N & D

I grew up on Everts near Grand Marias and from the time I was probably too young, my mom would give me little shopping lists to pick up things here and there. If she was making a roast and one the carrots had gone bad, I’d be dispatched to pick up carrots. Now and then my Grandma would slip me a little extra on the way out the door for a treat and I’d pick up a pack of candy cigarette and pretend to smoke them as long as I could from biting them. Let’s face it, no one got the candy cigarettes’ for their compelling flavour; it was always about enacting some western movie fantasy.

When I started going to Massey and would walk through the parking lot on the way home, the stop-ins got more frequent. Short on milk or instant coffee, mom would ask me to stop on the way home from school. Eventually I was hired at N&D to clean and bag groceries. It was a great work experience. I knew most of the people coming through the line and they’d always send regards to my mom and independence came in a familiar setting. My parents had moved on and I was married and living my adult life before N&D closed but it was a sad day for me. End of an era.

Matt – 58 – Windsor

Picture from Windsorite.ca click here to see original source