In the late 1800s the general store was general indeed.

A hundred years ago the general store was the center of activity in most Maritime villages. It was here that local trade was carried on.

While money seldom changed hands, accounts were kept for credit as people brought in their butter and eggs to exchange for the things they couldn't grow or raise in their own backyards or half acres.

An old journal with records of a general store during the years 1876 and 1877 presents a sample of how business was conducted in most communities, changing little over the years leading up to the Great Depression. No name appeared on the journal, but the location was thought to be somewhere on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, perhaps in the Musquodoboit area. It tells an interesting story.

Molasses by the gallon, flour and oatmeal by the barrel, spices, tea, sugar, and salt were among the food items that appeared often in the store's journal. Eggs were also frequent entries, supplied by those who kept hens and purchased by those who did not. 

Pennies were important then, and dollars, less frequently noted, bought big items.  A gallon of molasses - that's about four litres by today's measure - could be had for 50 cents. Since this was the most popular sweetening agent, barrels of it poured forth into the containers brought in by the customers to get filled. "Poured" might not be the word to describe the action, especially in winter when the sticky stuff balled up into a thick mass that jammed up the spigot. Sometimes it would take an hour or more to fill a quart jar, but patience was as necessary a commodity as the tallying. The old saying that something was "as slow as cold molasses running uphill in the winter time" might well have been coined by someone waiting for a fill-up.

Sugar was expensive at 10 cents a pound, while brown sugar only appeared twice in the two years of journal-keeping, both times showing a quarter pound at a cost of 5 cents. This was an age where many people collected and boiled their own maple sugar, which provided them with sweetening for at least part of the year. Those who didn't have trees to tap had to face the high cost of 18 cents a pound at the general store.

Butter was cheap by today's standards, bringing 19 cents a pound to those who churned cream from their own cows in the exchange process recorded within the journal's pages. In one entry, the sum of $3.09 was credited to the account of Wallace Sergent for "16-and-one-half pounds of butter @ 19 cents a pound." The storekeeper apparently made a penny a pound, since Archibald & Company purchased 99-and-one-half pounds for $19.90, or 20 cents a pound.

Eggs were traded, not necessarily by the dozen, but by the willingness of the hens. One entry tallied "1 and 5/12ths dozen eggs @ 12 cents a dozen," which gave a debit of 17 cents to one account, while the account of Watson McCurdy was credited with 51 cents for 4 and 3/12 dozen eggs. Eggs were also sold by the barrel, as shown in this entry: "To 1 Barrel Eggs - 54 dozen  $9.72."

Livestock was also traded at the general store. On September 1, 1877, William Sedgewick bought a yearling steer for $11.00, but had he waited for the animal to mature he might have enjoyed the same financial return as that of Jas. B. Higgins, who received $38.00 for two cows. 

Poultry also figured in trade, when a pair of chickens could be had for 30 cents and a pair of geese for 45 cents. Turkey must have been considered a treat at 16 cents a pound when compared to beef at seven cents. One 10-pound turkey was noted at $1.60.

Herring was sold by the barrel, or, more usually, the half barrel, at $3.75, while codfish cost 6 and one-half cents a pound. Several accounts were either "settled in oats" or "settled in butter." 

Other staples frequently listed in the old journal included flour, which, probably due to quality or colour, was priced from $7.75 to $9.50 a barrel; oatmeal cost $8.00 a barrel, while white meal (could this have been corn meal?) was only $4.25 a barrel.

Beans were sold by the peck for 75 cents or by the pound for 5 cents. Salt cost 35 cents for half a bushel and rice, though only seldom mentioned, was 18 cents a pound.

In the spring, presumably after personal supplies of apples ran out, dried apples could be purchased for 15 cents a pound. Raisins were 16 cents a pound but were seldom sold in that quantity - half pounds were usual. Ginger and pepper were both 8 cents for the quarter pound and soda, cream of tartar, baking powder (though less frequently) and other spices were among the staples. Vinegar cost 30 cents for half a gallon and regular soap was 5 cents a cake, while soft soap sold for 9 cents. Candy was noted only once in a long while, at quantities of 5 or 10 cents worth. This speaks of an infrequently offered treat for children.

Financing

There was no need of a bank as long as the storekeeper was willing to handle the high financing that some entries reveal. In Alex Taylor's account, the cost of a barrel of flour was $7.50, but if paid in one month, it would be reduced to $7.25. And George Higgins, II, was paid $6.00 cash out of Olive Higgin's money.

Some entries showed that no cost was too small to be charged. In various accounts, balances were listed for 8 cents on goods, 3 cents on a slate, 1 cent for a darning needle and 2 cents for a pair of shoelaces.

Nor did one have to go to the store to do business. Some accounts were settled wherever the storekeeper and customer happened to meet. P.A. Logan settled his account of $1.00 at the Jas. Murphy Auction, and John Ogilvie paid the $5.00 he owed at the Agriculture Society meeting. Even church offerings were handled at the general store, as indicated in the account of Mrs. P. Logan on June 21, 1877: "To Pd. Church Subscriptions $2.00." 

Other services rendered

A summons could be served, a letter written, a watch repaired, and wages paid - all transactions recorded at the general store. During the month of May, the men were busy planting. P.R. Clarke bought 2 ounces of carrot seed for 12 cents while another entry showed one-quarter pound of turnip seed was available at 10 cents. By August, school was being anticipated. There were no free school books then and a little learning came at a high cost:

To 1 No. 6 Reader     45¢   
1 Spelling book    17¢
1 No. 2 Reader     12¢
1 Slate            17¢

The general store was also the pharmacy, and more than that, if the pills didn't work, a tombstone could be purchased on time, as this entry indicates: June 22/76   To 1/3 Amount of Tombstone   $10.00

The doctor's bill might also have been settled by the storekeeper, being charged in turn to the patient's account. On Sept 8/1876, a $10.00 doctor's fee was charged to the account of George Archibald. Sadly, it appeared that the good doctor failed to revive his patient, for the next entry on that account was:
To Freight on Tombstone  $1.00 

Medicines were not the complicated prescriptions of our day, nor were the long pharmaceutical names in evidence. A box of worm lozenges, a box of pills, and a bottle of cherry balsam each cost 25 cents, while those with failing eyesight could purchase a pair of spectacles for 30 cents.

The general store has left the rural scene in the Maritimes. It has been replaced by the supermarket, the meat market, the fish market, bookstore, tobacco store, pharmacy, optometrist, the bank, and many other establishments. And we wonder about rising costs.

The Sobeys legacy

With a hundred years of corporate history under their belt, the Sobeys family of Stellarton, NS, has built a business that has worked its way into the fabric of our social consciousness in a way few Atlantic Canadian brands have.

The Sobeys name conjures up a tapestry of images beyond the automatic recognition of a ubiquitous brand name. For grandparents of baby boomers brought up in Pictou County, NS, the word Sobeys likely conjures up memories of John W. Sobey in 1907 making his way down their street with his oxen-drawn meat delivery cart, and they would undoubtedly recall the 1949 opening of the first self-serve supermarket in the region. The parents of baby boomers will recall the first Sobeys that moved into their town, the excitement of a grand opening, the crisp uniform dresses of the all-female cashiers, the precise arrangements of tinned goods and remarkable choice of produce, and then the clickety-clack of fingers on the registers ringing in the weekly groceries. And baby boomers will remember the days when a grocery bag - any grocery bag - was called a Sobeys bag in the same way the office photocopier was the Xerox machine, even if it wasn't?

Sarah Burns Swanson fondly remembers the Sobeys of her childhood in Halifax: "We never shopped anywhere else. I loved stopping in the coffee aisle, soaking in the scent and occasionally turning on the machines to watch the beans spill over the floor!" When Burns Swanson returned to Halifax as an adult and starting shopping at the Sobeys of her childhood once again, she was amazed to be greeted by the same produce manager she had known as a child. Proof positive that even in growing from a small-town, one-man enterprise to a national grocery powerhouse, Sobeys remains a steadfast ingredient of our past and our present.

Famous for tea

In the 1800s Saint John, NB, was one of the world's busiest ports. Not only were merchant vessels arriving regularly, loaded with sugar and molasses, but before those vessels left port they had to be supplied with everything from poultry to nails. In 1867 George and William Barbour set up a wholesale business at South Market Wharf, providing for the fleet and selling groceries throughout the region. There were bumpy years - after the fire of 1877 the family lost the company for a short time - but by 1899, the firm was back in family hands, expanding and flourishing. Among its acquisitions was Dickason and Armstrong in 1910, makers of King Cole tea and coffee. It is this product that the business, begun by George and William 140 years ago, is best known for today: G.E. Barbour Inc.'s King Cole is the best-selling tea in Atlantic Canada.

HABERDASHERY - clothes, boots, hats

The general store served as the local haberdashery. A suit of boy's clothes cost $5.50, while boots varied in price. In June of 1876, the Rev. Meadows might have taken his entire family to be shod. Five pairs of boots were charged to his account, at $1.50, $1.65, $.90, $1.40 and $3.00, for a total of $8.45. Did the Reverend walk out with the expensive ones?

As winter turned to spring, women's thoughts apparently turned to spring bonnets. Hat shapes sold for 25 cents, half a yard of velvet cost 18 cents, 2 yards of ribbon set the hatmaker back another 54 cents, and the flower that topped it off was 20 cents. It must have been a beauty for $1.17.

For the ladies, the occasional parasol sold for 75 cents, while corsets, being of a more necessary nature, cost 65 cents. Gloves ranged from 20 to 30 cents a pair, caps and hats from 20 to 40 cents, and handkerchiefs were 13 cents each.

Many different kinds of yard goods were listed throughout the journal - gingham, flannel, shirting, muslin, lining, luster, cotton print, crape (note the spelling), twilled homespun, plain homespun, and turkey red cotton were all popular, along with ribbon, flowers and other notions.