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Chris Carr says closing the Steveston General Store is bittersweet.
Photo by Chung Chow
A Steveston fixture bids farewell
Chris Carr, who has helmed the Steveston
General Store for 35 years, has run her race and is ready for new challenges.
“It’s bitter sweet. It was not an easy
decision to come to. I am going to have a sale soon and then I’ll be out the
end of September.”
It’s been a family tradition, starting with
Carr’s mother, June Lamond, who ran Thrifty Baby, a long term fixture, near Rod’s
Building Supply.
“My mom opened the store in 1983, then The
General Store, and I was here by about 1986. It was so important for her to
provide such a good service for the community.”
Later, when Lamond wanted to retire, Carr
continued on with the enterprises, including the general store her mother had
begun.
Lamond is still alive but very much retired.
“It was a really nice time when we were here
together,” she said.
“Most of the stock is because so many of our
buying customers became selling customers. We’ve always been booked six weeks
in advance with 15 boxes of merchandise a day.”
Carr makes exceptions for shut-ins, going to
their home to appraise, gather and then give a cheque for the items she knows
she can sell. She helps people empty their homes when downsizing and helps
people furnish their new homes affordably.
“I feel I live at the store and have spent so
much time here and so many hours here running the business. The village has
changed so much that my heart will not quite be in it the same.”
She wishes she could spend more time at her
favourite part of the business, interacting with customers: “It is an enormous
weight on my shoulders that I can only be out there a few minutes. I work most
nights. The work is incredible.”
Carr speaks of the march of time in
Steveston: “When the store is gone and who knows what it will become, it will
be sad. I have a little brick over at the interurban tram that’s the Thrifty
Baby and the General Store. That will be all that’s left. Not many people will
know what the village once was.
“It is certainly bitter sweet for me to be
going. It’s very very hard for me when I hear all the customers speak of it.
That is the greatest gift for me to hear. “
Carr relishes the times she can connect with
people.
“So many customers over the years, sharing
different stories of their family and their childhood, when they see an item
and it takes them back. I have my customers to thank.”
After 35 years, working most days and most
nights, lifting heavy boxes and furniture, Carr is ready for a break: “I never
thought I’d be here for long. And I’ve been so blessed to meet and to deal with
all the people who’ve come into the store.”
The store’s closing is bittersweet. “Another
customer told me today that the store has such a lovely feeling. Those are the
greatest things. It’s never been about money. Listening to these people, it’s a
wonder I would ever leave. I’d still be here at 90,” says Carr.
What of the future? “It’s a wonderful
exciting new time for me. It will be, no matter what I do, just because I will
be going in another direction down the road.” Ruefully discussing the customers
she rarely gets to interact with, “I’m a hugger. In my next career, I’m going
to be a professional hugger,” she says with a smile.
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