The Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-04-19, Page 1Sc.Augustine Store will close •
The country stores which sold
everything from ' long johns to
fresh apple cider to nuts and bolts
and shovels are few and far
between.- The urban areas have
seen their local general store
replaced by Beckers and Mac's
Milk and it is only in the rural
areas, miles from a city, that the
country store can still be found in
a tiny corner village.
But, an inability to compete
with the prices of the grocery and
hardware chains in the nearby
large town and the refusal by the
distributors and wholesalers to
make delivery, is causing the
country store to close for the final
time.
The St, Augustine store is
holding a "Going out of business
sale" and its owners, Glenn and
Margaret McConnell, have mixed
feelings about closing the busi-
ness they have operated for the
past five years.
They enjoy owning and operat-
ing a small business they moved
from Shelburne to buy. They live
the friendly people they have
come to know since moving here,
and their children like it so well,
they will likely remain in the
community after they close the
store. They would like to sell the
store and if they do they will buy a
house and perhaps, some proper-
ty in the area but, if they cannot
'sell the store, they plan to. live in
the house and convert the
storefront to living quarters.
The McConnells have found
that their business is too small to
encourage delivery from whole-
salers ant distributors, When
they first took over the store, milk
was delivered twice a week and
then it was changed to delivery
once a week and now the dairy
wants them to drive into Goderich
and pick up the milk.
The straw that broke the
camel's back was McCormack's
decision • not. to make delivery
unless there was an order of $150,
"An order of biscuits, that large,
would last for almost a year,"
$10 A Year In Advance $14 To U.S.A. mid Foreign
says Margaret.
If all the people in the store's
area would shop there for their
groceries, the business would do
well, says Margaret, but people
would rather drive to Goderich
where the prices are cheaper and
the selection larger.
There are no regular shoppers
at the store. People use it as a
convenience store for things they
forgot to buy in town or when they
want to charge something, Some
still use the store as a bank to
cash a cheque.
The St. Augustine store has
been closed Saturday and open
Sunday because the people in the
area appreciated the service .,on
Sunday when other places are
closed,
It will be a change . for
Margaret, who has operated the
store while her husband works
out, She has been tied . to the
house by the store but plans to
find a job after the store closes.
They had hoped -when they
moved to St, Augustine that the
store would provide their liveli-
hood, but Glenn has worked out
since the fourth month after they
took over the business.
There is the possibility that the
future will re-create a depend-'
ence on the local general store as
gasoline and oil .prices make it too
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
L
WEDNESDAY, _-APRIL ..1.9.,.....1978.
Hamilton's resignation
not accepted -by council
Lucknow Village Council decid- the vacancy left by milton,
ed at their regular monthly since, according to the Municipal
meeting on Tuesday, April 11, Act, a council can continue .with
1978, that they would not accept
only three counsillors and the
the resignation of Councillor Wm. reeve until the next election.
(Bud) Hamilton until he has
'missed three consecutive council
meetings.
Council is not obligated tO, Mill
'v t
LangsideDistributors
Council decided to prpcee
three councillors until thee,
ioal election this fall. \--`
with •
Siagl„e...Copy 25.,..,,; 28 PAGES
arteto Guelph ire
After 10 years of serving
farmers from their locations near
Lucknow, Ontario, Langside Dis-
tributors have chosen to move to a
more central location near
Guelph.
President John Green said the
move was prompted by a need for
more warehouse space. "At the
same time, since we had to build
anyhow, , we . decided that the
more central Guelph area location
would let us service our custom-
ers better and reduce shipping
costs."
•
The questions to be submitted
for the vote include:
- Are you in favour of the sale of
spirits, ,beer and wine under a
dining lounge licence for con-
sumption on licensed premises
where food . is available?
- Are you. in favour of the sale of
spirits, beer and wine under a
lounge licence for consumption on
licensed premises?
- Are you in favour of the sale of
spirits, beer and wine under an
entertainment lounge licence for
consumption on licensed premis-
es?
Liquor vote in Ashfield.
to decide dry_ or wet status
A liquor vote to change the
status of Ashfield Township from
dry to wet will be held on
Monday, May 29, 1978.
The vote was initiated by a
petition signed by 25% of the
qualified electors living in the
municipality which was presented
to the township council. •
The vote under the liquor
licence act of 1975 will change the
status of the municipality only
upon the vote of 60% of the
electors who actually vote on
questions that are set out in the
ballot.
The new warehouse will be
ready for partial occupancy by the
end of April and the move will be
fully completed by early summer.
The facility is on, a 15 acre parcel
of land at the corner of Conces-
sion 5 and the 15th sideroad of
West Garafraxa Township, not
farm from the Belwood Dam.
Langside Distributors are well
known to farmers for their lines of
hog, cattle and sheep equipment,
general merchandise and, the
Langside specialty, electric fenc-
ing supplies.
Prizes! Prizes! Prizes!
..�.,
Yes! 150 of them, (for all ages)
must be won in the exciting new
"SPOT THE MERCHANTS"
contest feature which will start in
next week's Sentinel and run for 6
weeks.
All you have to do is to identify
the merchant's photographs that
are published each week, patron-
ize the local businesses that are
co -sponsoring the contest, obtain
entry forms from them and drop
them in the ballot box located in
the LUCKNOW SENTINEL of-
fice.
This family fun contest is open
to readers of all ages and there is
NO LIMIT to the number of prizes
a person can win,
The following is a partial list of
the business places that will have
the official contest entry forms to
give. to their customers and all
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
Tim Hecker, a grade three student -at Lucknow Central Public, pins up a Japanese warrior to add to the
wall mural on Lands Around the World, completed by the grade two and three classes for display at the
Open House and Achievement Night at the . school last Wednesday. A large turnout of parents and
grandparents came to see the work completed by the students for display and to learn about the
children's progress this year.
[Sentinel staff photo]