Corner stores.
Paula E. Kirman
Jasper Place residents often chose to make many of their grocery and other purchases in corner stores. People chose where to shop largely based on proximity to where they lived, and many of these corner stores were located within walking distance. Jasper Place had many corner stores. Going to the store was often a family event to stock up on household necessities, as well as candy and other treats for the children.
Several stores were owned by Chinese community members, like Tooke’s Grocery which was at 9202 149th Street. Took Gee, who owned the store (which is named after his first name, with an extra “e” at the end), also lived at the same address with his family. Joanne Lethbridge Pompana, in an interview with the Jasper Place Community History Project (JPCHP) recalls “…149th Street and 91st Avenue when it was a gravel road with ditches on either side, and farms across the way, and Tooke’s Grocery. I remember running across the road to get cigarettes for my mom and dad, 35 cents. I never drank pop, but sometimes chips, popsicles rarely… stuff like that. …. Tooke’s Grocery building is still there, where [MLA] Lori Sigurdson has her office. …. [Took Gee] had his whole family working there. He [was] just a lovely man . . . They [the family] always asked us how we were doing.”
Tony lived across the alley from Tookes Grocery. “We bought everything there! Wonderful family they were too. His kids were part of the neighborhood gathering every day (back when kids actually used to play outside),” he commented in a Facebook post in the group ”I Lived In Jasper Place Before It Became Part of Edmonton.”
Barrie Touchings told the JPCHP that “When we first moved [to Canora], there was a corner grocery store on 156th Street and 104th Avenue. That quickly closed and they moved to 154th Street and 105th Avenue on the southwest corner, southeast corner of that intersection, kitty-corner from Canora School. That was Sam’s Groceries. It was run by a […] Chinese family. My recollection is, it was like, mom and dad, maybe grandma and grandpa, kids, and they all worked in the store. They lived in a little building just beside the store. It was very basic groceries: candy, pop, that was about it.”
Peter, in the Facebook group “I Lived In Jasper Place Before It Became Part of Edmonton,” remembers Glenwood Groceries, owned by Loy Mah. “The grocery store on 163rd Street and Stony Plain Road was owned by the Mahs when we lived up the street from there in the early to mid 1960s. Mr. Mah ran the store and as kids this was our destination on summer afternoons to trade in pop bottles for cold bottles of Coca Cola, licorice, and gum. Mr Mah’s son Paul and his wife lived across the lane from us on 164th Street. Paul was a basketball player and a great one at Britannia where he went to school.”
The Pantry, a grocery and meat shop built around 1946, was located at the intersection of 154th Street and 97th Avenue. It is considered a prime example of a commercial building located in a residential area. Original owner Percy Hawkins sold the business after only one year. After several other owners, Jim and Jane Wong became long-term owners, and lived in the building for over 30 years. The Pantry was also known as “Pat’s” after their son Patrick who continued operating The Pantry with his mother following Jim’s death. The two continued to operate the business into the ‘80s. The Wong family still owns the property, though it no longer functions as a shop1.
As well, many participants in the “I Lived In Jasper Place Before It Became Part of Edmonton” have short but vivid recollections of the corner stores near their childhood homes. Says Jim, “Before it became Don’s Foodland (149th Street and 89th Avenue) in around 1959 or so, it was Robb’s Foodland. When changing economic times forced Don’s Foodland to become a liquor store, my brothers and I started calling it Don’s Boozeland.”
Karen remembers that “there was a small corner store on the intersection of 162 Street and 97 Avenue, which was owned by the Gam (I think that is the spelling) family. I remember playing with their children in the early 1960s and somewhere have an old photo of me as a child as well as their children in our backyard. I also remember going to their store for penny candy and sweets as a child.”
Bing Ho’s High Park Grocery also brings back a lot of memories. “He was such a big part of the community with his wife and kids. He would let us kids bring in a pop bottle and refund us the money so we usually in turn bought penny candy,” says Sue.
Carl says, “I think every kid that went to High Park School remembers Bing’s – good people.”
Donna “loved going to Bing’s. He always had a smile. We would buy milk, eggs, and bread there regularly. We would take pop bottles back for the 5 cents and buy candy. He bought a house a couple of doors down from us on 153A Street.”
There are far too many stores to mention here, but some other notable shops include Sun Grocery at 9704 149th Street and Ed’s General Grocery at 9648 149th Street. The latter store was owned by Yee Soy Hong, who also lived there.
Notes and References
1“The Pantry,” in Donald Luxton and Associates Inc. and The City of Edmonton, Jasper Place Historic Resources Inventory, City of Edmonton: February 2019, pp. 104-106.
Some of the information about stores, such as locations, came from Henderson’s Directories for Edmonton. The JPCHP would also like to thank people in the “I Lived In Jasper Place Before It Became Part of Edmonton” Facebook group for sharing. Only first names have been used here and quotes may have been edited for spelling, grammar, and clarity.
Paula E. Kirman is a freelance writer who grew up, and still lives, near the Jasper Place area.
[This post is an expanded version of an article that appeared in Fall 2024’s SPANN]
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