Sunday, April 30, 2017

Defunct Pharmacies Drug Stores of Winnipeg

Academy Road, Snell's just beyond the Shell Station
One of the most popular posts I've ever written and which gets hundreds of people looking at it every month is my defunct restaurants of Winnipeg article. My list is far from from comprehensive but a good start when remembering long closed eating establishments in the city.  It is difficult to remember history when you're living it. The neighbourhood is just the neighbourhood and you don't often stop to write it down or take a picture of it. Photographs might exist in private albums but for the most part, you have to rely in faulty memory about what was where and when.

I have meant to write the post for a while and it is about all the small community pharmacies that were the lifeblood of everyone's lives until the superstore pharmacies that fill our megaplexes now. It seemed most drug stores were within walking distance and were as prevalent as the the small grocers.

I was raised in River Heights and was familiar with a few pharmacies in the 1970s and 1980s.  On Academy Road at Lanark where7th Avenue Fashions has stood for more than 25 years was Bassey's Pharmacy. It stood for decades and like a lot of drug stores sold everything from greeting cards to comic books. For a long time, there was a front and a back entrance and kids would enter from the back and head straight to the comics section.

Bassey's Pharmacy would later buy Snell's Pharmacy at Queenston and Academy Road. It was a little smaller and only had street parking but was closer to some local grocers like Tom Boy and a baker beside the Toronto Dominion Bank. The 7/Eleven would make its appearance in the 1970s on the spot of an old Safeway.

At the south end of River Heights, there was a Nieman's Pharmacy between Lanark and Refrew Streets. The Nieman family would go on to own a series of drug stores including one further down Corydon at Harrow and Stafford. The building years later in the 1980s would house Nibbler's Nosh. Strangely enough the whole building is once again a drug store: a Pharma Plus Rexall.

Near River Heights Junior High at Niagara was a Dixon's Pharmacy where the Paper Gallery now stands. Students from the school would troop there in winter for snacks and in summer in the late 1970s go to an ice cream shop where 7/Eleven stands. I can't recall the name of the ice cream place other than it was Dairy Whip or something to that effect.

Every neighbourhood has stories of their local pharmacies. I will add more over time but please share yours as memory fades with time.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Niagara Drugs north side of Grant at Niagara Street. Remember going there in early 70s to get firecrackers.

Anonymous said...

My family owned, lived behind, Black's Drug Store, 579 William. I was a child there, from 1938 to 1949.

Unknown said...

It was Frosty’s

Unknown said...

It was Frosty’s and the Rocco station was on one side Dixon’s on the other

John Dobbin said...

Yes, just remembering all the Roco stations in Winnipeg. One was beside the St. James Hotel as well. It sat where the vendour is now.

fairycake said...

Hello from Australia!
I am probably a teensy bit older than you lads but I too frequented Dixon’s for the sweets , Frosty’s for the ice cream sandwiches in the summer. The Tom BOY Store where I would purchase cigarettes for my father when I was 7 yrs of age . But further south on NiagaraSt at Grant Ave was a pharmacy with two Jewish Delis/grocers on either side of Niagara St. These establishments hold fond memories .for my sisters , the three neighbours’ daughters and myself . Each Sunday morning we set off for mass while our parents remained at home to seek heavenly grace ... . One of the six of us would “refrain” from placing our offertory money in the collection plate so that we could all share a treat on the walk home purchased at one of the kosher establishments .
Three cheers for Canada and its cultural melting pot !

Don C said...

Cantin Drugs was an institution in Charleswood, owned and operated by Harvey Cantin. He is retired and living in Charleswood now after a stint running a pharmacy in Nunavut. His store was beside the Tom Boy, which later became a Family Fare. When the FF moved to a new strip mall next door, Harvey also moved to take advantage of the anchor tenant. Then a big Safeway opened up on Grant and the FF folded - and there was no longer sufficient traffic to keep the drugstore afloat.

My dad used to say that you could find anything at Cantin's... and of course in the old days they had one of those tube testing machines...

Unknown said...

You forgot to mention that Cantin Drugs was the first pharmacy in Canada to throw out tobacco proucts

Harvey Cantin ...... yhcantin@shaw.ca

Unknown said...

Snells at Academy and Queenston. Wish there were photos

Dfryers said...

I lived near Bassey’s Pharmacy and remember walking through the snow to test our tv tubes on their testing machine. Mr. Bassey always greeted me by name even after I grew up and moved away.

Bonnie said...

I lived across street at 598 william ave from 1952 to 1959! Remember ice cream cones being round, frozen cylinders pushed into top of cone!! Seems nobody knows what I am talking about! Ha! Good old days for little tykes.

Bonnie said...

Lived on William across the street from 1952 - 1959. Daily haunt for little kids!