Over the Counter: The Country Store in Canada

Fay Lando was Projects Officer at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Toronto.

In 1941, Statistics Canada reported almost 12,000 country stores in Canada. In 1985, only 4,000 remain. These stores sold everything: groceries, footwear, medicines, livestock provisions, even wallpaper. But they were more than business establishments and their proprietors were more than shopkeepers. The country store was also a social centre and news depot, and the proprietors, often a husband and wife, doubled as barber, pharmacist, counsellor, and/or dentist as the need arose.

Chapters of the book deal with topics such as the barter (as opposed to the cash) system, bookkeeping, transport of goods, the establishment and place of the store in the community. One chapter discusses the rebirth of the country store in an age of “new marketing techniques, metric cash registers and computerized purchasing systems.” Each chapter is introduced by the author, followed by reminiscences on the topic by individuals from across Canada who were interviewed by the author. Their names and geographic locations are given.

These reminiscences make up most of the text. There are about 12 per chapter, and they vary in relevance and interest. The author has retained the personal style of speech of the interviewees, thereby adding local color to the text. Interesting photographs of country stores and their milieus are included. This is light reading that captures a bit of the flavor of a way of life that is now part of our history.