Holiday Shopping – Island Style

By Ben Robicheau ~ brobicheau@cogeco.ca

Christmas is almost upon us once again. Here in Ontario, with the multitude of stores, over-decorated malls and vast arrays of gift items on display, I can’t help but contrast the way things are today to the way it used to be back on the Islands when I was a kid. The Holiday shopping opportunities were a bit more limited back then when the Island roads were unpaved, the ferries stopped running at dark and not everyone had a car. Even if you did have a vehicle, it took most of the day to get to Digby and back, and a shopping trip to Halifax was a major expedition involving at least one overnight stay. Of course, those without their own transportation could still get to Digby by "going on the mail" which meant catching an early morning ride with Lloyd Blackford, or one of the people who followed in his footsteps over the years, as he carried the mail up Digby Neck. Unfortunately, most of the day would be taken up with stops at every rural post office along the way and you would end up with only an hour or so of shopping time before the return trip back down the Neck in the afternoon.
For most of us, Christmas shopping back then was pretty well limited to two options. First of these was the local stores of which you had a much wider selection than you do now. There was Elliott’s Store in Tiverton, there was one in Central Grove where Pyne’s Garage is now, and Freeport had McIntyre’s store, Norman Perry’s store and Curtis Prime’s small but mighty corner store. Westport was a veritable shopping Mecca with six stores in all. My father’s store was located across from the ferry wharf, Dick Welch had a store just a couple of doors down the street, Wilfred Swift ran the Co-op store a bit further down the road, and in Irishtown, Mary Chayko had the retail area below the bridge all to herself. Bowers’ Store was built out over the water at the bottom of The New Lane, and directly across from it, in the building that now houses Joyce and Walley’s business, was Louey’s Store.
Even though the stores made a big deal at Christmas time by decorating their windows and stocking up on special food and gift items for the Holiday season, the truth was that they all dealt mostly with the same suppliers therefore they all carried pretty much the same things. When you went out on Christmas and Boxing Day for the traditional checking out of your friend’s presents, you were pretty well guaranteed to see many of the exact same items under their tree that you had at home under your own.
Of all the stores, Louey’s was your best bet for Christmas shopping; it was a bit different from the other stores on the Island. Louey’s was a dry-goods store, no groceries, no boat anchors, no roofing nails, just a quiet little store crowded with lots of things you couldn’t find anywhere else. From the high counters and deep cubby-hole shelves along the walls you could buy cloth by the yard, a wide variety of thread and yarn, winter coats, puzzles, toys, magazines, china teacups, pots and pans; you name it, Louey’s had it. There was a big side window looking out onto the New Lane that was decorated for special occasions and at Christmas time it was always dressed up with Holiday decorations and you might even see your own special Christmas present-to-be on display there. Louey’s always brought in a few exotic items at Christmas time, but because they were usually a bit more expensive, they only got one or two of each. These items would be put on display, and in the weeks leading up to Christmas, one by one they would disappear from the window. This would cause a weird mixture of anxiety and anticipation; it might mean that someone else had bought that one thing that you really, really wanted before you could successfully convince your parents that you absolutely deserved to have it. Of course on the other hand, there was always the possibility that it was your parents that had bought it! Only on Christmas morning would you know for sure.
Although it was owned by the E.C.Bowers Company, and was really just an extension of the main grocery and hardware store across the road, everyone called it Louey’s Store. Lulu (Louey) Repool was the clerk who had looked after business in the store for as long as most people could remember. I recall her as always being a little old lady, right from my very first memory of her. She was a very reserved, quiet person whose main social activity seemed to consist of faithfully attending church once or even twice a week. She lived in Irishtown, up the lane past Cora Thompson’s, with her brother Ray who was her polar opposite in personality. Sometimes loud and boisterous, Ray liked to regale anyone who would listen with stories about his wild and rambunctious younger days.
The second shopping option for Islanders was the "wish book"; the Eaton’s or Simpson’s catalogue that arrived every Spring and Fall. On the face of it, it would appear that this was the perfect way for someone in an isolated area to do their shopping. You browse through the thousands of items in the book, choose something you like, and a short time later pick it up at the Post Office, nothing could be simpler. Well, in reality it didn’t work quite that smoothly.
First of all, it was a commonly held belief that all of the popular items were reserved for the big cities like Toronto and Montreal and all of the out of date fashions and items that didn’t sell elsewhere were sent off to the Maritimes. It always seemed that if you ordered anything that was currently at the top of the fashion charts, it would inevitably be out of stock. In fact, it seemed that you almost never got exactly what you ordered no matter what it was! They would often substitute your order if they didn’t have the exact item in stock. Usually it would be last year’s version of the same thing but probably in a different colour or style than what you had ordered. Occasionally you would get something completely unrelated to what you wanted. It almost seemed that the warehouse guys just chose something at random on the off-chance that you could use it and shipped it out on the premise that after waiting six weeks for your order, getting anything at all was better than getting nothing.
The other problem was that although the items always looked great on the glossy catalogue pages, you couldn’t pick them up or feel the quality of the material or try them on, so you never really knew exactly what you were going to get, even if by some miracle you did get what you ordered. Even though the catalogue contained several sizing charts and a whole page of detailed instructions on how to properly measure yourself, getting clothes or shoes that actually fit was a hit-or-miss proposition. Often an article of clothing would make several trips back and forth before the correct size was arrived at. Mothers habitually over-estimated their children’s sizes on the basis that it was better to get clothes too big because the kid would eventually grow into them. My sister Rikki once convinced my mother, after a long and intensive campaign, to order her a shirt that was all the rage among the fashion conscious at the time. After waiting in high anticipation for several weeks, the package from Eaton’s finally arrived, Rikki tore it open and tried on her stylish top, only to find that it was two sizes too small. Despite a lot of pleading and begging, my Mother couldn’t face all the hassle of returning it for the correct size, so the shirt went down the line of sisters until it came to one that it would fit. Judy, who couldn’t care less about fashion at the time, got a fabulous new shirt and a disappointed Rikki got a replacement shirt from Dad’s store, one just like every other kid on the Island was wearing.
Today, people on the Islands have an easier time of it, the roads and the ferry service has improved. Just about everyone has a car or access to transportation of some sort, and nearly anything you can think of can be ordered just by pushing a few buttons on your phone or with a few clicks of your computer mouse. Modern technology has its benefits and Ebay has long ago overtaken the Eaton’s catalogue, but it will never replace the excitement and anticipation hundreds of Island kids felt as they poured over the "wish book" in those days and weeks leading up to an Island Christmas.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.