Canadian Tire Then Then and Then

The beginnings of Canadian Tire in Canada. Who were the McGregors of Carleton Place that ran our local branch?

 

 

Photo- Thelma Dowdall

 

Julie Sadler The original Canadian Tire store was at 77 Bridge Street. The Floral Boutique and Surrounding Memories are now both operating from that location.

 

Remember these prices? December 1968 when Canadian Tire was on Bridge Street-Thanks to Lorraine Nephin- Bruce Sadler’s vintage Canadian newspapers-

Bill Brown At those prices – I had to work 2 or 3 hours to buy on a them there shovels to make money on snow days!!! Shovel over the shoulder – skidoo boots – my long tailed hat and away I went!!

Joann Voyce How many remember the Canadian Tire on Bridge St. where the service department was at the rear through a narrow archway off of Bridge Street?

Linda Nilson-Rogers MacIntyre’s owned it then and lived on top of the store

March 1966 Elmer McIntyre retires from Canadian Tire–
Thanks to Lorraine Nephin- Bruce Sadler’s vintage Canadian newspapers-

Nancy Hudson Mr. McIntyre was a fine gentleman. My parents shopped at CTC on Bridge St. quite often. The little store was well stocked and there was a garage in the back.

Doug B. McCarten Got a new CCM from there but the purchase I remember most was going in with my Dad, as a young lad, to purchase my first jock strap!! A very traumatic purchase having to choose sizes and all….I thought everyone in the store knew all about me hahahaha! I think I was 7 or 8 at the time! BAHAHAHA

 

 

Is that part of Tannery Creek on the right hand side? This is the barn where Canadian Tire was on Beckwith/ Lake Ave East

 

Lynne Johnson This store was HUGE for its day. Many local kids worked there. The Rasi family came from Sudbury and Mr. Rasi ran the store for a year when it opened.

Ted Hurdis It was a great store. Lynn is right it was quite an attraction. The garage was super busy Doug Coady , Chris Villenive, Orville Cooke, all worked the garage.

Cody Smithson My mom was ran parts counter for a few years

Linda Gallipeau-Johnston When the one on Beckwith and Lake opened we thought it was the greatest things since sliced bread!

Dawn Jones I worked there from 1981-1990.

Ray Paquette In my childhood, this space was a sawdust yard and lumber storage area for the Nichols Planing Mill across Lake Avenue. As boys I remember building tunnels in the saw dust shavings and covering them with planks from the nearby lumber stacks. A creek which we knew as Goldstein’s Creek, flowed though the north part of the lot between this space and McDougall’s.

Photo of Mr. Blackburn in a Carleton Place parade in one of his bathroom appliance vehicles.. Notice the Canadian Tire store on Lake Ave East and Beckwith where Market Square is. One of the most requested photos of Carleton Place. Thanks to Karen Blackburn Chenier-–

 

Tim Bell I remember there being a list of people right by the cash that the store was not to accept a cheque from as they had bad credit. Anybody who went thru the cash could see this list.

Dawn Jones True story. Anybody who wrote NSF cheques and didn’t come back to pay was displayed on a list right at the cash.It was hit and miss. A lot of people with the same names. One time a woman asked me why her husbands name was on the list. Turns out it was her grandson writing the bad cheques. It always made me uncomfortable to have to check that list.

– I used to love the Canadian Tire on Beckwith Street. Not only was it a block away from my home but there was great customer service. Things cannot return to what they used to be– but those were the days. 1978. For those that do not know Canadian Tire used to be where the Farmers Market is and you could never seem to get a parking spot.

Tammy Lloyd- Illingworth My first job was there, back in 1984. Thanks to Brian Hope, I worked in Shipping and Receiving!

 

 

Llew Lloyd–Photo

 

 Pictured —Gail Williams , Pat Lloyd and Kay Ford in our back yard at 81 Bell St. Hydro apartment building in the background was home to the Deschamps , Fergusons , and Tombs . Canadian Tire storage Barn beyond that was the one set ablaze as a diversion for the CIBC bank robbery .

 

Please note this bank robbery was in 1983.. and the only bank robbery up until this time.

 

NOW on Highway 7 at McNeely

 

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte

1. Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships SunScreamin’ Mamas (USA)  and The Sherbrooke Record

    

   

Dog Day Afternoon — The Only Bank Robbery EVER in Carleton Place

Before the Canadian Tire Gas Bar There Was..

Feeling Groovy by the Lake Ave East Bridge

What Would You Do With a $1000 of Canadian Tire Money?

Remembering Sand in the Trunk and Radial Tires

photo from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum at the Caldwell Jaimeson Dunlop Reunion.–

More memories of Margaret McNeely-Margaret McNeely Hubby says that Elmer MacIntyre ran a barbershop in Almonte and sold Canadian Tire products out of his shop and then moved to Carleton Place and opened his first Canadian Tire Store next to the old Post office. He still has his set of sockets that he bought there when he was about 16.

Ray Paquette In my childhood, this space was a sawdust yard and lumber storage area for the Nichols Planing Mill across Lake Avenue. As boys I remember building tunnels in the saw dust shavings and covering them with planks from the nearby lumber stacks. A creek which we knew as Goldstein’s Creek, flowed though the north part of the lot between this space and McDougall’s.

Misty Glen Mountain Snow Bunny Hop

Source: Brian Eddington (2004): Out Of Bounds: The Glen Mountain Ski Story. Price-Patterson Ltd.

 

A Snow Bunny was once considered a young woman that went to the mountains to wear cute ski clothes, drink hot chocolate, and supposedly hit on the hot ski patrol boys.  I was never any good at anything that involved the outdoors and when I saw pictures of Glen Mountain today, my old Snow Bunny dreams all came back to me. I  kept thinking back to a time when visions of faux fur boots and wearing a Mod Snow Bunny white fur hat with “big pom pom balls” was la piece de resistance.

I had visited *Glen Mountain a few times in my teenage years, yet today I’m still not sure why I even considered going there. However, I do remember going on a Cowansville High School field trip, and another outing with my friend Debbie Roffey’s family. I had no idea what to expect from Glen Mountain, I really didn’t. There are photographs in the Brome County Historical Society archives that show a few trees and fields of grazing cattle at the foot of the mountain– but none of these photos were the reality of what that mountain really was.

I was, nor have even been a skier, and that beginner slope was downright scary (unless I was on a toboggan) and I really tried to learn to snowplow on the bunny hill. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t even do that, so I spent most of my time in the chalet looking at that big 1,000 ft. vertical drop staring back at me through the front door windows.

 

 

I remember seriously debating about taking a journey on one of the two T-Bars that went up  to mid-station and the other from mid to the top. Every hour I stood in line, and when the time came for me to go up I  muttered something about needing something from the ski shop and went back to the chalet.

Word in the valley was that a blizzard of action and an avalanche of fun  would be available to anyone who aspired to be a Glen Mountain snow bunny. Seventeen Magazine insisted that the best way to hunt “a keeper” was on skis–although at age 14 I would have been content with a first kiss while some young chap tied up the bindings on my skis.

They say that skis are the ultimate transportation to freedom. I beg to differ, and that was another issue that drove me crazy.  Debbie had these spiffy Rossignol skis while mine were a pair my Dad picked up at the Canadian Tire store in Cowansville. I immediately blamed my lack of expertise on those skis, but even when the  mountain lights came on at the end of the day I still hadn’t made it up to the top–or the middle. Each time I glanced out the door of the chalet I visioned myself coming down that hill at a 100 miles an hour screaming “where are the brakes?” Nothing like healthful outdoor exercise at 10 below when your nose is running and your face is full of fear.

 

 

Source: Brian Eddington (2004): Out Of Bounds: The Glen Mountain Ski Story. Price-Patterson Ltd.

 

When I got home from those ski trips my friends asked if I had a good time.  But, when it comes to skiing, there is a difference in what you think it’s going to be like, and what it’s really like, and what you are going to tell your friends. I never did go back to Glen Mountain after the ski trip with the Roffeys. Instead I used those Canadian Tire Skis on the slight downhill of Miltimore Road in Bromont.

Each time I would go down the snow covered dirt road I would scream at neighbour Linda Avery that Nancy Green had nothing on me. I also concocted a story about breaking my leg skiing to anyone that asked me to go on a ski trip with them. For decades I have lied through my teeth and stuck to the story and today I am finally going to come clean.

It was a lie-yes I admit it was a lie, to keep safety first for *Linda and trust me I  will have no regrets about this tomorrow. Bottom line is that Facebook and Twitter never existed then so the world never found out– until today.  Now it just doesn’t matter as most people can’t decipher whether what I post is for real– or just a cry for help.

Dedicated to my BFF Susie Lindau in Colorado– the Queen of skiing.

*Mont Glen, which first opened in 1960 and boasts a 350-metre vertical drop—higher than every hill in the Laurentians except Tremblant—had hard times through the 1990s because it lacks snow-making equipment and is heavily dependent on the snow gods to deliver fluffy white flakes all season long.

But repeated seasons of poor snowfall and competition from neighbouring resorts caused the business to deteriorate in the 1990s. It finally closed in 2004. Lifts did run again for a few weekend a few years ago and the current owner of the property had hopes to transform it into a Private Ski Club, but that plan fell through in 2010 due to insurance cost.

*Linda Knight Seccaspina never did ski again.

Related reading:

Monday Mad Addict’s Attic : Glen Mountain – In the Heart of the Beautiful Eastern Townships

 

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read.

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in Hometown News

 

So Who Got Shot? Linda’s Mailbag

Clipped from

1. The Ottawa Citizen,
2. 16 Dec 1991, Mon,
3. Main Edition,
4. Page 25

 

Hi Linda,

Having a conversation with my friend and we are trying to remember who got shot in Carleton Place while they were making a night deposit for the Canadian Tire store. For some reason we remember the name Peter as the guy who was shot Can you help?– John Poole

 

I am at loss here.. can anyone help out? Thanks

The answer..

Buddyzee Fisher-– It was my wife’s father Peter McFarlane around 1990. His daughter Julianna was with him, not Mary Kate McFarlane Brennan, and he was shot three times. Once in the edge of his head by his ear and twice in the hip. He was doing the deposit for Canadian Tire at the time and actually hid it in the snow bank after he was shot…The worst part of all this is I believe there was no cash just cheques and credit card statements.

You can see him occasionally sitting at the bench by the Scotia Bank in town on main street or walking around town going to different local establishments. This man has gone through a whole lot more since that even with a torn aortic valve that had to be replaced and umpteen other medical things but still keeps on ticking. His brothers John McFarlane and Ed McFarlane still live in town as well.

To add more craziness to this Kate and Peter were at Pikes in Almonte about 6 years ago and they came around a corner and ran face to face with the guy who shot him. Kate said the guy thought he saw a ghost and ran so fast out of the store that they could not chase him down.

Do You Remember These?

Dog Day Afternoon — The Only Bank Robbery EVER in Carleton Place

The Big Beer Store Heist in Carleton Place

The Scene of the Crime – It was 68 years ago today

Brazen Robbery on High Street in Carleton Place — Please Circulate These Photos

An Unknown Fact About Paddy Mitchell from the Stopwatch Gang

Local Man’s Dad Was Leader of The Stopwatch Gang

Remembering Sand in the Trunk and Radial Tires

Photo from the files of The Carleton Place Canadian from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

Two weeks ago thanks to Russ at Motorhouse Mitshubishi I got my winter tires on my car. As I listened to the roar of the heavier tires, and watched them throw my tire sensor system out of whack, I had to laugh at some old memories.

My late husband Angelo used to argue that winter tires were “for people from Toronto who have to call in the army to shovel the sidewalks when it snows.”  That was until one day he backed down  my father’s snowy Quebec driveway and removed part of his fence. Not content with believing his Delta 88 could do such a thing he attempted to reverse again, only this time he hit the mailbox.

When I overheard Ange tell my oldest son Sky years ago to get his head out of his you-know-what and put some winter tires on his car I just smiled and kept my mouth shut.

My late father Arthur Knight always insisted that you keep bags of sand in the trunk for traction in case you got stuck in the winter. His 70s Ford Pinto was loaded to the brim with bags of salt, and when I went to visit him he insisted in tossing in more in my trunk.  It was supposed to add weight, and if I ever got stuck, the sand could be used for traction he said. I never actually got stuck, so I never had to use the sand. Somehow I doubt that a couple of sandbags add or subtract anything meaningful to the traction of a vehicle that already weighs a few tons when empty, plus a few hundred pounds with a driver and passenger.

Every year AAA (auto club) publishes advice for winter driving and putting sand or litter in the back of a rear wheel drive car is always on the list. I personally prefer cat litter because it’s relatively inexpensive (non clumping, non scented) and provides decent traction.

When I was a kid everyone had had snow tires.  It was only in the 80s that people got stupid and bought into the “all season” foolishness.

We’ve all heard someone say.

“I’ve been driving 50 years and have never needed winter tires…”

 

What are they really saying?

“I’m in total control of my ride at all times, and the rest of you morons can’t be bothered.”

 

I have yet to meet a driver who can command the elements, predict within inches where their vehicle will halt on black ice, and somehow prophesy the actions of other motorists. Like me, when I slid off Fallowfield Road years ago and sat in the ditch with a German Shepherd sitting shotgun for an hour. Now that’s another story!

 

 

Henry Code-Ah, but the sand for weight was significant in the days of rear wheel drive, because most of the weight was in the front. I can well remember in my youth,the only way I get up an icy hill (not having heeded my father’s advice about the sand) was to have a couple of my friends climb into the trunk to put some weight over the back wheels.

 

The Benefits of Having a Large Human Chassis for Traction

 

Better Watch Out– Widespread Deck the Halls Recalls

So the heat is on so to speak— on both sides of the platform. On one side we have extremely disgruntled Christmas decoration customers complaining about light shortages at Walmart, Canadian Tire, Michaels, Loblaws and the list goes on.

In the other corner we have Health Canada who has put the sudden Grinch in Christmas decorating by issuing a recall for all seasonal lights produced by Taizhou Hongpeng Colour Lanterns or Ningbo EGO International Co. Ltd., due to “a number of incident reports” concerning their products.

The lights of course are all manufactured in China and sold widely in Canada under various labels, at major retailers such as Michaels, Loblaws and Wal-Mart. Lights affected by the recall are typically sold under North American labels, such as Michaels “Celebrate It” lights and Walmart’s “Holiday Time” lights.  Go online and check your product’s CSA number to determine if it is affected– here is a partial list.

 

Remind me again why we look for that CSA Certification? Well if you are like me you are probably scratching your head and wondering  why. If the lights are being recalled because they did not meet CSA standards- then how can the box display the CSA logo?

Exactly, what kind of smoke and mirrors game is going on? Well, it seems that the manufacture might have made changes to the product after having gotten the CSA mark of approval. That change, whatever it was, made the product no longer complaint.  But it does not end with those major retailers. Every single day a retailers has issued the public a warning– a warning you might have missed.

OTHER WARNINGS:

Dollarama Christmas Light 50 Miniature Straight Line Indoor Light Set. 

The affected product has a length of approximately 3 meters (10 feet), has clear or colored bulbs and a green wire. The recalled product is identified by model number I-50, CSA file number 224823, Dollarama item number 09-3039962 and UPC 667888205394.  Consumers are able to locate the model number and CSA file number on the white tag affixed to the wire and the Dollarama item number and UPC on the product’s packaging .

Canadian Tire is recalling a set of Christmas lights as they may pose a fire and shock hazard.

The lights in question are the ‘Holiday Collection’ brand of indoor and outdoor Christmas light strings, supplied by Danson Decor Incorporated. Okay, Canadian Tire also has “Blue Planet” energy saving (also made in China) outdoor flood lights from Canadian Tire, and on the bulb it cautions “use only in dry locations”! REALLY?? This is Canada– we have SNOW- and it certainly isn’t dry!!!!

The lights manufactured after spring of 2015 and sold between August and November 30 are affected.

If you purchased the lights, stop using them and return them to Canadian Tire for a refund.

The following products are being recalled:

– 051-2307 140LT,8FUNCT CLR
– 051-2309 140LT,8-FUNCT MULTI
– 051-2503 100LT OUT CURTAIN GR
– 051-2504 100LT OUT CURTAIN WH
– 051-2510 100LT OUT CURN WH/RD
– 051-2512 100LT OUT CURN WH/BL
– 151-3652 OD HC LED 50 C9 MLT
– 151-3653 OD HC LED 50 C9 WW
– 151-3751 HC OD LED 200 C6 PW

What Would You Do With a $1000 of Canadian Tire Money?

In Canada if you need tools, automotive supplies or anything else that seems to be on a man’s bucket list you make your way to the nearest Canadian Tire. It is the granddaddy of hardware stores in Canada and every Canadian knows that once you make that purchase you are handed Canadian Tire money as a gesture of shopping goodwill.

Since 1958 the coupons, which look smaller than Bank of Canada notes, can be used as payment towards your purchase in Canadian Tire stores. Some save it, some store it and a few even buy something with it. Well, it used to be.

At 14 years old, Brian McPherson, who is now 29, decided to buy a hockey stick and of course received his first piece of “currency” from Canadian Tire. With his first ten cent bill he decided then and there that he was going to start saving that money to buy something big.

“I thought it’d be a good idea to save up all the money and buy what at that time was the most expensive thing in the store, which was a riding lawnmower,” said McPherson.

It took 15 years, but McPherson finally saved up $1,053 in Canadian Tire money through purchasing gas, and other ‘man cave’ things. I sat there and wondered how much he had to buy to acquire that amount and figured it was purchases in the range of $50,000.

So last Wednesday night McPherson went up to the counter and produced his boxes of Canadian Tire money and ordered that lawnmower he had long dreamed about. Bruce Duvander, Canadian Tire manager, said in his 20 years with the company he has only seen a cash-in of more than a thousand dollars once or twice.

“They don’t usually turn this much in,” said Duvander. “But we have had hundreds of dollars before.”

 

I then asked non family members the same question, wondering if they would go down a different path. My friend Peggy said she would get a new Dyson vacuum cleaner and if there was money left over, a treadmill. Trevor said the usual “man thing” and said he would buy as many tools as he could. What do men do with all these tools anyways? A great answer came from my son’s receptionist Jessica – she said she would buy gas. With the cost of gas I thought that was a brilliant answer. Since none of us have saved enough Canadian Tire money, there really isn’t any end of the rainbow to our dreams but we can still hope.

I would have ignored it but after what Mcpherson achieved I now have a little more respect for the currency.  My only question is my age – do I really have enough time to amass a Canadian Tire fortune now? Sure I do! After all, I need something for people to fight over in my will. Then again, the bills are going, going, gone, and now we have a redemption card. Oh well.

Carleton Place- The Happiest Damn Town in Lanark County

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Tilting the Kilt, Vintage Whispers from Carleton Place by Linda Seccaspina is available at Wisteria at 62 Bridge Street, the Carleton Place Beckwith Museum in Carleton Place, Ontario and The Mississippi Valley Textile Mill in Almonte.  available on all Amazon sites (Canada, US, Europe) and Barnes and Noble