KAWARTHA LAKES-Up to the mid twentieth century, most families bought their groceries at a general store. Being a merchant was seen as a good job, and vendors spent much of their time trying to source the products they sold. Farm families often brought in produce to barter, and Lindsay’s Lamantia and Polito families acted as wholesalers. Lamantias drove to Toronto to buy produce at the Ontario Food Terminal, then sold it at their Lindsay store or to other local merchants.
In 1957, Ray Wolfe partnered with Chicago’s Independent Grocer’s Alliance to introduce IGA stores to Canada, as he founded Oshawa Wholesale Limited. That same year John Sobko obtained a franchise for Fenelon Falls—being one of the first stores in Canada. The original IGA was located in the north half of the building constructed by Sider’s Jewellers (now The Lil Wee Quilt Shoppe)—it was just a single main street store.
Produce at IGA courtesy Maryboro Lodge
The original IGA had many of the same departments as shoppers are accustomed to find at a grocery store today, but with much less selection—today Sobeys devotes more floor space to snacks than the entire store originally encompassed. The IGA had a centre display running the length of the store, with a meat counter at the back. Its produce section included grapes, cabbage, celery, radishes, lettuce, corn, apples, grapefruit, squash, potatoes, onions, carrots, lemons, oranges, pears, cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach and parsnips. Much of the merchandise was non-perishable, such as canned meats, vegetables and fruits, Quaker Oats or personal care products. Other than having a produce section and meat counter, the merchandise carried would be comparable to a variety store today. Meat was cut on a band saw as customers watched—which would not be possible given the health and safety regulations today. But when the IGA opened it was an exciting event, as shoppers lined up outside to see the new supermarket and variety of foods it carried.
Produce at Sobeys courtesy Maryboro Lodge
The IGA soon outgrew its original store. In 1966, John Sobko bought the three adjacent stores, known as the McCallum block (for McCallum’s Men’s Wear and Custom Tailoring, a long-standing business). He demolished these three stores to build a much larger IGA. He then purchased the next block of stores to the north, for an expansion that opened in 1983. After operating as a Garden Market for a year, in 2002, Mark and Lisa Knoester rebranded the store as a Sobeys, as it moved to the south side of the bridge, into a much larger building. Shoppers at Sobeys today might have a hard time imagining when it was an exciting event for the village to have a supermarket—one where the entire dairy products section fit in a display that was about the same size as the cooler filled with products on sale at the end of the aisle. But once customers had shopped at a supermarket, within a few years it became the norm. Villages like Fenelon Falls would no longer be home to multiple general stores.
This story is part of our partnership with Maryboro Lodge, The Fenelon Falls Museum and was written by Glenn Walker.
If you want to make a donation to the museum, you can e-transfer to: [email protected]or mail a cheque to :
Maryboro Lodge Museum
Box 179
50 Oak Street
Fenelon Falls, ON
K0M 1N0
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