Today’s homogeneous stores lack the distinctive smells of stores I remember. Scents such as vanilla and musk are now wafted from the ventilating systems and the experience of shopping at a clothing store is the same as a browse through the hardware or toy departments of Wal-Mart.
In downtown South Porcupine, we had many stores – each with their own distinctive odors. They were so different, I’m certain that even blindfolded, anyone could identify the place of business.Walking into either of the two entrances of the R.A. Beamish store, you were met by the wonderful, sugary smells of the candy department, and especially the odour of the toasted coconut that covered the soft, square, marshmallow treats. To the right, was the ladies clothing department and the smell of new fabrics. On the left, were the greeting cards and paper doll cutout books – with the smells of ink and new paper. Near the rear of the store was the acrid smell of rubber – in boots and of a table covering called ‘oil cloth’, sold by the yard. Up the centre of the store was the cosmetics department with the brand names, Tangee, Ben Hur, Lander, Campana – each with their own distinctive fragrance.
We had five drug stores in downtown South Porcupine, and each store was readily identified by the scent of the women’s cosmetics that were featured. Adamson’s Drug Store carried Max Factor. Grant & Byerlay Drugs were the town’s distributor of Vita-Ray and Elizabeth Arden Cosmetics. McDonald’s Pharmacy featured Richard Hudnut hair products, as well as that company’s companion cosmetics, DuBarry. All one had to do was walk into those stores, and the uniquely distinctive fragrances greeted you at the door.
South Porcupine had two hardware stores. On Golden Avenue was the Porcupine Hardware, originally owned by Eli Cantor. He sold the store to Eino Luhta and Frank Adamo. At the corner of Bruce Avenue and Main Street was a branch of Marshall-Ecclestone’s. It was later owned by Vern Rekela. Fire destroyed both hardware stores, and Ken and Sheila Stringer rebuilt the new Porcupine Hardware at the site of Vern’s.
As the scents of the drug stores were notable, so were the smells of the hardware stores. Everything from the bulk nails and roofing tacks, kerosene (called coal oil then), Varsol, turpentine, rubber gaskets, to the heavily oiled floors, rolls of linoleum and the new wood handles on the tools all added their own very distinctive smells to the stores.
Dalton’s Bus Lines waiting rooms in Timmins, Schumacher and South Porcupine all reeked of stale cigarette smoke combined with rubber boots and oiled floors where through the years, thousands of miners waited for their transportation to work.
Dustbane, a treated green sawdust with a pungent, but pleasant odor was used to sweep floors in our schools. Moth crystals remind me of the smell of the deodorizers that were used in the washrooms at the old South Porcupine theatre. That odor hit you as soon as you entered the lobby of the building.
Of all the smells I remember fondly, I cannot forget the delicious odour of French fries. We called them ‘chips’ before we were Americanized by the golden arches. The best chips in South Porcupine were made at a tiny little diner located west of the bus stand on Bruce Avenue. Mr. Fern Roy served the chips in a paper cone, loaded with salt and vinegar, and I’d give the world to have a serving of them today!
That’s my view from Over the Hill.
