3207 Kalum: Street: is just ‘an:

_ addréss.to most,: but it is one of
the « ‘oldest: addresses in ‘Terrace. .
It-is the. address of “Terrace

Drugs,

~ by Alie- Toop

_at this time were B

- usually opened up the store in
the Mor ning. The first thing’ to ‘spot, Of course they felt guilty

- do was open up the safe, and

Terrace Drugs. had its be-

‘ ginnings on the east side of

Kalum Street, next to the Ter-
race Hotel. It was built around
1918 by a John Campbell. Dr.

Bleeker, who. practiced medicine |

in Terrace from: 1920 to 1924,

bought ‘the drugstore and was-
both the practioner and: phar-

macist. _

. In 1924 he and his wife moved’ ;
to the Queen Charlotte Islands;

and the drugstore was. sold

again, this‘ time to Mr. R.W.
: Riley, who had come up here

from Victoria. It is this period in
history that Terrace old timers
fondly remember,

Kalum Street was the main

street at that time, and fhe
favorite place for young people
to gather was Riley’s drugstore.
It was not only a drugstore with
lots of weird and wonderful
things, it was also an ice. cream
parlor. So it is easy to under-
stand why the young people
made it their favorite hangout,

. Of: course, the young girls
working in the store had prob-

ably something to do with it too.-

Two young girls Blackie there

ney) McConnell

Elsie (Kenney) . Smith. . Elsie.

remembers that time- well. She

next was making the ice cream,

~ : and all the cranking that went
with it and all by hand. When

her sister Blackie took over, she
would make ice cream at-night,
and had all the boys cranking.
Julia Little is another old
timer who worked for Mr: Riley
and so did Maxine Llewellyn.
This was during the later part of

the 30’s, when they were teen-.

agers. Not much had changed.

They were still making ice cream’

and still cranking that handle by

hand. Besides selling prescrip-.
_ tion drugs and over the counter,

remedies for whatever ailed a
person, they also sold jewellery,

china, ladies’ handbags, purses .

for men,. Victrolas and Victor
radios, spring tonics, Nyal blood

purifier and clocks; and the.
drugstore was still a popular
place for young people. As a.
‘matter of fact, the boys hanging .

out there were called the Drug-
store Cowboys. ‘These boys
would sometimes play pranks on

' the girls who worked there. One

of their favorite tricks was set-
ting all the alarm clocks to go
off at the same time.

“The drugstore would only be

“open ‘til two o'clock on Sunday,

and Julia remembers that all

kie (Ken- :

her sister Needless to say, he was not at all

their friends. would” come: over -

and together they'd. all walk to’
‘the Skeena. Bridge. That was
their big outing: on "Sundays.
. During. the 40's, Elsie Froese
and Marie Little worked for Mr.:

Riley. Elsie worked in-the store
for almost eight years, Not only
were they the sales clerks, they
also had to-cut the wood to keep |
the stove. going, During “cold
days they would even go back

after hours to put more wood on

the fire,.so it wouldn’t be cold.i in
the morning.

Electric lights were “still i in the.
future. Lighting the store was
done with gas lamps..On Wed-
nesdays the store would only be
open ’til noon, and that would’
always de the busiest morning of

-the week. That was when the

Toronto Star would. come in,
and the whole town read the |
Toronto Star.’

On nice days, the girls would
sit outside and take turns
waiting on customers, On one
such day, or actually evening,

. when it was not busy at.all, and

looking: down the street, they

could not see a sou! anywhere, |

the girls decided to close up carly

and go swimming in the Brauns’ .

Island slough. Since Mr. Riley

was never around at night, they’

felt it was safe to do so: Nobody.
would ever find out.
‘Well,. when they got back at

nine o’clock, the store was open

and Mr, Riley was manning it.

pleased and as soon as the girls,
came in, they were fired on the

and foolish, and after Marie and
Elsie talked it over, - Matie. de-

' cided that they would i ignore’ ‘be-
ing fired and go to work in the

morning as if nothing had hap-

pened, and so’ they did, They
Opened up .the store, went to ~

work and when Mr. Riley came

‘in, he just smiled and never said —
another word about it, and that

was the end of that.

In the late 40’s, the drugstore
changed hands once again, when
Ben Dodd bought the. business.
This is also the time when Alan
Dubeau ‘comes into the picture.
He was going to UBC and work-
ing in the store during the sum-

mer holidays. To allow for

upgrading of Greig Ave. and ex-
pansion of the Terrace Hotel,
Ben Dodd had to move and went
across the street to its present
location. Moving day was on a
Wednesday and half the town
showed up to help hin move. —

This building at the time was.

owned by Pete Murie and Ron»
‘Hartnell, They had fixed up the.

store front and put in a large
plate glass window. It was
around 195] when Ben Dodd

‘bought the building. Many Ter- -

race ‘residents and former
residents worked for Ben, To
name a few: Norah Olson from
1953 to 1955, Hele Booth from

. This is Terrace Drugs a as It looked in 1948, as captured by : an unknown photographer. The

colorful history of the business includes employment there by many well-known Terrace
olatimers, who were teenagers at the time.

1957 to 1975, ‘and there. were
many more over the years, like
Jessie Foster, Margaret Casey,

-Marjorie Llewellyn, Ann

Tumilson, Patsy Phillips. Fran
Prest and Susan Burke are

‘presently employed at Terrace -
Drugs and have ‘been since the.

late 60's; ' -

‘Alan. Dubeau: graduated in
1951 from UBC .and went to
work as a pharmacist full time.

Ten years. ‘later, when Ben |

retired, Alan bought’ him out.
The store has undergone quite a
few changes since. The store at

one time was quite a bit smaller -

and the back was used as a store

-room. There was only one en-

trance to the store and that was
in the front.

One nice but windy day, Cliff

“McChesney, the butcher from

the Co-op, ran over hollering;
“Your store is on fire.’? Alan
was busy at the counter, he
glanced over his‘ shoulder, could
not see anything and said; ‘‘Oh,
sure!’’ Cliff petsisted, and when
Alan got around tothe back,

‘there it: was. The whole back end

of the store was engulfed in

“flames. What had happened was
- that outside in a large wooden

bin with apple boxes in it, some-
body deliberately had tossed a

‘match just to get a nice fire go-
‘ing. The wind fanning the -

flames did the rest. This hap-

‘pened just before _ Christmas,

and rather than a Christmas

‘sale, they had a fire sale.

. Alan remembers one other
Christmas, when he happened to

ho “Postal Code - aa
o Seniors. in Terrace and District $12.00

Seniors: outside: of. ‘Terrace. and. District |
$15, 00 © ms

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~ “Genin No. = :
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_ Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7

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be at the store for something and |

the Silver Tip Cafe, right next
door, burned to the ground.
Another time it was the Terrace
Hotel, across the street, going
up in flames.

- Over the years, many people

_ have passed through the doors

of Terrace Drugs. Different
generations of the same family

have worked at Terrace Drugs.

Now the store has been sold
again. Northern Drugs has taken
over, and with the change of
ownership, also come changes to
the present set up. Terrace
Drugs as we haved known it, will
be no more, It is the end of an
era, but it is also the beginning
of a new one. Times are chang-
ing, and so is Terrace Drugs. -

Terrace Review |
Avenue, :

annenaet

canine

ST

Monday to Friday
10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Saturday
a] a.m. to il p.m,

Sunday
_lla.m. to 11 p.m.

“¥es, we now have your favorite selection of Imports!”

635-6300
COLD BEER and WINE STORE

— Open Holidays —. |