A Little Montreal: Merchants and Memories of Main Street, Windsor

              A Little Montréal: Merchants &
Memories of Main Street, Windsor
Collective Memories Series #03
Edited by Terra Barrett
COVER PHOTOS (from left to right):
Cozy Chat. Photo courtesy of Georgina Bellows.
Bus to Grand Falls Station (Windsor). This model “A” bus transported shoppers
from Grand Falls to S. Cohen & Sons, Windsor in the 1930s. Driver: Mike Cohen.
Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
Riff’s. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
A LITTLE MONTRÉAL:
MERCHANTS
& MEMORIES
OF MAIN STREET, WINDSOR
Edited by Terra Barrett
Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
Intangible Cultural Heritage Office
St. John’s, NL, Canada
Layout / design by Jessie Meyer
2017
1
In September 2016 I had the opportunity to travel to Grand Falls-
Windsor to do a series of interviews around the merchants and
memories of Main Street in Windsor. This project came about as
a result of conversations with the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage
Society. Over the past couple of years the Heritage Foundation of
Newfoundland and Labrador has assisted the GFWHS with the
digitization of some of their archived materials. These materials
include almost one hundred interviews by radio host Hiram
Silk as well as a collection of interviews done by community
volunteers in the mid 1990s to mid 2000s. The second batch of
interviews were part of the town’s centennial celebrations and
focused on the AND company, the mill, and the former town
of Grand Falls. In order to learn more about the Windsor part
of the community the Heritage Society decided to do a project
focused on Main Street.
As researcher and editor I had the opportunity to meet with many
community members, and record their memories about living,
working, playing, and of course shopping on Main Street. I was
also tasked with the difficult job of sifting through the interviews
and choosing short sections and memories to transcribe. The
booklet is broken up into sections based on the different shops
and services on Main Street as well as particular memories
about the street, the train station, and the holidays. While the
booklet provides an overview of Main Street there are still many
untold stories and there is a page at the end of the booklet with
an incomplete listing of Main Street businesses and services.
Introduction
2
I encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about Main
Street to visit the Grand Falls-Windsor collection on Memorial
University’s Digital Archives to listen to the full interviews or to
contact the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society.
Listening to people tell their stories and discuss their memories of
the places they grew up is my favourite part of my job. Being able
to talk to people about their life history and recording it for future
generations of listeners is an opportunity I do not take for granted.
During these fifteen interviews I learned so much about the history
of Main Street. I learned how it developed around the train station
in order to provide services to the railway workers and travelers,
and to the community of workers who built up to the town of
Windsor. I also learned about the day to day interactions among
business owners who played cards together, visited one another,
and helped each other whenever possible. As Corey Sharpe noted,
“[Main Street] was like a little Montréal. A lot of different cultures
and sights and sounds.” The business owners came from all parts
of the world and were from different backgrounds but worked side
by side and supported one another. Through this booklet I invite
you to learn a bit more about the interesting background history
and story of Main Street, Windsor.
― St. John’s, January 2017
BY TERRA BARRETT
3
One of the most fascinating aspects of the history of Grand Falls-
Windsor is the relationship between the two towns that grew up
as part of the mill development in the early 1900s.
When newspaper magnates Alfred and Harold Harmsworth of
London were growing their publishing empire, they chose the
Grand Falls on the Exploits River as their preferred site for making
newsprint. The location offered everything they needed: access
to wood, a labour force, electrical power, a shipping port, and a
modern transportation link in the form of the Reid Newfoundland
Railway.
This railway link was to prove a key factor in the development of
the two towns of Windsor and Grand Falls.
The Harmsworths formed the Anglo-Newfoundland Development
Company to operate their paper-making enterprise, which included
building a mill and a town to house the workers. From the very
beginning, development within the town was controlled by the
AND Company. It is commonly asserted in Grand Falls-Windsor
that only company workers and businesses approved by the
company could settle within the town limits, although historical or
documentary evidence for this “rule” is unclear or yet to be found.
Here’s where the railway came into its own. As the town of
Grand Falls grew, people who arrived in the area seeking work or
business opportunities often settled near the train station, called
Introduction
4
BY THE GRAND FALLS-WINDSOR
HERITAGE SOCIETY
Several members of the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society with Heritage
Foundation staff. Standing L-R: Joe Shapleigh, Jim Locke, Dale Jarvis, Brian Reid,
Terra Barrett, John Blackmore. Sitting L-R: Cathy Simpson, Audrey Burke. 2016.
Photo by Kelly Drover.
Grand Falls Station, which was the first point of contact for all
passengers — and their money to spend — coming into the area.
Despite many setbacks in the early decades of its history, “the
Station” became home to an astonishing range of entrepreneurial
people and activity.
5
In 1938, by the will of its residents, Grand Falls Station became the
first incorporated town outside St John’s, with an elected council,
on the island of Newfoundland. The name “Windsor” was chosen
in accordance with the wishes of the King that every part of the
empire should have a town bearing the Royal surname.
When we at the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society researched
the names of Windsor’s business people, an exciting fact jumped out
at us: from the earliest times, Windsor had welcomed immigrants
from outside North America, people whose families had travelled
from war-torn Europe and even from Syria, to find safety for their
families and opportunity for their children. Their names have
become part of who we are in this town: Riff, Cohen, Münch,
Becker, Boulas, Basha, Chow, and so many many more.
The effect was astonishing: the excitement, the bustle, the sheer
life and variety of Windsor was a magnet for people not only from
more staid Grand Falls but from elsewhere in the area, as some of
our informants describe so vividly. Windsor truly was a melting-pot
in miniature, with a vibrant and varied community life that
contributed much to the development of both towns.
In 2016, as Grand Falls-Windsor marked 25 years of amalgam-ation,
we wished to mark the singular cultural and economic
contribution that “The Merchants of Main Street” have made to
our history as a now-united community.
6
MAIN STREET MELODY
As I stroll down Main Street on a warm summer’s day,
My memories just happen to whisk me away.
The sound of the soldiers as they head off to war,
The sight of George Stewart inside of his store.
A song and a memory so clear in my mind,
I wish to walk longer, heading down the line.
Looking in windows and catching a smile
of the new generation, they do business with style.
From the luxurious spas, to the great cuts of meat,
You can even get some fancy shoes for your feet.
No matter what you’re looking for,
Music, fabric or a comfy place to stay.
Main Street is the place to go…
We wouldn’t have it any other way!
AMANDA WILLIAMS, 2010
Printed in a Grand Falls-Windsor business advertisement pamphlet.
Main Street, Windsor. 1944. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
7
Main Street was alive, it was vibrant because it had all of these
lovely cars and lots of people and the sweet little Cozy Chat and
the smell of the French fries and it just bustled, it was vibrant.
YVONNE COURTNEY
Main Street was a centre for both towns because of the train. The
railway station was a sort of central point of meeting at least once
or twice a day when the trains came in. The merchants were smart
because next to Main Street up, is a street called Bond Street and
that was set up so that the merchants could have their storefronts
on Bond Street with their backs to the station but they were smart
and they said, “Look if all these passengers are coming on train
and our business is coming on train why put our backs there,
why not put our fronts there?” So Main Street became a street
with all of the store fronts facing the trains and the train station.
MAIN STREET
Looking toward Main Street, Windsor from St. Joseph’s Parish.
Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
8
MAIN STREET
Everything happened there and when the passengers came they
were usually there for 20 minutes to an hour depending on what
trains had to do and how much maintenance was required. So they
went across to the various establishments, especially the food
establishments that were there. There were a couple of chip vans
and there was two or three Chinese restaurants and again retail
stores that were there at the time.
ROY OLDFORD
There was always something about Main Street. It was just a
really cool spot, really different. It was fun to grow up there and
especially hang out down there as a teenager. It is like the John
Prine song, “Pinballs and pool halls and flashing red lights.” It’s as if
he wrote it for Main Street.
COREY SHARPE
Main Street, Windsor looking east from S. Cohen & Sons. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
9
MAIN STREET
Main Street, Windsor. 1944. L to R: Purity Café, S. Cohen & Sons, A. Peckford,
King Edward Theatre, Brown Derby. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
Grand Falls was fine. We had High Street with businesses and stuff
like that but Windsor was almost sometimes magical because it
had a greater variety of stores and it was nice to go. That being
said Bowrings and the Royal Stores were neat to go into as well on
High Street but they were brought in. They were permitted to be
in the town and it was like in Windsor it was what kind of couldn’t
be here so it was almost – not illegal or anything but there was a
discrepancy between the two in how they set up.
MARY KELLY
The people just coming right at you and socializing, getting
your plate of French fries and going over to the train station
10
MAIN STREET
and looking in to see who was traveling or who was coming and
who was going. The train used to leave Grand Falls at 8:00 in the
evening and arrive in St. John’s at 8:00 am in the morning.
JOHN CONNORS
This is anecdotal. This is from what mom and dad talked about.
People would walk from this side of town, walk out to the train to
see who got off the train or who was going on. It was an outing.
People didn’t just do it occasionally – they did it often. It was one
of the things to do.
MARGARET SCOTT
Main Street, Windsor. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
11
At the station CN where I worked that would sort of be a gathering
place in the mornings for a chat and talk things over with Laurie
Alteen and Jim Basha and those guys, Pat Kearney. The stories
they would tell and the things that they would do and things that
they would play on each other. They were forever into something.
They were good people. Interesting people.
JIM MERCER
The train station was across from Cohen’s and living across from
the tracks that was great. But there is one thing that really sticks
out to me is that every night going to bed there was probably
a train that passed by maybe 9:00, 10:00 and you could hear the
whistle blow because there was an intersection there so they had
to blow the whistle and I missed that when I left. That was the one
big thing I remember, hearing the whistle.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
I grew up on Main Street as a kid, very very active community. 75%
of the shopping done in Central Newfoundland, I would say, was
done in Grand Falls-Windsor. Some of the names of the businesses
were Stewart’s, Cohen’s and Riff’s and these people attracted people
from all over central and they were very successful businesses at
the time. Main Street in Windsor was a really, really high traffic, high
volume area and of course what added to that, too, was that the
railway station was right on Main Street. Back in the ’50s and early
’60s I guess and ’40s the express train used to get in at 8:00 every
evening so that was the social thing, go and walk down and see
who was going away, see who was coming home and this type of
thing. It became a real area where people socialized and used the
restaurants and supported the businesses of Windsor.
JOHN CONNORS
TRAIN STATION
12
I think the biggest thing was the train station. People coming in
there. You would get there and you’d watch the people coming
off, and going on and see who you knew - any young girls who got
off the train because we were young at the time. A couple of the
stores at the time had these little alcoves. If it was misty or rainy
you could get in those little alcoves and you’d stay dry. That was
the biggest thing. Main Street was very busy because you did
have quite a number of stores there. You had grocery stores and
clothing stores but the train station was the big thing.
FRANK BESON
TRAIN STATION
View of Windsor taken opposite CN station. Circa 1949. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
13
In the evening when you were walking back and forth there were
two chip vans. You had to decide which ones had the best chips.
There was a fellow called Abe Lamb, he was related to the Cohens I
think, he had a little chip van there and he had these crinkle chips.
He had a cutter or something that used to make crinkle chips and
we used to love to get a plate of chips every now and then.
JOHN CONNORS
I know Stroud had an arched building and they used to sell fish
and chips out of it. My parents in their younger days would always
go to Stroud’s for a cone of fish and chips and they would put
vinegar on it. They said once you were finished eating the fish and
chips you would drink the vinegar out of the paper cone.
COREY SHARPE
As you were walking down Main Street and you were heading
towards Stewart’s there was this fantastic smell that came at you
all the way down the street. It’s like, “Oh my dear God. I want some
of those chips.” It was French fries and the smell of French fries
was just wafting down Main Street as you were walking towards
it and of course you were not going to ask for those things as a
child because you knew better. You just didn’t ask for those things.
But sometimes my dad, if I was walking with him alone and mom
was gone on with the girls, with the carriage or whatever, my
dad would stop at the chip van. The chip van was semicircular in
shape. I don’t remember what kind of material it was made out of
but it wasn’t wood. It seemed to me to be made out of a metal and
the man who was inside was a big plump man - well to me as a
child he was a big, big, plump man.
YVONNE COURTNEY
CHIP VANS
14
CHIP VANS
Stroud’s Chip Van. Photo courtesy of Trudi Marie.
15
Coming down Main Street in my time there was a massive pool
hall which is one thing that we really had a lot of. The pool hall
was a typical pool hall that you see in the Bowery or somewhere in
New York City, downtown in Manhattan somewhere. It was rough,
there were lots of fights, there were a couple of billiard tables and
about eight or nine pool tables, eight ball we call them today and
as kids we weren’t really allowed in there but we snuck in because
the game was so interesting. We learned to play pool and a lot of
people played it very, very well. They were really good.
ROY OLDFORD
At that time Mr. Len Whiffen owned it and we’d go in there and
there were some good pool players around that used to play eight
ball. That was for money. We weren’t good enough for that. I was
only a rookie but after a while you got in there and you weren't old
enough but you got in. You had to be a certain age to get in the
pool hall. We’d go in there and enjoy ourselves while we got the
chance because you never had much money at the time. Money
was scarce but go in there and enjoy it. That was it.
FRANK BESON
There was a couple of billiard tables and then regular pool. One
to fifteen ball and the cue ball. We played on Saturday mornings
when the men, I’ll call them, we were only kids in those days and
basically we weren’t allowed in there but we got in. But the men
came there to play eight ball and they played for big money and
if you got there early you became a racker so you racked the balls.
There was only eight of them and if the eight ball went on the
break when you snapped the cue that meant that the person who
broke it won and of course if you were racking - in language that
POOL HALLS
16
POOL HALLS
I won’t use, “Get the **** out of here.” So you always had a buddy.
We were entrepreneurial, too, so I had a buddy with me and every
time you racked you got a nickel. In a morning you could make
five bucks there because it is a quick game. Three or four shots
and it’s over. Rack a game, another nickel, another nickel, another
nickel and you were looking at nickels being 25 cents I can go to
two shows tomorrow so that was important. But you racked and if
you were lucky you stayed there the whole morning and if you let
the ball go on the break then bingo you were gone.
ROY OLDFORD
Another place in our teenage years that we would hang out was
Stroud’s pool hall which was a super cool place when you were a
teenager back in the mid to late ’80s. Huge jukebox and all the
latest tunes and the place was jammed and they wouldn’t close
until the last person left. I can remember one Christmas day it
was even open so they were a diehard crew. We would play pool
and pinball. When the video machines first came in we would
play some of those and play the tunes on the jukebox which was
deafeningly loud which I loved back then which was pretty cool,
listening to Van Halen while you were playing pool or pinball.
COREY SHARPE
17
THE COHEN’S BUS:
That was an idea that my father had as people had to go from
Grand Falls to Windsor. There weren’t very many cars in town
those days so they had to go out on a bus and pay for it. So my
father said, “We’ll have a bus and anyone who wants to use it can
pay for it but if they make a purchase at Cohen’s it was free.” That
was his promotion. That was 1928 I’d say until the mid ’30s. They
didn’t need it after that because cars came in to Grand Falls.
BOYD COHEN
The buses that went from Riff’s to Grand Falls would bring in the
lunches to the mill workers for a small fee and they would bring
people to High Street and from High Street back to Windsor for a
small fee. They would be lined off in front of Riff’s so in order they
would load up and go on. I remember that. I’m pretty sure that it was
close to the end of that probably in the early ’80s, mid ’80s. That’s a
well known thing. Everybody knows about the buses in Windsor.
COREY SHARPE
They used to have the cars down around Main Street called buses.
I remember going down with my father’s lunch, giving it to the bus
and it would probably be 25 cents to take the lunch to the mill.
These guys, a lot of them, would pick up their lunches and take
them all into the mill, probably might have 15, 20 aboard, probably
more at times. Then there was also other drivers that went down
to Stewart’s and if you went in and got your groceries they would
come out and put it in the car and take you home, bring them in
for you and you would pay the driver. But all that is gone.
FRANK BESON
BUSES
18
BUSES
I’ll tell you a story that I shouldn’t tell you but what odds. A buddy
of mine’s father ran a bus, and, of course, when you finished
your business during the day you took your sign off the bus and
placed it in the vehicle until the next day and used it as a family
car. I would imagine they would have to have insurance, special
insurance but I don’t know. At any rate, this night he picked me
up to go out wherever. We had no money, not a jingle. So we saw
these people in Grand Falls who were lined up waiting for a bus so
he said let’s go up here, stuck the bus sign on, picked them up, 25
cents each, made a dollar and a quarter and it was our night. We
got the bus sign off and I don’t think his father knew it to this day.
But we get a kick out of it every time we get together now we get
a kick out of that one because it was something that was silly but
worked out for us anyway.
ROY OLDFORD
GERALD CONNORS’ TAXI BUSINESS:
One of the contracts he had with the taxi business was Dad
used to transport the nuns back and forth to school every day.
I remember a funny story mom used to say that when she was
dating dad they weren’t allowed to pick up any other passengers.
Just the nuns. I guess they were very strict back in those days.
He couldn’t stop and pick mom up. She worked in Windsor out at
Dubow’s which was a clothing store. Anyway he couldn’t pick her
up so he used to slow down so two or three girls could hang onto
the bumper and ski out to Windsor. So that was a story mom used
to tell about how dad used to slow down so they could hang onto
the back of the bumper because they weren’t allowed in the car.
JOHN CONNORS
19
BUSES
Bus to Grand Falls Station (Windsor). This model “A” bus transported shoppers
from Grand Falls to S. Cohen & Sons, Windsor in the 1930s. Driver: Mike Cohen.
Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
20
Becker’s jewelry. Photo courtesy of GFWHS
BECKER’S JEWELRY
21
Ernst Becker of Becker’s Jewelry came to Newfoundland in 1951
after placing an ad in a Swiss watch maker’s magazine and receiving
a reply from Corner Brook. Ernst moved to Ontario following a
fire on Broadway in Corner Brook but returned to Newfoundland
working first with Alteen’s in Corner Brook and then in Grand Falls.
After a short time in St. John’s Ernst and his wife Dolores returned
to Grand Falls where he worked with Riff’s in Windsor before
establishing a watch repair and jewelry store of his own.
MEMORIES
He got a job with Alteen’s in Corner Brook and then he got
transferred from Corner Brook to over here with Alteen’s. Then
somehow or another he got working with Mr. Riff on Main Street
in Windsor. He had a great big clothing store and up in the corner
was a little tiny jewelry department. So, Ern went there and there
wasn’t much business for him to be doing and Mr. Riff saw that.
It was hardly worth having him there so he encouraged him to
maybe go on his own somewhere. So he rented a little place a
little further up the street. It was just an old, barn like place, a big
drafty old place and the kids were right tiny then and Mr. George
Stewart, who was up on the end with the big grocery, we knew
George well. We would go to him for the groceries. So George used
to come down and visit Ern in his shop. Ern couldn’t leave because
he was the only one there. So he would come and Wayne Morris
would come, and George said to him one day, “There is a little tiny
spot next to my store,” he said, “you don’t need to be in this drafty
old place. Why don’t you come up here?” It was 8’x32’. So he went
up into it and Mrs. Basha and the Cozy Chat next door, she owned
BECKER’S JEWELRY
22
BECKER’S JEWELRY
that bit of land and George owned a little bit so he got the land
from Mrs. Basha and built this little 8’x32’ shop.
DOLORES BECKER
Becker had the smallest store in Newfoundland, I think. It was a
jewelry store. He met you at the door when you came in. He was a
German who moved here after the war and got married to a local
girl and set up a jewelry business.
JOHN CONNORS
He sold diamond rings and wedding bands and a lot of people
I meet now say, “I bought a ring at that shop and my wife’s still
got that wedding ring on.” I say, “Good for you.” He sold diamond
rings and wedding sets and gold chains, things like that. He had
real nice things, good things. People from the mainland who were
agents would come and he would order things, real nice things.
DOLORES BECKER
I do remember going in with Mom at one point in time and I
remember she brought in my grandmother’s watch and as soon
as I looked at Mr. Becker I knew he was different and as soon as
he spoke I knew he was different so I listened carefully. I couldn’t
always understand what he would say and he often had to repeat
things. I would say that was because people didn’t understand
him because he spoke really quickly. What amazed me about him
was the tiny, tiny shop. He didn’t need a big shop because he was
a watch repair person and he sold jewelry but most of the work he
did was repair stuff so he was very specialized. I can remember
him always having some sort of mirror or something that would
magnify or illuminate whatever he was working on.
YVONNE COURTNEY
23
BECKER’S JEWELRY
Becker’s was built between Stewart’s and the next building – I
think the Cozy Chat. Anyway, it was just like they put a little roof
up between the two buildings - a slant roof. I can remember going
in there and you almost had to turn side on to get in around the
counter. I guess Ernst Becker - we knew him as Ernie Becker - he’d
be there and I can remember he would always have the jewelers
loupe in his eye. He would look up from something and look at
you with the jewelers loupe and when I was a kid that was pretty
intimidating to look up over the counter and see this guy looking
at you with this one jewelers loupe in his eye.
COREY SHARPE
It was very narrow as you can imagine. So you went in the door
and you were right in the shop. On one side were the showcases
and the window - the display window - a long showcase and
behind that was a couple of shelves on the wall with little items.
This wall had big clocks he had for sale. He had a little tiny
workbench with drawers on each side where he had everything
pertaining to watchmaking. He had a little tiny place. The big
desk with all his things in it was here and Mr. Stewart would sit
here and Wayne would sit there and Ern would sit at this desk and
you could look out and see if any customers came in. That’s where
he did most of his sizing of rings, his watch making trade and
there was a little tiny washroom in the back of that. It was all very
small and cramped. But he enjoyed his days there.
DOLORES BECKER
24
Another guy had a small store on Main Street before my time, way
back. Joseph Bernstein who was a tailor. He had a little shop near
Stewart’s. When Joseph first came to Newfoundland he came to
St. John’s. He set up a theatre and then he set up the American
Ladies Tailor, the first ladies tailor of St. John’s he boasted. He
decided to move to Windsor in I’m thinking the late ’30s, early ’40s.
So he operated this tailor shop on Main Street. He also had his
residence and a candy store, convenience store up on King Street.
He did palm readings and tea readings. The kids would go in and
he would charge them a lower price and he would do fortunes.
COREY SHARPE
JOSEPH BERNSTEIN
25
COHEN’S
Boyd Cohen of Grand Falls-Windsor grew up in the family business
and continues to run the real estate aspect of Cohen’s today.
Boyd’s mother Frieda Shenk and her sister Norma Shenk moved to
Newfoundland from Poland in 1926. Boyd’s paternal grandfather,
Simon Cohen, moved to England from Ukraine in the 1890s and to
Newfoundland between 1904-1906 with his wife and three sons.
Simon worked for a clothing factory in England which sent cutters
and tailors to Newfoundland to start the Newfoundland clothing
company. Simon and family went to the United States in the early
1900s where he worked for a time in an ammunition factory. In
1919 Simon, his wife, and family including their five sons and two
daughters returned to Newfoundland and established a store in
Grand Falls Station.
This store established by Simon and his eldest son Charles carried
everything from hardware and nails to ladies hats. In time Simon’s
younger sons Arthur, Michael (Mike), Jacob (Jack), and Maurice joined
the family business. In time the eldest brothers moved on to Bell
Island and Corner Brook leaving Mike and Jack to run the family
business. Unfortunately Boyd’s father Mike died of a heart attack in
1946 just after the store expanded so Jack was joined in business by
his wife Norma (Shenk) Cohen.
Two years later after one year in Mount Allison University Boyd
returned home to Grand Falls-Windsor and joined his aunt in
running the family business. Boyd introduced furniture into the
business and expanded the Main Street store to include a furniture
department. He also established a store on High Street, Grand Falls.
Boyd continued to expand Cohen’s Home Furnishings into other
communities and in 1985 when Boyd decided to sell the business
there were 13 Cohen’s provincewide with a further 3 in the works.
26
COHEN’S
Boyd continued to be involved with Cohen’s Home Furnishing as the
Managing Director until his retirement in 1994. Boyd was also involved
in the Central Cable Systems launch in Grand Falls and in the real
estate industry particularly in Central Newfoundland. Today Boyd is
86 years old and still heads to his office to work every day.
MEMORIES
DISCUSSING HIGH STREET IN GRAND FALLS:
The company, to guarantee services like stores, gave monopolies
to the Royal Stores, and the Co-Op stores and probably two or
three others. Which meant that anybody coming in, like Cohen
and Dubow and the travelling salesmen, they set up mostly in
Windsor at the time because they probably weren’t allowed to
have an establishment in the town.
HARRY PINSENT
Next to Mr. Kearney there was another big establishment and that
was S. Cohens and Sons. They were a Jewish family who set up.
Again they were dry goods, furniture, clothing and they lasted a
long time in Windsor.
ROY OLDFORD
My father was 14 when he started. One of his brothers with him -
they opened a clothing store and everyone worked there. They
didn’t need any employees - at first anyway.
BOYD COHEN
I went through high school. I went to Mount Allison for one year
and I didn’t like it and they didn’t like me either. Basically it was the
27
COHEN’S
Simon Cohen. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
28
COHEN’S
American Gents Furnishing Store S. Cohen & Sons. Photo courtesy of Boyd Cohen.
S. Cohen & Sons. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
29
COHEN’S
wrong school for me. And my uncle wasn’t really a businessman.
He was a football player, he was a football, basketball, and baseball
player but he didn’t have the same interest in the business. So he
worked at it and he wasn’t lazy or anything but he just didn’t want
to run it. He didn’t want the responsibility. So, two brothers married
two sisters, and so my aunt said to me, “Boyd are you going back to
university?” and I said, “Not if I can help it.” So I stayed home and
helped her run the business.
BOYD COHEN
Cohen’s in my childhood had a big, large window. That’s where I
saw my first doll carriage and I saw my first bicycle. Cohen’s as a
child was a place where I saw things that I really wanted. Cohen’s
was spectacular when I was older like 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. Cohen’s had
totally refurbished the place and they were no longer a basic dry
goods place. They were a fashion place. Total fashion place.
YVONNE COURTNEY
Norma, my mother’s sister, was a very smart woman and her work
ethic was super. As a matter of fact she was tougher at it than I
ever was in the hours. I don’t know how she did it. My uncle Jack’s
wife she lived to be 97.
BOYD COHEN
Every season there was a new line of clothing and they had these
fashion shows. Riff’s would have had those fashion shows, too,
but I remember at some point in time Cohen’s having a fashion
show right there on the floor. When you walked into Riff’s clothes
were tightly racked. Everything was tight. You had to squeeze
and squat between and try to maneuver. You went to Cohen’s
and you had this big open floor plan. Everything was laid out so
beautifully. You could walk around and browse around. You didn’t
30
COHEN’S
have to fight with the racks. They just had the real way of doing
it. It was a real pleasure trip. And I remember Cohen’s advertising
in their windows, and all of a sudden there would be a bunch of
flags flying up to the top so you knew there was a big sale coming
down. Then there would be all these signs in the window large,
painted signs with anniversary sale or 50% off or end of season
sale and stuff like that.
YVONNE COURTNEY
My aunt was super and that was her whole business. They had a
wedding shop long before anyone else and a millinery ladies hats
and she was modern. We brought in a design group from Toronto
redesigned that store in Windsor. The interior was all done by a firm
called Cameron McIndoe and they had done a lot of modern stores.
BOYD COHEN
Cohen’s had elegance right off the magazine covers. They had
changed the shop completely. When you walked in everything
downstairs, girls and ladies, and you could find fantastic bikinis,
everything you wanted was down there and dry goods and on
the other side was men’s stuff and on the back walls there were
dry goods etc. But when you walked through the store and went
up, there was a staircase on the left hand side and a staircase on
the right hand side you went to the gent’s area and you went to
the ladies fashions. Well when you walked up those steps on the
left hand side and entered the world of Cohen’s fashion you were
just blown away. Everything was gorgeous. There were velvet
coats or fur coats, fur-lined coats, there were hats like you had
never seen before, there were shoes that were really today’s shoes
with a clutch purse to match and the clothing was just gloriously
beautiful and there was carpet on the floor and the dressing
rooms were snazzier. Everything about Cohen’s was just snazzy,
31
COHEN’S
totally snazzy and big floor length mirrors, 2 or 3 of them in a row.
You could stand there and see everything and you could stand
there and just admire putting on a coat or whatever. Cohen’s really
had a fashion sense that was a cut above. Cohen’s had a way of
presenting it that was in a league of its own.
YVONNE COURTNEY
They had everything. It was like a department store and I added a
piece 25 by 75 for a furniture store. That was when I was doing the
veteran business and then I built a furniture store downtown.
BOYD COHEN
I started a furniture business and that was right after the Second
World War, just before confederation and we were doing okay.
When confederation happened all the Newfoundland war vets
were given the same treatment as the Canadian War Vets and they
all got these allowances for furnishings and homes. The Canadian
government came out with allowances according to the time
you served for furniture and nobody knew how to apply for the
allowances. I phoned St. John’s Veterans Affairs and they said,
“Why don’t you come out to St. John’s and we’ll show you what to
do.” I got on the train and 13 hours later I was learning the ropes.
We were the only ones for maybe three years who could do it and
that’s how I got an interest in the furniture business
BOYD COHEN
Cohen’s Furnishing - Boyd Cohen built that into an empire in
Newfoundland and Labrador. Boyd is a sweetheart and he’s a
shrewd businessman, a very shrewd businessman.
MARY KELLY
32
CONNOLLY’S SHOE STORE
Connolly’s shoe store second from left. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
It was a typical shoe store except that they had seats with little
stools that were on an angle and you put your shoe on. They
had shoe horns and little mirrors in front of you so you could see
your shoes and this sort of thing. The Connollys were I believe a
Jewish family related to the Bashas or Boulases and they ran that
for years. It was a nice spot to go and while a lot of the shoppers
got their shoes at Riff’s or Cohen’s because they ran that as well,
Connolly’s was a place where you specialized in shoes.
ROY OLDFORD
33
CONNORS & BROWN DERBY
My grandfather moved here, P.J. Connors, in 1905. He worked
with the Reid Newfoundland Railway and he set up the station
in what is now the former town of Windsor. It was called Grand
Falls station. They prepared themselves for the opening of the
mill. There were a lot of products coming into the area for the
construction of the mill and he set up the station and became the
first station agent in Grand Falls railway station.
JOHN CONNORS
My father who was the youngest began at the age of 17, 18 working
on his own. He started a taxi business, The Ideal Taxi Business,
and then he started a trucking company. During the war years
between 1940 and 45 he set up a beverage company called the
Crystal Spring beverage and supplied soft drinks to the armed
forces in Botwood. In 1945 after the war was over he applied to
the town of Grand Falls because at that time in order to continue
with the beverage business he had to have proper water and sewer
which the town of Windsor didn’t have but the town of Grand Falls
did. Because the town of Grand Falls was a closed town you had
to be approved by them and so it was a very difficult situation.
This started out to be an issue for a lot of people and this is the
establishment of the business section in Windsor. I’m sure you
know about the other businesses that came here and couldn’t
establish in Grand Falls so they set up in Windsor. That’s the
Cohens and the Riffs, Kearneys and all these people.
JOHN CONNORS
In 1943 my father had been in the trucking business and the taxi
business. He decided to get into the restaurant business. So he
happened to be in New York in 1942-43 so he noticed this restaurant
Brown Derby Restaurant. So that’s where he got the idea. He came
34
home and decided to build a
restaurant and that’s what they’d
call it, the Brown Derby. So that’s
where the name came from.
JOHN CONNORS
They bought a building in 1943
and started a restaurant 1944.
November of 1944 it was destroyed
by fire. The whole Main Street,
or the better part of Main Street,
was destroyed by fire. So after
that they rebuilt a restaurant
and back in those days in the
’40s Newfoundland wasn’t a part
of Canada and products had
to be brought in to supply the
restaurant. Chocolate bars and
chewing gums and tobacco, that
type of thing had to be brought
in from outside of Newfoundland,
and it had to be brought in in
bulk. So my father used to bring
in chocolate bars from England
and Wrigley’s Chewing Gum from the mainland and Camel
Cigarettes from the US. They used to import from three or four
different countries and they used to have to bring it in in bulk
and because they had to bring it in bulk it was almost too much
for one restaurant so they got the idea of setting up a wholesale
business and selling to small family owned convenience stores in
CONNORS & BROWN DERBY
Brown Derby. 1944. Photo
courtesy of GFWHS.
35
CONNORS & BROWN DERBY
the communities of Windsor, Grand Falls, and Bishop’s Falls. So this
is how Brown Derby Wholesale developed.
JOHN CONNORS
Then we come to the smaller establishments a family of Strouds had
a van right across the road from the railway station. They owned a
fair bit of land there and next to Stroud’s there was an establishment
which is still in town today owned by Connors and Strouds and that
was the Brown Derby. The Brown Derby was a little café you went in
and sat down. There were seats. They had a jukebox and roller seats
around the counter and that was a pretty popular place for people
to go and have a meal or whatnot especially if you came in on the
train. We spent a lot of time at the Brown Derby and it was a typical
teen and other place at that point in time.
ROY OLDFORD
My father worked at that business and he had a partner, a man
by the name of R.D. Stroud. They operated that business on Main
Street until 1961 when we constructed another building which
was strictly wholesale. We got out of the restaurant business in
the early ’60s and just went strictly into the distribution business.
We ended up moving out of the business on Main Street because
it couldn’t accommodate the product and we moved to Hardy
Avenue in Grand Falls in the 1980s. We’ve been there ever since.
It’s a third generation company. My father started it, he died in
1961, my mother worked in the business, I worked in the business
when I was that high, going out and delivering with my father. I
ran the business until - well I’m still involved there but my son
does the day to day stuff now.
JOHN CONNORS
36
COZY CHAT
The Bashas I do believe operated the Cozy Chat and that was a
like a jukebox diner back in the day. I was sad to see that go. But
that was a popular spot. I’d say a lot of people met their significant
others on Main Street in those places.
COREY SHARPE
It was one of the prettiest places on Main Street. It was just
beautiful. I always wanted to go in there. Cozy Chat was directly
across the street from where all the trains would come in. When
we were older probably eleven or twelve mom and dad would take
us in there to get a soda or a banana split or something like that.
There was a big window on the front and when I walked in it was
the most amazing place I had seen as a child because it looked like
things I had seen in a magazine. There was lots of red and lots of
black and a big long counter and the counter had round stools and
the stools were on funnel shape bases and there was a huge mirror
on the back on this side and at that counter there were the drawer
handles and of course you were sitting in the booths.
YVONNE COURTNEY
The Cozy Chat was a milestone of a place. Everybody went there.
After Sunday mass, Dad would bring us to Cozy Chat and they
would have the soda fountain there so you would get a drink.
They also had a display of comic books so we were allowed to get
a comic book as well and he would let us eat all this stuff and we
would go home and of course mom would have Sunday dinner
on and we’d all be full of the ice cream and the drink. That’s it, it
didn’t matter, it was a joy for Dad. He would give us all this stuff
and he loved it.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
37
Wedding of Florence Hollett and Jack Maloney inside the Cozy Chat.
Photo courtesy of Anne Warr.
COZY CHAT
Close to the train time, the place would fill up. People would come
in and get a soda or get a cup of tea or whatever you are going to
order waiting for the train. The cars would start bustling on Main
Street. The place would get thick with cars and you would hear the
train. The train would have the most distinctive sound and smell.
You would smell the smoke of it as it entered. It just permeated
everything. The train coming in and all the cars are going crazy
trying to get a place to park. People are in the Chat and going out
of the Chat and going across the street to meet who is coming off
those trains. You are just sitting and watching all of this and you
can see out the big window, here’s the train station, here’s the train
and there’s all the people and all the cars coming and going and
the cars were amazing.
YVONNE COURTNEY
38
DUBOW’S
It was a general store much like Riff’s and the fire back in the
’40s it was wrote that he suffered the greatest loss. So I think it
was probably ‘44. I’m guessing his losses were up around $200,000
which was pretty significant for back then so after the fire he
pulled out of Windsor and went to Montreal.
COREY SHARPE
39
ECONOMY STORE
Economy Store second from left. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
It was a typical hardware store like today. A small scale Kent. They
had lots of tools, screws, nails, hammers, saws, that sort of stuff.
Everything for plywood, 2 by 4 all this type of thing. It was a local
store. You could pick up all kinds of hardware there, all kinds of
tools. It was great for the people of Windsor because houses were
built and then rebuilt and then built on and so on as you went.
ROY OLDFORD
40
FLIGHT’S DRUG STORE
There was a pharmacy, a drug store we called it in those days. Mr.
Flight had a drug store on Main Street as well so that you also got
your services for your prescriptions filled by Mr. Flight.
ROY OLDFORD
There is one other place that I remember well and that was the
pharmacy. You had no prices for any prescription drugs like you
do today, Mr. Flight had a habit where he would hum as he was
filling the prescription up and people always said that if you
wanted to get away with five dollars then you always had five
dollars in your hand or ten dollars because whatever you had in
your hand that’s what it would cost you. But that was the custom,
that is what they said about the drug store and Mr. Flight. He was
a tremendous man and very professional pharmacist who mixed
drugs as well.
ROY OLDFORD
41
GIBSON’S
George Gibson ran a theatre. He also used to bottle drinks, Crystal
Spring Beverages in the ’30s. The Connors had a little bottling
plant as well on Bond Street. But George Gibson had a farm too up
around Corduroy Pond.
COREY SHARPE
42
Harry Chow from Hoi Ping,
Canton, China came to Port
aux Basques, Newfoundland
in 1935 as a laundry man at
the age of 24. After paying
the Chinese Head Tax he
settled in St. John’s where he
worked for a period of time
before moving to Windsor.
In Windsor he worked in the
Globe Cafe before purchasing
the cafe and changing the
name to the Globe Restaurant.
Harry Chow did not speak
English very well and as an
immigrant was unable to
obtain a bank loan when he was looking to purchase the restaurant.
Through the generosity of a well known local Windsor businessman
Harry was able to borrow money to buy the restaurant. Harry’s
daughter Madeline Chow Healey noted that her father was a
hardworking man who hired many people from Windsor and gave
back to the community. Harry was also known for sponsoring fellow
Chinese immigrants and helping them establish themselves in
Newfoundland.
Harry Chow married Marjorie Breen who worked with him at the
Globe Restaurant and the couple raised their family in Windsor.
Harry had a close relationship with many other merchants and
business owners on Main Street and loved to play a game of cards,
and watch NHL hockey or the local Grand Falls team.
THE GLOBE RESTAURANT
& MAIN STREET CAFES
Globe Café. Photo courtesy of
Madeline Chow Healey.
43
THE GLOBE RESTAURANT
& MAIN STREET CAFES
MEMORIES
The Globe Café was run by Harry Chow and Marg and as
youngsters you could go in and get your chips and your coke or
whatever and there was meals being served there.
FRANK BESON
All the cafes on Main Street, before my time there was Red Rose
Café, the Maple Leaf Café, the Station View Café, The Globe
Restaurant started out as the Globe Café so I’m sure it was a
hopping spot.
COREY SHARPE
Because of the closed policy of the AND Company and the town of
Grand Falls there were no Chinese restaurants in Grand Falls so the
Chinese families settled in Windsor. So you had the Globe which
was owned by Harry Chow - Mr. Chow was basically the sponsor of
the Chinese families for central Newfoundland, he brought in a lot
of families. Three or four doors down there was another restaurant
called the Red Rose. These are original names I mean they were
phenomenal and way down the street there was another Chinese
place called the Maple Leaf. These were cafes. They weren’t like
the Chinese restaurants that you see today when you go in and
order Chinese food. You would go in and sit down and have a meal
if you wanted to but usually a beer or whatever you wanted to
drink and go from there.
ROY OLDFORD
I can remember it having wicked good food. Really good food and
the generation before me, teenagers I guess, the fries and gravy
were the best apparently. I think Mrs. Chow used to make the pies,
44
THE GLOBE RESTAURANT
& MAIN STREET CAFES
exceptionally good pies. That was a pretty cool spot. We used to
go there I know frequently but every Christmas Eve we would go
there, the whole family, go there for Chinese food.
COREY SHARPE
See Wayne’s World I think is where Chow’s was because it all went
down through the family - Chinese people in other parts were
known for Chinese laundry but out here it was Chinese food,
restaurants. You had them out on Main Street, you had the one
on Lincoln Road, there was a Chinese restaurant Sunset take out
or something like that and then there was Tai Wan here on High
Street so there was several Chinese restaurants.
MARY KELLY
Globe Restaurant. Photo courtesy of Madeline Chow Healey.
45
THE GLOBE RESTAURANT
& MAIN STREET CAFES
TOP: Chow family. Photo courtesy of Madeline Chow Healey.
LEFT: Harry Chow and Marjorie (Breen) Chow. Photo courtesy of Madeline Chow Healey.
RIGHT: Purity Café. Photo courtesy of Peter Curran.
46
HISCOCK’S DRIVE IN
Hiscock’s had a little store. I think it was the best soup I ever
ate. When we would come out of a teenage dance from Father
Meaney’s or St. Joseph’s youth club we would all go to Hiscock’s.
Chips and wieners, dressing and gravy or a bowl of soup and a hot
dog or something.
FRANK BESON
Oh yeah, Hiscock’s Drive In, everybody knew that. That was the
place to go on a Friday or Saturday night after you did anything
at the Arts and Culture Centre you’d go to Hiscock’s for a feed
of wedge fries. And that wasn’t around as long as the other
businesses. When I was a kid I don’t remember much about
Hiscock’s. Hiscock’s is something I remember from say high
school time versus younger than that.
MARY KELLY
That was super. They had - I’m not going to say - a limited menu.
The menu they had was perfected. Whatever you ordered you
knew what you were going to get. They were consistent. Very sad
to see that it’s gone. They had a cool building, cool atmosphere,
they had a jukebox and I can remember my friend sleeping over to
my house one night and we were probably ten or eleven. He was a
bit more of a hard case than myself and anyway if you are having
a sleepover then you are staying up all night so I can remember
1:30 in the morning my parents were asleep and he looked at me
and said, “I’m starving.” I said, “I’m pretty hungry too, we’ll get
something to eat.” “No,” he said, “I’m going down to Hiscock’s.” I
said, “You’re not going down to Hiscock’s.” “Yes I am,” he said. So
he snuck out of the house and went down there on his bike and
47
HISCOCK’S DRIVE IN
brought back the wedge fries. But yeah a good many people went
there after drinking and stopped into Hiscock’s. But they started
out as a store in the early ’60s and went on to develop the wedge
fries and I mean anybody who came here went to Hiscock’s.
COREY SHARPE
Hiscock’s was always the place to go. You went in and asked for mini
wedge and gravy. Wedge fries are chunks of potatoes and they used
to put this seasoning on them. The gravy could be a food group it
was that good. It was just delicious. That was the joke you go in and
ask for a mini wedge with gravy and you would go off with your
little individual and a pop. The parking lot would be full of cars.
BRIAN REID
48
KEARNEY’S
Kearney’s was a little store, wasn’t very big but it had a lot of
clothes and I remember buying a lot of mine there as I made that
transition to university. Kearney had good clothes and again it was
stylish stuff for the day. Racks and racks and racks of sport coats
and suits and coats and shirts and this sort of thing. In those days
Kearney’s was a good store, a well respected gentleman came over
from Ireland and started and developed a good business there. But
it was a little place, it wasn’t very big.
ROY OLDFORD
One shop that I did go into with my father was really, really
different. It was called Pat Kearney’s. It was a small shop and what
I remember most about that shop, every event that I ever went
in there when I was a child and especially when I got older, was
I walked through the door and it was like, “Oh my god the smell
of this place is beautiful.” I couldn’t identify it but I knew it was
the stuff that was in there, and as I’d look around at the beautiful
sweaters there, beautiful, they were white and they were cable knit
and then there were beautiful gloves. The wall had haberdasher
units. They were drawers that you pulled out, these beautiful
wooden doors with glass. They would pull out and there were hats,
and the hats were different textures or they were different tiny,
tiny, plaids or just solid tweed or they were a hounds tooth. I was
amazed at all the different types of hats because well the men
always wore hats in those days. All the men, every man alive in
those days wore hats. It was just the thing to do and it would look
great. This was the place where they got it all obviously. This place
was extra special because it smelled like some place special in the
world. It was like a little replication of something out of Ireland and
the smell was the beautiful wools, the tweeds, the leathers. All those
things. It was just that smell was beautiful.
YVONNE COURTNEY
49
KEARNEY’S
P.F. Kearney’s shop on the right. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
50
TONY KIM’S
Another place we used to go to was Tony Kim’s. I went to Tony
Kim’s every day of my life, me and my friend. He loved to see us
and we were regulars and a lot of people in Windsor who grew up
in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s went to Tony Kim’s faithfully. So it started
out his father had a take out there, a café way back, it had booths
and when Tony took it over he eventually transformed it into a
pinball place convenience store so that I guess that’s why I like
pinball so much. I went there every day of my life.
COREY SHARPE
Just up from Main Street going up towards Second Avenue there
was another Chinese place there, Tony’s. Tony and his father ran
that and they were Kims. Tony Kim and his father Mr. Kim were
there a long, long time and that was basically a hang out joint
where you went in and bought simple stuff. There was all kinds of
pinball games and usually the pinball games were the attraction
for us guys so we spent a lot of time in there as well.
ROY OLDFORD
51
Maidment’s. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
MAIDMENT’S
The hotel which is still there today was back in those days
Maidment’s. They started the hotel and then it became
Spencer’s and I knew it as Spencer’s. Next to the hotel was
Maidment’s garage and Maidment was one of the first families
to settle in Windsor and they had a garage there for a long
period of time as well.
ROY OLDFORD
52
HERMANN MÜNCH
Hermann Münch was born in Sandhausen, just outside Heidelberg,
Germany and his wife Gabrielle (nee Bozec) Münch was born in
Douarnenez, Brittany, France both in the year in 1920. The family
moved to Quebec, Canada in 1951 following the Second World War
through a sponsorship by the Gagnon family. Hermann worked in
a logging firm and a concrete factory during his time in Quebec
before learning of an advertisement looking for a shoemaker in
Grand Falls, Newfoundland. After interviewing with Joe Byrne the
family moved to Grand Falls in 1952.
Hermann worked with Joe Byrne in his sporting shop on High Street
in Grand Falls for some time before Hermann decided to open up
a shop of his own on Main Street. The first shop he owned was next
to the pool hall and the Globe Restaurant. The Münch family and
Chow family became very close during this time period. In 1964-
1965 Hermann moved the shop further down Main Street where the
family had a home. The shop was set up in an old warehouse owned
by George Stewart.
In 1974 the family moved to St. John’s where Hermann worked
for the prosthetics and orthopedics department at the General
Hospital. This move meant that Hermann and Gabrielle’s children
were able to go to university while living at home and the job
provided Hermann with a pension.
MEMORIES
I mean the main thing, what people remember about the store is
the smells, the smells of the leather and of the glue and things like
that when you come in.
53
Elizabeth Münch Power in front of Hermann’s Shoe Shop.
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Münch Power.
HERMANN MÜNCH
Dad was a shoemaker by trade and unless there was a profession
specifically for his trade they pretty much took the immigrants
and put them where the work was most needed. Dad, I think
initially went to work with a logging firm in Quebec and a
concrete factory but after about 7 or 8 months there was a guy
from Grand Falls by the name of Joe Byrne who either had or
wanted to open a sporting shop and I believe it was said that you
can open a sporting shop but it would be great if we could get a
shoemaker. So Joe Byrne who was from Quebec put an ad in the
paper there. It was picked up either by mom or the sponsor family
and said, “Here look here’s an opportunity to work in your trade.”
Dad responded, Joe Byrne came to Quebec, interviewed Dad and
took him to his shop to see how his work was, and hired him. So
then they came to Newfoundland.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
54
HERMANN MÜNCH
Hermann Münch came here after the Second World War. He
came from Germany and he was a shoe maker and that was his
profession here in Grand Falls for a long time. Then he moved to St.
John’s and he worked for one of the hospitals in St. John’s. He used
to make orthopedic stuff. Anyway he worked for me in St. John’s
when we opened the store on Water Street the furniture store. He
didn’t work in the store. He did all the repairs to the furniture. He
could do anything.
BOYD COHEN
He also had a sewing machine. Oh, now dad could sew. I mean
anything! Because you would have to sew and there’s a lot of
stitching in a leather shoe but he also used to fix things like the –
let’s say the hockey team. If there was some hockey equipment
because at the time all the pads and things were leather so he
would be able to sew that up as well. Belts he could fix, purses.
He got into making his own little things.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
The cobbler shop was dark and as soon as I opened the door
and went in it had the most glorious smell. It was beautiful and
I recognized the smell but I had never ever smelled so much
of it before. It was the smell of polish - shoe polish and leather.
That’s what the smell was. I recognized the smell of shoe polish
and it was oily and it would get on your hands and stain your
hands. Anyway I could smell this in his shop. The shop was dark,
I remember the shop being dark like it needed to be brightened
up with paint and there was all kinds of shoes and shoes that
needed to be repaired. There was nothing new in there. And as
soon as Mr. Münch came out and spoke I knew immediately this
is somebody new. He was very dark hair, black, straight long hair
55
Hermann Münch on left. Circa 1950s. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
HERMANN MÜNCH
56
HERMANN MÜNCH
on the top of his head. He was a tall, tall man. His hands were big
hands, working hands, and they were always dark with that shoe
leather polish and his speech was completely different. It was
a thick, thick speech and he had a dark heavy voice and I was
just enthralled with him and how he spoke and if you thought
he was interesting – wait till his wife came out in the shop. She
was different sound altogether and she looked completely
different and you knew these were not Canadians. They were not
Newfoundlanders. These were another culture. So it was so nice,
Main Street was just an awesome place to experience another
culture. It was beautiful. Later on when I was an adult, that shop
he moved out of there and his cobbler shop became a part of his
house way down the other end of Main Street.
YVONNE COURTNEY
After a while, I don’t know exactly how many years, he decided
he would like to go out on his own and have his own store. The
first shoe shop was next to the pool hall. It was on Main Street
and at that time it was next to the Globe, Chow’s restaurant. Mom
and Mrs. Chow got to be very good friends over the period of the
businesses being side by side. They were there until 1964 or 1965.
They then got another shop further down Main Street closer to
our house. It was on the same property as our house. It was the
corner of Main Street and Seventh Avenue. It was a warehouse
that belonged to George Stewart who was another businessmen
on Main Street and he rented that warehouse to Dad so he could
set up a bigger shop. And that house being on the property also
came from George Stewart so it was a better fit for all of us.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
57
HERMANN MÜNCH
It was a long, narrow kind of shop and when you’d open up the
door and you’d go in there was a counter with the cash register
in front of you. On each side of the walls there were just shelves
that all of the shoes were put in. I think there was one side for
the shoes that were fixed and one side for the shoes that weren’t.
There was a little sofa for people to sit in and then a telephone
next to it. So you had your counter, mostly mom would be
behind the counter, or dad, or both of them. And there were little
tickets. I remember you’d write out your tickets, attach them to
the shoes and then give the person their little stub and there
was a little box under the counter where you would put all of the
used tickets and Dad would keep the big boxes of tickets and on
Bonfire Night every year we would have this big bonfire across
the tracks in a field and Dad would bring them down and burn
them all on. It was great.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
The shop was a big part of our lives obviously. I mean you
remember your day to day stuff. I remember dad getting up
every morning and going into the shop probably by 8:00 or
9:00 in the morning and he was there till 9:00, 10:00 at night. He
worked long hours. Saturday dad worked but not long, he didn’t
work in the night I don’t think. He just worked part of the day.
Sunday morning we would get ready for church and then come
home. But the big thing for Sunday's, Sunday’s were Dad’s time
with the family.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
58
MURPHY’S BARBER SHOP
That was a super place. There was a chair, and the barber of
course. Mr. Murphy had a white shirt on, a white coat and then
all of the smelly stuff was located in front of the mirror of course.
And these things you shook back in those days. I don’t know
what it was but it made you smell right nice. The haircuts ranged
in style from complete crew cut in the summertime where
everything was cut off flat to whatever style you wanted back
in those days. I remember him telling me that a bunch of bloody
Englishmen ruined my business. That was in ‘63 when the Beatles
came out and of course the mop flop and the long hair. We all
went then to long hair. And of course business went downhill.
Every kid, nobody got a haircut every two weeks or three weeks.
Everybody wanted to be looking like the Beatles and so on and
it killed a lot of the traditional barbering business. He was forced
to close up and go and look for another job in the ’70s. But it was
an interesting place and the mirror was there and you sat down
and waited your turn. You knew everybody and knew what
you wanted and you had little kids crying and you had big kids
coming out saying you cut off too much of my hair or you didn’t
cut off enough and so on and so forth but he took it all in stride
and was a great old guy I must say.
ROY OLDFORD
59
AMBROSE PEDDLE
Ambrose Peddle was the member for the area at one time and he
for a time period he had a novelty store right near George Stewart’s.
They just had knickknacks and souvenirs. I would class it as a
novelty store. He had a business there for a while, a few years.
JIM MERCER
60
E. Paddock & Sons. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
PADDOCK’S
He sold different things there. It was a grocery store but he also
had toys and so forth and in the back he had a little meat market.
People liked soup on Saturdays, so go in and get a soup bone at
Paddock’s, might cost you 25 cents or 50 cents. They were nice
people. You go in and get your meats, your pork chops, whatever.
FRANK BESON
Paddock’s had a store. There was a meat shop in the back so they
had a butcher shop, and then in the front was I guess what you
could call a convenience store now and that was the place to go
after school. So everybody would pile in there because they had
61
Paddock’s interior. Photo courtesy of Jim Paddock.
PADDOCK’S
ten cents worth of rubber candy. You’d go up and say, “Can I have
ten cents worth of rubber candy?”, and they would put them into
little bags. Or the bubble gum, or they would have exercise books
or pencils on your way to school if you didn’t have one. Then it
has got to be the most annoying thing for the people who were
serving: we would all be there, there would probably be ten or
fifteen people, kids in front and we’d all be there with our coins,
tapping our coins on the counter. Everybody waiting to get served
and they would be tapping and tapping.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
62
RIFF’S
James (Jim) Riff arrived in Newfoundland sometime in the late
1930s and started off as a travelling salesman selling various items
in the communities of Millertown and Buchans before establishing a
store on Main Street in Windsor in the mid 1940s. This initial general
dry goods store was called the Windsor Style Shop before being
renamed and expanded as Riff’s. Through the year Riff’s expanded
into clothing and furniture and also across the province especially
in rural areas. Riff’s can still be seen around the island today.
Over the years Riff’s also opened a shoe shop and the much awaited
Toybox during the Christmas season. Riff’s would frequently send
buyers to Montréal on buying trips for the new seasons and the Riff
family eventually made the move to Montréal themselves.
James Riff’s two sons’ Donald and Ivor Riff also worked in the family
business and Ivor and his wife continue to operate Riff’s today.
Although the shop on Main Street no longer exists Riff’s continues
to have a presence in the Grand Falls-Windsor through their store
on Hardy Avenue and through their real estate business.
MEMORIES
They were fabulous owners. All I can say is good stuff about the
Riff family and how they ran the business. Whether it was the
father who started, or Don Riff who took over when his father died.
They were fabulous people to work for.
MARY KELLY
Riff’s they were great merchandisers. Its funny how some of these
people started. Some of them started out by moving here and then
63
RIFF’S
walking the tracks to go up to Buchans to sell clothing because
Buchans mine was on the go, and Millertown and all those places.
JOHN CONNORS
Riff’s was the department store here in Grand Falls. Well Windsor
is where it set up because of the rules that the AND company had
about businesses back in the day. You had to have approval from
the AND company to have your business set up in Grand Falls. So
you saw the Royal Store and the Bay and things like that setup
on High Street and the Co-Op but businesses, and a lot of them
were Jewish owned businesses, didn’t have permission to come
inside the boundaries so they set up in Windsor Station. Several
businesses set up there. Riff’s was set up by Jimmy Riff, James Riff,
who came here after or during the Second World War.
MARY KELLY
It had originally been the Windsor Style Shop. That was the
original name of the building and then they started to name it
after their family name. It was a huge store and when you were
a little kid it seems twice as huge. It was massive when you were
a little kid looking at it. It was always a thrill to go there because
there was always so much stuff to look at. I thought it was a great
place when I was a kid.
MARY KELLY
Donald Riff, boy he had great stuff. He used to go to Montréal and
he used to go to these fashion fairs with his buyer. They would
pick out these clothes - I tell you there was nothing like Riff’s
clothes. They had great stuff.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
64
Riff’s. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
Riff’s staf Christmas party. Photo courtesy of Mary Kelly.
RIFF’S
65
Riff’s Shoe Store staf in 1960s. Mr. Dutton (Manager), unknown, unknown,
Eileen Warr (Jewer), unknown, Marie Decker (Saunders), Lloyd Gregory.
Photo courtesy of Jim Paddock.
Riff’s staf inside the shop. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
RIFF’S
66
RIFF’S
They started here. This is where they started and they had success
here. Then they branched out across the island with their dry
goods business. I went to Fogo a couple of years ago, Fogo Island,
and the only major department store in Fogo is Riff’s. So that’s
where they went. To the smaller communities that could sustain
it if it was the only store. Some of them are still around. A lot of
them have closed out over the years. The youngest son of the
family, Ivor Riff runs it, or his wife runs the business now and they
run it essentially from afar. So it expanded. I think at one point
and time they had over 30 locations province wide and gradually
as competition came in like Wal-Mart it decreased.
MARY KELLY
My mother worked at Riff’s. As a matter of fact she worked at the
two stores. There was Riff’s shoe store and Riff’s clothing store. So
she worked at them and I remember going in there. As you went
in through the doors, if you went in through the set of doors there
was a desk on the back, right at the back of the wall, kind of high
up and you could get cheques changed there. The store was full
all the time. Not full of people but full. You could buy almost
anything there, especially clothing. They had different people you
got to know ,and it was an experience to go in there because we
were only youngsters at the time. Riff’s shoe store disappeared
and then they had their clothing store, and then they moved in on
another street here on Hardy Avenue.
FRANK BESON
My aunt worked there for over 32 years. When she passed away
they closed the store for her funeral, and they put a half page ad
in the newspaper recognizing her work for them. She had been
sick for over a year before she died. She had had a massive stroke
67
RIFF’S
and was off work but they paid her full salary the whole time she
was off which is something you didn’t hear of back in the day.
So the compassion that they showed their good employees was
what I really wanted to give as a story. They were good to their
management. They were good employers and good people. I
remember when I was a kid, Mr. Riff, anytime he went to Montréal
on buying trips I ended up eating bagels for weeks because he’d
be bringing back the bag of bagels to his management team. So
they were a very giving people.
MARY KELLY
The ladies department was always tight. The racks were sometimes
circular, and then sometimes rectangular. Always silver, lovely
chrome looking racks but they were so tight with clothes it was
hard to pull them apart to just move the stuff to see the fashions.
But they were really smart because they would have mannequins
around the areas so you saw something you like - hey Austin knew
where it was and what size it was going to be in, etc. Ladies too.
I found Austin really, really, I wouldn’t call it helpful. I would say
knowledgable because he could look at you and say, “Oh, I’ve got
just the thing for you. I know exactly what would look great on
you.” And he was usually right. He knew what was going to be
absolutely chic on you kind of thing.
YVONNE COURTNEY
Well the buyers would be the managers of the different
departments. Austin Clarke managed the ladies department so
he’d go off and purchase. I guess they would have one for the
men’s department as well. They used to go on buying trips each
year and pick out what was going to be shipped in and come back.
That was it. Whatever Austin thought was going to be it that year
68
RIFF’S
was going to be what everyone was wearing. Everybody would
have it. If you had one, everybody had it, the same thing. You’d all
have the same snowsuit or you’d all have the same dress at grad in
a variety of different colours.
MARY KELLY
We used to go out to Windsor with our mother shopping on Main
Street at Riff’s. I remember Joanie Thompson and Blanche Lacey –
they were so sweet. They had beautiful clothes. It was really a
great time for us to go out with our mother. She used to buy out
winter coats and all our clothes.
SHEILA POWER
Windsor Style Shop Ltd. Established in 1946 Main Street, Windsor.
Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
69
Riff’s. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
RIFF’S
70
ROACHE’S GARAGE
I remember Roache’s Garage I think it was an Esso garage. They
had a cooler - a drink cooler on the outside. And I remember the
first one was the old Coke bottle vending machine but it was like
a deep freeze, it wasn’t standing up. What you did is you put your
money in and the bottle came out and you would have to grab
hold of the neck of the bottle bring it over to the side drop it and
then the hole got wider and you could take out your Coke or
your Pepsi. Then when the cans came in they also had a vending
machine that was outside so as kids we would all come up and get
our money, put it in and get our drinks.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
71
STEWART’S
Stewart’s during the early years. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
Stewart’s store before being torn down in 2010. Photo courtesy of Carmel Barry.
72
STEWART’S
He had the first supermarket in Grand Falls. George read a lot, he
never traveled a lot, but yet he knew everything.
BOYD COHEN
George Stewart always had this terrific brown hat. And I remember
seeing him at the store and he always seemed to wear a white
apron and sometimes he would just have the pants and the shirt.
He was a tall slim man and distinguished looking but this hat, this
brown hat, it seemed like it went with him forever.
YVONNE COURTNEY
I used to go in there and I used to go see George from time to time
and he’d tell me some stories and I would have a few questions
for him. I know the early early beginnings of Stewart’s. His father
Colin was one of the first people to set up on Main Street. And he
actually set up in a canvas tent and he would cater to the trains
and the early workers. I know from a picture the sign on the tent
said, “Stewart’s home of good drinks”. So he would have mugs hung
up inside and I think his wife, Bertha, would be working there. And
people would come over from the trains. They would get tobacco
pipes, a snack or whatever - and she would serve them mugs of
drink. Hanging on canvas signs overhead from the counter would
be all the drinks and the prices and whatnot. So that was the
humble beginnings of Stewart’s. Stewart’s operated for a hundred
years with two owners. Colin Stewart and his son took it over in
the late ’40s - George did. George said Stewart’s was the first self-serve
grocery store in Newfoundland according to him. You could
walk in and not walk up to the counter and give the clerk your
order. You could go around and pick up what you wanted. He had
a little advantage there in that he would bring it in, he would order
stuff by the carload, the train carload. So I guess he would get a
73
STEWART’S
deal on stuff and he’d order in a full carload of whatever. So he had
a pretty good set up there and he was pretty successful. He also
had a delivery service which was a plus.
COREY SHARPE
Stewart’s was a grocery store and he was doing more volume
business than the two or three in Grand Falls. He worked on low
margins and high volume. There was times when he had probably
as high as 8 or 10 boxcars of freight sitting on the siding and
there was no trouble for him to bring in a boxcar full of carnation
milk, for instance. That’s one item that was very popular in the
early days in Newfoundland because fresh milk wasn’t available.
So anyway there is approximately 800 cases in a box car and he
would sell that within two or three weeks. It’s just amazing how
people flocked to Windsor to shop.
JOHN CONNORS
In the early ’50s I remember as a young kid growing up not only
did you go to buy your groceries there but you left them with him
and he delivered them, horse and cart. So the cart would come up.
Groceries would be on the back and they would stop at your house
and bring in the groceries and away to go. It was a tremendous
service. And Mr. Stewart was a very wealthy man eventually
but worked very, very hard for his livelihood and people really
appreciated all of the things he did for the area, no question about
that. Went on to own his own plane, had a place on Rushy Pond
where he landed his plane.
ROY OLDFORD
He had the best prices in town and had the first shopping bags
that I remember. They were paper with a handle and it was
74
STEWART’S
Stewart’s interior. Photo courtesy of Carmel Barry.
Stewart’s paper pick n pay bag. Photo courtesy of Carmel Barry.
75
STEWART’S
Stewart’s money system. Photo courtesy of Carmel Barry.
76
STEWART’S
called pick and pay, printed on the bag. You had no credit, all
money with George. So pick and pay but he had real good prices
and everybody went there. He was always working like the dog
himself, filling the shelves and all that.
DOLORES BECKER
Now the hustle and bustle inside and outside Stewart’s was like you
knew you were heading to Stewart’s because the place was buzzing.
There were cars. There were people inside and outside and as soon
as you walked through the door it was zing, zing, zing, zing. You
could hear machinery now, not just cash register machinery because
there were little tiny cans flying across the ceiling.
YVONNE COURTNEY
Stewart’s store being torn down in 2010. Photo courtesy of Carmel Barry.
77
STEWART’S
The store was really noisy with cash registers and people were
milling around. You went in and you went up and the first stop
was the sale aisle. They had everything in boxes put out on sale.
It was all in one spot. That is the first place you went to see what
was on sale. Then you went over and they had wooden barrels full
of salt meat, salt riblets and fat back pork. I remember mom going
there and the man came there with the apron on. He had a big
metal hook and he shoved it down in the barrel and hauled it up.
Mom would say, “No, no, no. That’s too fat.” So he would throw that
one down and dig around in the bottom and haul up another one.
That way he got a bit of salt meat that mom liked.
BRIAN REID
That was a classic. Everything was done by hand. Notebooks –
three cans of milk, everything was written down and when you
paid for it they had a system. The only other system I saw like
it was in the Royal Stores in Grand Falls, whereby you put the
bill and the money in a little container and that - whoosh - was
whisked along on an overhead line up to the office. The change
was made up in the office and then - whoosh - down it came over
the line again to the clerk at the counter and she passed you out
your change and your receipt. That’s the way it was always done
there. Salt beef was in barrels and prices were really, really fair.
Of course they lasted a long time even after Sobey’s and these
people came to town because he was a shrewd businessman.
If he saw Sobey’s was doing a particular item cheaper than he
was, then down it would come. Bingo. It was a classic store no
question about that.
ROY OLDFORD
78
VOGUE
The first movie theatre in Windsor was built in the 1930s and was
called King Edward theatre and for some reason that closed down
or was destroyed in the fire of 1942, I think. Destroyed the whole
of Main Street the fire did. Mr. Basha came to town, Jim Basha and
he built a theatre. It was called the Vogue Theatre and that was
the place to meet. I mean there were matinees on Saturdays at 2:00
and you saw Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and Allan Rocky Lane.
The Vogue theatre had shows at 2:00, 5:00, 7:00 and 9:00 and they
were usually filled. I mean it was a good spot.
ROY OLDFORD
The Vogue Theatre was run by Mr. Jim Basha and I remember
going there. Both sides and up the middle there was seats and up
top you could go up there and have a smoke - the crowd that were
old enough to smoke. You’d go to the theatre and you’d get a bar,
a bag of chips and a bottle of drink, and you’d get into the theatre
for a quarter. I remember that and you had a little booth there.
You would just get your ticket there and then you had your drink
machine where you put in the money and you haul your drink
down through the slot and haul it up.
FRANK BESON
I can remember my father saying going there as a kid they would
have cowboy suits, holsters and guns up on tickets for the boys. He
said, you go into the movie, it was whatever 25 cents, and it was
5 cents for a ticket or something so back then the cowboys and
Indians in the movies right. All the young fellows wanted those suits.
COREY SHARPE
The Vogue Theatre, Basha’s, now that was a fabulous place. We
used to go there for the movies and it was an awful place. The
79
kids would get the bags of Adams chips and you would eat your
chips and inevitably at some point in the movie somebody would
be throwing chip bags at the screen and somebody would have
to come down and say, “You know you’ve got to stop.” But we saw
plenty of good movies in the Vogue Theatre.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
Father Meaney started a theatre so that we had two theatres. We
had Father Meaney’s which we called it and then the Vogue. You
could go to Father Meaney’s at 2:00 and back to Vogue at 5:00. It
would cost you ten cents a movie and if you were lucky and had a
quarter you would get a bottle of pop and a bag of chips. So it was
a great Saturday.
ROY OLDFORD
Vogue Theatre on right. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
VOGUE
80
HOLIDAYS ON MAIN STREET
I can remember when we were kids walking up the sidewalks,
especially around Christmas time, was almost like you were in
Times Square with the amount of pedestrian traffic. I mean just
bumper to bumper walking on the sidewalks and that type of
thing. It was really amazing.
JOHN CONNORS
It was busy. It was very busy and at times they used to have the
Salvation Army down there going around different places with
their musical instruments and they were playing their Christmas
noels. That was exciting. About the middle of December we’d
come out of school because the school was very close and the first
place we’d make for probably on a Monday morning was Paddock’s
store. Here were the dolls and the guns and the toys for Christmas
right in the window and everybody was gathered around looking
at this. We’re going to get this, and that was exciting. Christmas
was busy down there and the stores probably didn’t open down
there until the last two weeks probably in the nighttime. And the
stores would be busy.
FRANK BESON
Riff’s Toybox was there which was a very exciting place to go
when we were kids. That would be where the Windsor Style shop
was to and when he built his bigger Riff store across the lane from
it that was a place, probably a couple of months prior to Christmas
that would be loaded up with toys. It was a very exciting place
and all the kids would bug their parents to bring them there and
pick out all their toys and what not so it was pretty exciting.
COREY SHARPE
81
HOLIDAYS ON MAIN STREET
Christmas on Main Street – Oh my God the most important thing
about Christmas on Main Street was the window. They would
have all these sheets, Advertiser pages or samples covering lots of
window and you couldn’t see anything for what seemed like ages
to a child. It seemed like a long, long time waiting for Toyland,
waiting for those papers to come down. When they took all the
papers down there was the big, big windows and everything you
ever wanted was in those windows. That was Riff’s Toyland. It
was just beautiful. There were all kinds of dolls, big dolls, walking
Cohen’s interior during the Christmas season. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
82
HOLIDAYS ON MAIN STREET
dolls, little dolls, ballerina dolls, Scottish dolls, and little toy
trains. Beautiful, beautiful things in those Toyland windows. Riff’s
Toyland for Christmas was spectacular – the window was.
YVONNE COURTNEY
Oh, the whole of Main Street loved Christmas. I mean Christmas
was great. There was a store called Peddle’s Gift Shop that was
on Main Street just before you cross the street to go to Stewart’s.
They had all little Christmas decorations in the window and then
you had Cohen’s and Riff’s. I mean you go into Cohen’s and they
would have their toy department up in the back and Riff’s had a
toy department as well. It was festive, people were festive.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
I remember Christmas you would go out and it would be all the
lights. There would be turkey draws and raffles with spinning
wheels on the corner. It was just a different time.
BRIAN REID
Seasons changed in the windows, every particular season. Easter
was special at Cohen’s in the window because there would be
flowers in the window. They would decorate the windows with
flowers, little artificial flowers and things like that.
YVONNE COURTNEY
Labour Day was another big one because you would have the
parade that would go down the street. I think it would go down
Main Street and up Bond Street as well. But the kids would get out
bikes and decorate our bikes and go into the parade. Labour Day
was a big day for both Grand Falls and Windsor.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
83
POST OFFICE
The post office was a big thing on Main Street. A big thing that
I remember because not everybody had post office boxes so a
lot of the time the mail was kept in the back. So you would go
into the post office and coming home from school whether it was
lunchtime or after school the place would be flooded with kids
going in and getting their mail because their parents would say,
“On your way home pick up the mail.” So you would go into the
post office and it would be flooded. They would say, “So-and-so
Smith your mail.”
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
84
FIRES ON MAIN STREET
The other thing I remember about Main Street is when Stewart’s -
sometime in the ’50s - Stewart’s itself burnt down and that was a
major major fire. Luckily it didn’t spread to the other buildings but
it was a major fire.
ROY OLDFORD
I must have been around seventeen or eighteen probably, maybe
’48, ’47 or something. Now don’t know for sure but I remember we
all trotted off to Windsor. We had to see this blaze and we thought
about all the bars and the candy that was going. A friend of ours,
who was really big, managed to scatter off with a box of bars or
something and of course we were all after him to get the bars.
Everybody walked to Windsor and walked home again.
DOLORES BECKER
85
Stewart’s fire. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
FIRES ON MAIN STREET
Well we know what happened in the Alteen building. They
were soldering jewelry or something, repairing it and a fellow
got a phone call and went to it and left the butane tank and
the soldering attached to it on and for some reason or another
it blew. This was in the ’40s and the fire started way down the
street and took the whole street except for the Cozy Chat and
George Stewart’s.
BOYD COHEN
86
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS
OF AMERICA STRIKE
I do remember one thing very very well. I was at a 7:00 show at the
Vogue Theatre and about three quarters of the way into it. This was
in 1958 and it was unusual then to see your father in the movies. I
was 12 or 13 years old then, you didn’t want to see your dad. But he
came right into the movie and he said come on we’ve got to get
out of here. I went out and the place was blocked. The building that
Strouds owned, at that time was owned by the union - the IWA, the
International Woodworkers of America. That was the year they had
their major major battle with the Newfoundland government. They
ended up calling the RNC and RCMP into Badger which was a logging
town. During the fight that broke out up there Constable Moss of the
RNC was killed. The body of Constable Moss was brought down to
Windsor that night and was being transported by train to St. John’s
and all hell broke loose on Main Street. I mean there must have been
two or three thousand people there. When I got out of the movie
it was just two doors up and people were throwing rocks and cans
and everything at the IWA office. The two leaders of the IWA were
taken out through the back door and were frisked away by car, I
assume into Grand Falls and then on from there. After that they were
never able to prove who killed Constable Moss because of the fracas
between the loggers and the police but Joey Smallwood, the premier
at the time, came out and started another union and basically forbid
the IWA from ever coming to Newfoundland again. It was an amazing
time and one of the things that I really do remember well.
ROY OLDFORD
I was on duty, I was working in the office when the IWA riot
took place on Main Street, Windsor. Some of the buildings were
damaged and things done and I am pretty sure it was the same
night that Constable Moss was killed at the IWA strike in Badger
and his body went on the train from Windsor.
JIM MERCER
87
CAMARADERIE
The relationship between a lot of the business people on Main
Street was great. They helped each other out. They really did.
Mr. Stewart helped mom and dad out a lot. He was a very sort of
quiet man onto himself but boy he could be a really kind man
and his wife was really kind as well. So Mom and Dad and Mr. and
Mrs. Stewart developed a good friendship.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
88
AMERICAN REPEATER STATION
The American Relay Station was on Main Street. They operated
the communication line that was set up in the war from Harmon
to Argentia, the air base to the naval base. There were a bunch of
Americans that were stationed up there so it was always known as
the relay station.
COREY SHARPE
The American Repeater Station was there where the Americans
were stationed. A bunch of them there, I don’t know how many
were there but quite a few American servicemen there and they
maintained a communication line across the island. I had two
telegraph keys. One was maintained by the Americans and one
by our group. If we had a problem with communication we would
just contact them and they would be going out over the road on
speeders and checking the lines and things like that. They were
there when I came there and they were there for a long time after.
JIM MERCER
89
ON APPROVAL & CREDIT
At that time in the stores like Riff’s and Cohen’s you would be able
to get things on approval. So you would go in and there were three
or four dresses that you liked but you weren’t sure so you would
bring them home, all three of them. They would write out a little
slip for 24 or 48 hours so you could try them on. You could either
bring them all back and buy whatever. And you didn’t have to put
any money on this stuff.
ELIZABETH MÜNCH POWER
They were all pretty shrewd business people they set a rapport with
the people of Windsor who were not permanent employees and
Mr. Riff and Mr. Cohen you know they gave credit not like today
with the credit cards and visas but they gave credit themselves to
people who they knew couldn’t afford it. Mr. Flight who was the
druggist, the pharmacist he had a rapport with the people too and
set up some kind of a credit system whereby if you couldn’t afford
all the drugs you could pay so much and so on and forth so that was
interesting the way they did that.
ROY OLDFORD
90
MULTICULTURAL
I would think this side of Montréal - it was very small - but it was
like a little Montréal. A lot of different cultures and sights and
sounds. The business owners on Main Street came from China,
Lebanon, Syria, Russia, Norway, Ireland, United States, England, so
it was a melting pot of cultures.
COREY SHARPE
Windsor was a community that grew up outside the Grand Falls
district. Those people who set up merchant shops for Windsor
weren’t particularly allowed to set up shop in the community of
Grand Falls because they weren’t employed by the mill. As far
as I understand it, Windsor became a very thriving merchant
community outside of Grand Falls where everybody shopped. It
was wonderful because they had the bustling,what I would call,
the melting pot of cultures. As a child who grew up within Grand
Falls who only knew basically the British town and community,
when we went to Windsor to shop which was two or three times a
week I experienced seeing people who were different to me and I
thought that was really interesting because they were so colourful.
That is what I found very appealing – the type of language they
spoke, how they looked immediately struck me and the way they
greeted you. So I call it the melting pot of cultures because well it
is a cliché to use but it certainly was Windsor.
YVONNE COURTNEY
There were a lot of different cultures. Lebanese people owned
businesses on Main Street, Jewish people owned businesses on
Main Street, P.F. Kearney, Pat Kearney came from Ireland. He used
to have this Irish accent and we used to enjoy listening to him. He
loved Irish whisky. They were all accepted into the community of
Windsor but the AND Company didn’t open their doors for any of
91
MULTICULTURAL
these people. Like Alteens, they started out in the town of Windsor
and moved into Grand Falls after. The shoe store there Si Boulas he
was Lebanese. The Bashas were Lebanese. They all had businesses
there for years and years. They had a restaurant there called the
Cozy Chat. There were a lot of different ethnic groups that lived in
the town of Windsor.
JOHN CONNORS
They were all real personal friends. My father was really close with
the Lebanese. He used to bring them to the house and get them to
cook Lebanese meals. I remember one was cabbage rolls. We used
to love them. Myself and my brother would have a competition to
see who could eat the most cabbage rolls.
JOHN CONNORS
IF THERE WAS ONE THING THAT YOU THINK PEOPLE
DON’T KNOW ABOUT MAIN STREET OR WINDSOR,
WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT WOULD BE?
All the different cultures, and the people that were there. Back
in the day they considered it a haphazard almost like a vigilante
community but those people were smart people. I mean they were
super smart and they had a lot of nerve to come here to set up and
take the chance and I’m willing to bet that their kids and the next
generation went on to do wonderful fabulous things. So I would like
Main Street to be remembered as the little melting pot of cultures.
COREY SHARPE
92
Wilansky & Sons. This store was situated on the corner of Patrick Street and
Main Street. It was purchased by James Riff in 1945 and a second story was added.
Photo courtesy of GFWHS.
INCOMPLETE LIST OF MAIN
STREET BUSINESSES & SERVICES
Although the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society and the
Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador worked hard
to learn and record memories of all the shops and businesses on Main
Street due to the nature of oral history interviews and the short time
frame we were unable to gather stories for all the businesses. In light
of this we have decided to include an incomplete list of Main Street
businesses. If you have any further information including photos
and memories of the businesses and business owners listed below or
suggestions of who else should be included please contact the Grand
Falls-Windsor Heritage Society.
93
Abey Lamb’s Chip Van
Alteen’s
	
American Repeater Station
Anderson’s Store
Becker’s
Bernard Dubow’s Store
Bluebird Taxi
BMO
	
Brennan’s Pool Hall
Brown Derby
Churchill’s Supermarket
Cohen’s
Connolly’s Shoe Store
Cozy Chat
Dave’s Barber Shop
E. Paddock & Sons
Economy Store
English’s Jewelry Store
Flight’s Drug Store
Gibson’s Movie Theatre
Globe Café / Globe Restaurant
Goodyear Humber Stores
Hermann Münch’s Shoe Repair
Hiscock’s Drive In
Hoffer’s Optometry
Independent Co-operative Store
IWA Union
Joseph Bernstein
Jubilee Store
P.F. Kearney
King Edward Theatre
Maidment’s Hotel and Garage
Maple Leaf Café
Murphy’s Barber Shop
New Deal Store
New Star Café
Peckford’s Singer Sewing
Machine Agency
Peddle’s Gift Shop
Post Office
Purity Café
Red Rose Café
Riff’s
Roache’s Garage
Shallow’s Gym
Spencer’s
Stewart’s
Station View Café
Stroud’s Chip Van
Stroud’s Pool Hall
Tony’s
Train Station
Tuma Jeweller’s
Victory Store
Vogue Theatre
Voss’s Garage
Wayne’s World
Wilansky & Sons
Windsor Style Shop
94
Carmel Barry
Dolores Becker
Georgina Bellows
Frank Beson
Audrey Burke
Madeline Chow Healey
Boyd Cohen
John Connors
Yvonne Courtney
Peter Curran
Kelly Drover
Grand Falls-Windsor
Heritage Society
Denise Fraser
Dale Jarvis
Mary Kelly
Trudi Marie
Jim Mercer
Jessie Meyer
Elizabeth Münch Power
Roy Oldford
Jim Paddock
Harry Pinsent
Philip Power
Shelia Power
Brian Reid
Margaret Scott
Corey Sharpe
Cathy Simpson
Melissa Tobin
Doug Wheeler
Amanda Williams
Windsor Historical
Facebook page
THANK YOU TO:
96
About the Heritage Foundation
of Newfoundland and Labrador
The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
is a nonprofit organization which was established in 1984
to stimulate an understanding of and an appreciation for
the architectural heritage of the province. The Foundation,
an invaluable source of information for historic restoration,
supports and contributes to the preservation and restoration
of buildings of architectural or historical significance.
The Heritage Foundation also has an educational role
and undertakes or sponsors events, publications and other
projects designed to promote the value of our built heritage.
The Heritage Foundation is also involved in work
designed to safeguard and sustain the intangible cultural
heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador for present
and future generations everywhere, as a vital part of the
identities of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and as
a valuable collection of unique knowledge and customs.
This is achieved through policies that celebrate, record,
disseminate, and promote our living heritage.
The Collective Memories Project is an initiative
of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of
the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and
Labrador, with funding provided by the Department
of Children, Seniors and Social Development.
COLLECTIVE MEMORIES PROJECT
Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland & Labrador
1 Springdale Street
St. John’s, NL Canada A1C 5V5
VISIT ONLINE AND LISTEN TO AUDIO RECORDINGS
OF THESE STORIES, AND MORE!
www.collectivememories.ca
1-888-739-1892
2017 • ISBN 978-0-9937456-6-9