The Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-03-12, Page 5Cute s grocery
from page 1
As the Signal -Star described the location
in an article announcing the grand open-
ing: "Located on Victoria Street near the
entrance to the million dollar bridge being
built over the Maitland River, the store is
expected to serve many tourists passing
through Goderich enroute to summer
resorts north of here."
It was an "ultra smart" 'modern store,
quite a change from the old grocery store
with its counter that ran the length of the
store where the farm women sat on stools
when they brought in their butter on Satur-
day night and the men gathered around the
wood stove to talk. •
"A lot of politicing went on around that
stove," says Max. In the wintertime, they
kept the store open at night and the skaters
From the natural rink in the park across
the street came into the store to change
their skates and warm up in front of the
stove.
As a kid during the depression days,
Max can remember people had no money
so on Saturday night when they came to
town, all they had were relief vouchers and
the big thing was to get a plug o' tobacco on
a voucher.
Farm women would bring•in the butter
on a Saturday night and it was stored on
the cellar floor which had been scrubbed
white with lye. At certain times of the
year, the butter business was an 'in and
out" business, says Max. If the cows were
being fed. turnips, the taste of the butter
would be off but the grocer had to buy the
butter, anyway. They brought it in the
front door and threw it out the back, so to
speak, says Max.
Goose was the Christmas bird. Turkey
was practically unknown. Bananas were
bought by the hand instead of the bunch.
The grocer cut as many as 40 to 50 bunches
and hung them up to wait for them to
rinpn ` flrracinnally vnu'd find a tropical
creature in among the bananas, like a
banana rat, and you'd have to chase them
down," laughs Max.
It was mostly a phone order business in
those days with staff doing up 100 orders
which had to be delivered before noon. "It
meant for busy mornings, but service was
what ,they Wanted in those days," says
Max. 1•
Max and. Florence have been active in •
the community despite their demanding
business and the long hours „tey spent
working. Max was commanding officer for
the Maitland Air Cadets for 10 years and
on the staff with the cadets for more than
12 years. He is a past president of the
Jaycees and was secretary and treasurer
of the Kinsmen Club. He served on the
town's industrial and tourist promotion
committees for more than 20 years and
was chairman of the Goderich Ses-
quicentennial co-ordinating committee.
Florence has been president of the
Kinettes, the Jaycettes, the K-ettes and the
Curling Club as well as Regent of the
Ahmeek Chapter of the IODE.
They had three children who all helped
out in the store as they were growing up.
Florence can remember ,,when the
• youngest boy was helping to pack
groceries at the end of the, counter, when
'he reached- nto the bottom of the bag, he
almost,disappeared.inside the bag, he was
so small.
It's been a busy life but Max wonders if
retirement will be any different. Retired
only a week, he has been so busy he
wonders where he found the time to work.
For now, he and Florence plan to travel.
They have visited exotic places such as Sri
Lanka, the Orient, Figi and Morocco and
are returning to Portugal for a three .week
vacation leaving Sunday.
Industrial land
authorized for
�.1 1.. _ _ A. owl.ni 1
bale 031
l;vun�.��
A two acre parcel of industrial land, with
one acre fronting the north side of Sun -
coast Drive has been authorized for sale by
Goderich council to Donald C. Johnston, in
trust.
The parcel, loeated near Suncoast Drive
and Walnut Street, will cost $20,000 per
- acre fronting Suncoast and $7500 per acre
in the industrial. park for a total of $27,500.
The by-law authorizing the sale directs
that funds derived from the sale be placed
in the Suncoast Extension reserve and that
the necessary engineering be carried out.
The by-law was 'discussed in closed ses-
sion.
Donald Johnston said he can't say until
the end of March what the land will be used
for and is holding the land in trust until a
company forms.
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00 the r' t rt
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Insurance Services
GODERICH:
31 West Street. 524 2138
UFE•HOME•AUTO•COMMERCIAL•FARM TRAVEL
tiODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1986 --PAGE 5
GODERICH LITTLE
THEATRE
For Our Third & Final Play of the Season
"BAREFOOT
in the PARK"
Written by Neil Sirnon Directed by June Hill
Parts For:
2 ADULT MALES approx. 25m30 yrs.
1 ADULT FEMALE approx.20.25 yrs.
Auditions to be held at the Livery (South St,)
Wednesday, March 12 7:30 p®me
Sunday March 16 2:00 p.me
Everyone Welcome! - We Encourage Newcomers!
9
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1 \'ear 34 ® 87 °'°
Average Annual Return
3 \'.e a r Average Annual Return 33 .1 0 %
5 Year Average Annual Beturn 18 , 03°"°
1 OYe a r Average Annual Returr.1 7 . 77 %
Results from December 31, 1975 to December 31, 1985.
Past returns cannot be construed as a guarantee of future performance.
Available through:
INVESTMENTS
Et INSURANCE AGENCY LTD.
LOCAL CALLS T-8OLL00-26FREE5-5CAL5.0LS3
53 WEST ST., GODERICH 1
524-2773
fr
BIG MAC
ELBTION
oin the celebration -
beginriing, Monday, March 17th thru to store closing on Sunday,
March 23rd, 1986. LIMIT - Five per customer.
AVAILABLE AT PARTICIPATING McDONALD'S
RESTAURANTS IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO
IT'S A GOOD TIME
FOR THE GREAT TASTE
PlinimmceDonalcrs