy between his
home life and work life through the
Continued on page 9
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