18 Tipton’s My First Super Store

Moving to Bird Cove put us just about central to all business and social activities on the island.  The main road on the island now ran past our front door.  It was now only a short walk or bicycle ride to either of the two schools, or the three stores on the island.  The Read Island General Store and Post Office on the south side of the island was where we got most of our mail and supplies.  On the north side of the island were Frost’s Post Office at Surge Narrows, but by far the best store was Tipton’s General Store just up the channel from Frost’s Post Office.

Mr. Tipton and his wife added their uniqueness to the blend of island folk and thus became an integral part of my growing up life on Read Island.  It was said they had left the civilized world at Mrs. Tipton’s insistence to get Mr. Tipton off the Scotch whiskey that was about to do him in.   Her intensions were to be applauded but were to no avail as his supply of booze never lessened as it was renewed weekly with the Union Steamship freighter’s run from Vancouver.  In keeping with his love of booze and quite often-inebriated state, someone had rudely written on the wall of the freight shed where all could read, “Toothless Tipton’s Tavern”.   This was unfair as Mr. Tipton was a man of integrity and did run a good store in spite of his weakness for spirits.

 He lived with his wife up from the beach on a steep hill above the store. Part of the walk to the house was managed by a set of steep stairs that provided access to the store, which clung to the shore atop a series of pilings to give it support.  I can still hear him coming down from his house huffing and puffing. To hear him climb the stairs caused even more concern because he had a bad heart.  His most famous feature however was his very large, very red curved bulbous nose, seconded only by his “huh, huh, huh’s”, which he uttered continuously.

I loved his store as it had an amazing variety of items such as, groceries, hardware, clothing, shoes, gumboots, paint, and building material.  And that was besides all of the mysterious things that he kept out of sight.   I especially liked to smell the strange mix of all these things as I loved come in to buy peppermint candies; 10 cents could buy you quite a bagful.  What I liked even more was a Macintosh toffee bar, or an O’Henry bar for 6 cents.  Orange Crush was also a treat at 6 cents for a real glass bottle of the stuff.

At Tipton’s when you bought cottage cheese it came in a large container and Mrs. Tipton would scoop out your order onto heavy brown waxed paper placed on a large scale.  I liked to watch her fold the paper over and tie it with a string for you to carry home.  It was also fun to watch her cut off a pound or two of cheddar cheese from a huge round and wrap it the same way.  It is with fondness that I remember the many times that I went to their store after school to satisfy my longing for sweets.

Tipton's store where I bought my peppermint candies as a kid.