As Andy Williams reminds us in his 1963 classic, Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year”. The song is a celebration and description of activities associated with the Christmas season, focusing primarily on get-togethers between friends and families.
But what’s missing from the song? Well, it’s the task that some of us most associate with Christmas, whether we love it or dread it … Christmas shopping.
Now pull up a chair in front of that roaring Christmas fire and let’s go on a journey back in time to the downtown of our youth (or that of our parents and grandparents) and have a look at what Christmas shopping was like when downtown Sudbury was the retail centre of our city.
Dashing through the … mud?! Not exactly the picture we have in our head when we begin to sing “Jingle Bells”, but if you were to go Christmas shopping in Sudbury circa 1914, that just might be what you were doing.
In that first holiday season of the Great War years, Christmas shopping more or less involved a family navigating their way through the snow and mud in that one horse open sleigh of yore or trudging through the ruts and strolling along the wooden sidewalks that bordered all of the roads at that time.
In the early years of the Town of Sudbury, the Christmas shopping hot spot was Durham Street, centered around Mr. F.M. Stafford’s “Twin Stores” on the northwest corner at Larch Street. (Remember this location, it will play an important role again in the future).
The store’s advertisements leading up to the holiday reminded everyone that “YOU are going to be Santa Claus, too.” Shoppers could choose from a vast assortment of clothing with most prices hovering around the $1 mark, along with teddy bears and dolls for the children or even furs at 25-per-cent off.
If clothing wasn’t what the distinguished gentleman had in mind, he could stroll over to Beath’s Jewellers and pick out a watch bracelet, “A Christmas Gift That Any Girl Will Prize.” And, then, of course, he could also head over to Cochrane’s Hardware to purchase a beautiful wooden toboggan for the children to enjoy for countless hours out in the snow on Christmas Day while the adults are relaxing and preparing for dinner.
Thanks to popular culture, our nostalgic remembrances of Christmas shopping in times past does not rest in this earlier, post-Edwardian life. In fact, it is almost always reminiscent of mid-20th century modes of dress and decor.
That aesthetic is captured perfectly in a short scene from “The Godfather” where Michael Corleone and his wife, Kay, are seen exiting a store into the lightly falling snow dressed in their finest Sunday clothes, carrying stacks of wrapped gift boxes and handfuls of paper bags.
By the 1940s and 1950s, if you were to tell someone that you were going Christmas shopping, it was most likely at one of those two venerable local department stores, F.W. Woolworth and S.S. Kresge, which resided within a stones-throw of each other.
Kresge’s beckoned parents with the reminder to everyone that they had “No Shortage of Toys” for the kids. I’m sure the staff at Woolworth’s would have said the same thing about their toy department as well. And, don’t forget to stop by and see Santa to tell him what you want him to bring on Christmas morning.
As a throwback to the simpler times, you could bypass Woolworth’s and Kresge’s, and head to Birks-Ellis Jewelry to purchase a vanity set for the special lady in your life, “an impressive gift that merits confidence.” Of course, since we’re down that way, let us not forget about Eaton’s, that Canadian retail mecca that continued the tradition of being the go-to shopping destination at the corner of Durham and Larch which began with the Twin Stores.
Durham Street itself at the time was a perfect example of that mid-century Christmas aesthetic mentioned earlier, being the most decorated street in town. The mixture of the Holiday-specific lighting and the various stores’ neon lights reflecting off the falling snow, as well as the plentiful Christmas displays in the windows of nearly every store, did much to heighten the Christmas spirit.
In the 1960s, the Zellers store, which replaced the Balmoral Hotel at the corner of Elm and Elgin Streets, welcomed shoppers to visit Santa’s Toyland, with a decorated street-side window. One year it was even anchored by a tree nearly reminiscent of the one that got Charlie Brown in trouble.
Beginning in the 1950s, and on the opposite end of the downtown, if you got off the bus at the Union Depot, one of the first places you may have ended up at was Walter Muncaster’s Canadian Tire store. On the Elm Street side, you would be greeted by the sight of a jolly fat Santa riding a rocket (missile?) pointed at the buildings that comprised the Borgia neighbourhood.
They would not survive another 10 years, and their demise would bring about the next stage in the downtown’s shopping evolution.
Now, fast forward (but not too fast or you’ll miss it) to the 1970s, with the entrance of the City Centre onto the scene. This replacement of the Borgia heralded that a sea change in downtown Sudbury Christmas shopping was on the horizon. Slowly disappearing were the days of hopping from store to store (and from warm to indoor comfort to cold northern weather) for that perfect Christmas present. It was replaced by a warm “one-stop shopping” experience with Santa in the Centre (Court) of it all.
Remember that Eaton’s store that everyone flocked to on Durham? It took its top-notch Christmas tree displays and moved to the corner of Elm and Notre Dame. As a mall anchor, it became one of the two most important stores in the City Centre, along with Bonimart at the opposite end.
Christmas shopping in Sudbury had begun its march towards becoming a completely indoor pastime.
Shoppers could now spend the entire day making their way along decorated hallways from store to store. Parents, of course, could make it a family affair and bring their children to meet Santa (and even get a Polaroid to capture those “few exciting moments”) at his special castle.
With the day’s shopping finished, the 1970s family leaves the City Centre with their purchases and full of the Christmas spirit. Into the gently falling snow they walk as the downtown of their present melds with the downtown of the past, represented by the Woolworth’s store in plain view at the corner of Elm and Durham. The memories of past Christmas shopping excursions come flooding back bringing a smile to the face and a tear to the eye.
As Christmas draws near, we would love to know, what do you, dear readers, remember most about Christmas shopping in the downtown? What were your favourite sights, sounds and smells of the season? Share your memories and/or photos by emailing them to [email protected] or [email protected].
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
