The Neighbourhood 'Corner' Stores & the Good Old A&P

There were four neighbourhood 'corner' stores as we called them in walking distance.  Two were actually built on the corner of two streets; Machar Avenue at Cornwall and Dufferin at Secord Street.  The other two were located on the main thoroughfare of Algoma Street.  Now the most important feature of a corner store, for a child, is its supply of candy, pop, chips and ice cream and these stores had it all.

The best store to get my coke (glass bottle) and chips was at the Cornwall Avenue/Machar Avenue store. On the weeks that Mom gave me a dime, I would always manage to find a few more pennies so that I could go get my 7 cent coke and 5 cent bag of Old Dutch or Humpty Dumpty plain salted potato chips.  The only flavour of chip in the early sixties was plain salted, but boy were they good.  My sibling would save the empty potato chip bags in a box to send to the Old Dutch Company for prizes.  I was happy to oblige as there was nothing I enjoyed more than eating all the chips that I could afford.  Some time later the next flavour to come out on the market was Salt and Vinegar.  Although I didn't really like the taste much; I would buy them on occasion because it was the 'latest' flavour.  When Barbeque hit the market; it was heaven.  The Old Dutch Company originated in Minnesota and due to demand on this side of the border, opened a factory in Manitoba in 1954 to serve the Canadian customers.

One of the stores on Algoma Street had an elderly Italian man who would sit on a stool as you pointed to which candies you wanted in your bag.  He would carefully open up the small paper bag and I would let him know that I wanted 2 cents worth of the little red ones or 5 cents worth of the orange ones (usually jujubes) and so forth.  Usually it meant that for one penny you could get 2 of a kind and so on.  One of my very favourites was this crunchy toffee bar that was yellowish in colour and it cost a whopping nickel.  I would either open the plastic cover to bite off a piece or then I would break it off with my fingers and save the rest for later.  Another favourite was the 'snowball' which consisted of soft marshmallow inside covered by chocolate and coconut flakes.  It had to be fresh or it was not satisfying.  This last craving managed to use up most of my candy money.  Cigarette smoking was fashionable back in the 60's so sometimes we would buy a 5 cent box of candy cigarettes.  We would pretend to smoke them for a bit, but they served a better purpose in our stomach.  I was never a big fan of cinnamon, but I do recall that some of my friends loved sucking the cinnamon covered toothpicks.

A&P on Court Street where the Renco Food Store is now located was the neighbourhood grocery store of choice.  Often I would run errands for my parents to pick up potatoes, bread, milk and perhaps an onion or two.  Mom knew exactly how much cash to place in my hand and I always knew not to buy anything extra.  I would run down the alley behind the tire store stopping to throw pebbles in a mud puddle or pet a cat wandering my way.  One day I was returning along this same alley with a bag of bread swinging it with all my might around in circles like a windmill.  The bottom of the bag burst and the slices of bread scattered here and there.  I didn't panic instead I quickly scooped them up one by one brushing the dirt off them and placed them back in the bag.  I'm sure I didn't tell my mother and no one noticed anything different about the bread when it was toasted the next morning for breakfast. 

Another very popular grocery store was located in the middle block of Bay Street.  The store was called Bay Meats and had a very good selection of meats.  One of my errands was to run and buy ground beef for the evening meal of delicious meatballs, gravy and potatoes.  Back then we did not have a freezer so food was not purchased in bulk and numerous trips to the store were common place.  Mom worked 6 days a week so our help was expected whenever it was possible. I remember how the meat counter attendants would smile when I, all of 3 feet tall, would walk in and announce that I wanted one pound of the 'better' ground beef.  Basically it was the leaner ground beef, but I had heard my mother call it 'better' so that is what I requested.

The store on the corner of Dufferin, Machar Avenue and one of the stores on Algoma Street closed down possibly in the late 70's.  The A&P is now Renco on Court Street, Bay Quality Meats is still on Bay Street, but under new ownership and Folino's Superette on Algoma Street has expanded to the lot where the elderly Italian man's store stood. 








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