Lena's Grocery - Hank's Variety Store, White Point Road, Liverpool, N.S.

Mr. E. E. B. Wolfe was probably the first owner/operator of a little convenience store on this location. He lived beside the store in the house to the left, up on the hill. Lena Smith owned and operated the store after Mr. Wolfe and in November 1962 she opened up a new modern store on the same spot.  Lena and her sister Flossie, ran the store for years. I shopped there as did my mom when she was a young girl. Lena and Flossie were well known because of the hand made crocheted items they made and sold. Crocheted dogs that you could stuff and roll of toilet tissue inside, or crocheted dogs that went over door knobs are just 2 things I recall and they would be proudly displayed in the store windows. My mom remembers buying individual cigarettes from Lena's store back in the 1960s for a few cents each. One time Lena and a few old ladies were on their way home from bingo in Milton and their car broke down. My dad stopped to assist and called their friends or family to come pick them up and take them home. From that day on dad never paid full price for anything in the store. Lena never forget the kind man who stopped and help them. Lena Smith died in 1979 and Flossie continued to run the store for a short time. She didn't seem as friendly as Lena and I remember Flossie had a bit of a hump on her back or something - perhaps other readers can comment on this. I don't think Flossie was a woman to mess with. One time a local guy went in to rob her and said he had a gun but Flossie wouldn't give him a thing. She put the run to him and he fled without a thing. Flossie sold the store to Arnold Stafford who operated it for a short time before selling it to Henry and Ann Gibson and the name changed to Hank's Variety Store. Some renovations were done and a soft ice cream machine added and for the first time ice cream cakes were for sale in Liverpool. The Gibson's sold it to Fred Baker who operated it for a few years and then sold it. The store has been closed for the last few years.

The Liverpool Salvation Army

Liverpool Salvation Army on Court Street

The Salvation Army has been in the Liverpool area for over 100 years but it wasn't always where it is located today. The first location, that I know of, was on the corner Court Street and Church Street, where the home of Stella Wharton (now owned by Kathryn Killam) is located. Sometime in the 1920's it moved to the Main Street location. Anyone around my age (40s) would remember the old Salvation Army building. I went there as a kid until I was about 13 and my mom went there too when she was young. It was located on the same property as present one, only it was out closer to the street in the corner of the land at Main and Summer Streets. Next to the building was a gravel parking lot used by workers at the Liverpool IGA which was across the street. There had actually been a house where this parking lot was. Way back when, long before my time, this house was the home of a Mr John Johnson, a scottish guy who had a small building next door where he operated a tailoring business. That little shop was taken down and a larger building was erected. It was a store for a short time owned by J. C. Inness (have a picture here somewhere) but later became the new home of the Salvation Army and the Johnson house was the residence of the Salvation Army minister. The house was demolished in 1965 and when I went to the Salvation Army the minister lived upstairs in the Army building. The old building was showing it's age when I attended - don't think it had much for insulation, seemed pretty cool in there some days but the place would be jam packed every weekend. Who could ever forget the familiar faces there like Thelma Thorburne, Marguerite Farmer, Betty Whynott, Hilda

Minister's residence & Salvation Army on Main Street

Parnell,  and most popular of all was Grace Thorburne. As ministers would come and go, Grace was the familiar face of the Liverpool Salvation Army. She worked hard for that place and always encouraged the young kids to attend. Things got so busy during the years that I attended, that they purchased a school bus to pick everyone up. Harold Eisnor was the driver and the fun of being on the bus just added to the fun of going to church. Garland Foote and  Eric Deveau were ministers there when I attended and it was sad to see when both families left to go to a new location. Eric Deveau played the bango and myself and my cousin Viv played guitar every Sunday. We held rock-a-thons to raise money, we had a youth group, the women had their women's prayer group plus the Sunday afternoon and evening services - it was a busy place. In May 1991, the old Salvation Army was demolished and a new building constructed and is still in use today.

Salvation Army at the corner of Main & Summer Streets

Demolition of the Liverpool Salvation Army 1991

Building the new Liverpool Salvation Army

Inside the old Salvation Army - demolished in 1991.

Found it - JC Inness Store later the Salvation Army

The New Liverpool Salvation Army

Veinot's Footwear - 195 Main Street, Liverpool, N.S.

The corner of Main Street and Jubilee Street has been the home of a shoe store as long as most of us can remember. The building was constructed after 1895, the year of the big fire which destroyed most of Liverpool's downtown. Before the fire, the London Fruit Store was situated on that corner.  In my postcard collection I have a postcard for a shoe store owned by H. E. Buchanan and it reads that his shop was across from the Post Office...perhaps he was the first shoe store owner at the location. However I do know that Longley H. Veinot opened the shoe store around 1934 and continued the business until 1961. Arthur Robart, Ted Emenau and Keith Wyer purchased it in 1961 and owned it until Fred Lohnes bought it about 25 years ago from Ted and Keith. Back in the day, the building was a beauty, with windows on the second and third floors and an awning that stretched out over the sidewalk but could be rolled up when the shop closed. The windows were covered with siding in the 1970s so the building lost a lot of it's character. Fred Lohnes is a fixture on that corner. If he's not inside the shop, he's out on the sidewalk chatting or watching the sites. Other than the 25 years that he's owned Veinots Footwear, I believe that he's worked there for a very long time. I do have a photo of the previous building taken before 1895 and will add it when I locate it.

Liverpool Advance March 28,1957

Taken in January 1977 - repairing damage done from snow and ice.

Mrs O's Candy Store, Main Street, Liverpool, N.S.

I received a message from Valerie Wamboldt, asking what I knew about Mrs. O's candy story. Unfortunately I really dont know a lot but thought I'd offer my thoughts and hope others can add to it. Around 1900 the location was H.R. Putnam's Jewelry store as shown in the photo. In my younger days it was Campbell's Jewelry store and I do recall walking by but never going in. It always seems small and cluttered much unlike Howard's Jewelry store just down the street which was so beautiful inside. Upstairs was the office of Lawyer Richardson, a big man who loved to chain smoke. I can still see him walking down the street, smoking of course, with both hands pointed out as he walked. He seemed to be a bit of an unusual character but I didn't know him personally. Campbell's Jewelry store eventually moved across the street to where John Henley's office is now and I do remember going in there. Wendy (Wyer) Hazeldine worked there, maybe ran the place, I'm not really sure on that. The new location was very nice as I recall with lots of jewelry, giftware, clocks, etc. After Campbell's moved the original place was renovated and a small store opened, selling candy, cigarettes, etc but I dont remember going in it more than once or twice. I have no idea who owned it but seems to me it wasn't always called Mrs O's. Did it have another name first and later became Mrs O's or am I losing it? Valerie worked there as did Susan Benedict and I think Todd Wefer did too. For those of you who can't recall where this was located, it was in the building between Scotia Bank and Veinot's Footwear. The building has been vacant for many years, which is a shame since it's a great location on Main Street.

I recently found an article from the Liverpool Advance dated September 9,1970 titled "Campbell's Jewelry Changes Hands". The articles says the store was owned by Mrs. Eugene Lohnes but had been sold to Arthur Robart at that time. In one of my other stories on my blog, Arthur Robart was also part owner of Veinot's Footwear.

The Liverpool IGA

 The Liverpool IGA was built around 1960 replacing the Riverside Inn which had been on the property for many years. I don't have a lot of memories of this place when I was really young but do recall as a young teen, Harley Umphrey being owner/manager. I didn't know Harley personally but had always heard great things about the guy. It was a really busy place and people had said it was because of Harley being such a good businessman as well as very personable to his customers. When renovations were completed here around the late 1970s, an instore bakery was added and there was a counter constructed by the second doors and it was almost like a bank was in the IGA. Workers from Bowaters, Stenpro, Mersey Seafoods and more would line up waiting to get their cheques cashed so they could purchase groceries here. My aunt Sherri Roy worked here in the meat department along with Ricky Whynot and Bob Parnell. On the front cash was Louise Fralic, Rose Jones, and Gail Wells just to name a few. Gail was a sweet lady and always so good to everyone, especially us kids. She was a short, chubby lady and as kind as a kitten. Of course Merrill Whynot worked there for years too, his friendliness and sense of humor you wouldn't soon forget. Many local young guys worked there stocking shelves or doing carry outs. The IGA seemed so much more relaxed than our grocery stores are today. The workers were all local people and would take the time to chat and made you feel like they were glad you stopped there to shop. Sadly, Harley Umphrey died suddenly and was about 52 and his brother in law Eldon McPhee took it over. Strangely enough, Eldon died suddenly and was about the same age. Art Peck bought the IGA and seemed to turn a lot of people off, different personality than locals were accustomed to I guess. Eventually the building went through more renovations and became Liverpool Save Easy but that was short lived. At that time I believe, Paul Snow was manager. The Liverpool Superstore was built on Milton Road and the IGA/Save-Easy closed for business in 2001. The IGA building was divided in half making 2 rental units. Guys Frenchys occupies one half and a dollar store occupied the other. The dollar store closed and that space is still presently vacant.

Above -Inside the new IGA
Below - George Mitchell - well known figure at the IGA

Liverpool Advance - November 26,1942

Elliott Wentzell - was always at the IGA

Dominion Store now The Waterfront Plaza

When I was a young kid in the early 1970s, the present Waterfront Plaza was the Dominion grocery store. My mom shopped there on a regular basis so I do have many memories of being in the store. Jack MacLeod was produce manager, my cousin Pat West worked there too, stocking shelves,and carrying out groceries for customers. They also had to price each individual item since back then there were no scanners and bar codes were not used. The cashiers had to punch every price in separately - how did they ever bear putting in an 8 hour day. When you walked into the Dominion store, there was always a promotion going on whether it was a different encyclopedia or a set of wildlife books, maybe even a set of dishes where each week or month there was a new addition available to the set. I remember in the freezer area there was a photo of the store manager and I recall being shocked one day when we went there. Louisa Coombs picture was there as the store manager. I didn't know Louisa at all, but my surprise was that a woman was the manager, It was almost unheard of back in those days and it was something I never forgot. Dominion closed for business many years ago and the building empty for some time and was eventually purchased and smaller units made for several businesses to rent. Pizza Delight moved in, as did Sears, Liverpool Pizzeria, Avco Financial, Tina's Uni-Jeans, Privateer Pub, Dixie Lee, Hugh's Fin n Feather, and Memory Lane. Presently in the building is VON, Dr. Kelly Hatt (dentist),  Craig Harding's (The crown prosecutor) office was there not sure if it still is or not. The site where Memory Lane was for 10 years is presently vacant, hopefully when the economy improves something else will occupy the space. * For those of us who are too young to remember, the area where Waterfront Plaza is, was part of the river's edge. Over 50 years ago, the entire parking lot was wharves and water and was filled in during the 1960s.

Dixie Lee at the Waterfront Plaza

Hugh's Fin & Feather in the Waterfront Plaza

The Old Fire Station now Main Street Kwik Way

The present site of Main Street Kwik Way was not always used for retail. Actually most of the years that this building has been there it was used for our Fire Station. I think the corner stone on the building says 1947 perhaps someone in Liverpool could check it and confirm it, I'm going by my memory which can sometimes not be good. (It replaced the previous fire station which was on the same location but was a wooden structure). As a youngster I recall walking by the Fire Station and seeing the trucks and ambulances. Seems to me the building was spotless inside. Everything was always "in it's place". The floors I believe were black and white tiles, placed like a checkerboard. Upstairs, the firemen operated their bingos and dances. Wedding receptions,etc were also held there. The dances here were something you would never forget. I also attended some of the dances here that the Kinsmen club held. They were awesome and I'm sure many of you would agree. Sometime in the later 1970s the present Fire Hall was constructed and the old one was sold. There was a youth center there for a time and eventually Brian Harlow opened a Starvin Marvins convenience store, later becoming Main Street Kwik Way. Jim Awkar purchased it who sold it to Joey Nasrallah (owner of A-1) who is the present owner. In recent years the upstairs was completely renovated, creating several downtown apartments.