Canada's oldest General Store has weathered everything, including a pandemic, and they're not going anywhere...
Did you know that Sydenham is home to Canada’s oldest general store? Theresa, the manager of Trousdale’s General Store describes the Trousdale family history, dating back to their arrival in the region in 1836. Their family legacy began with brothers who worked as travelling bakers, and the family-run tradition continues to this day.
The strength of the team at Trousdale’s General Store has been exemplified over the past few months. Having just implemented an online store about a year ago, Theresa describes the transition to exclusively offering online shopping at the onset of the pandemic. It didn’t take long for the team to implement curbside pickup for a short time before the re-opening of in-store shopping in May.
Trousdale’s General Store affirms that the safety of the community is their top priority, and continues to offer three ways to shop to best meet customer needs and ensure comfort. Customers can order products online, pick up items curbside, or shop in-store. Among safety precautions for in-store shoppers are separate entrance and exit doors, available masks and gloves, and plexiglass that has been installed at the coffee bar. Face coverings are mandatory in all commercial establishments in KFL&A.
From giftware to kitchen goods to fashion, Trousdale’s General Store is home to thousands of products and is a community hub. Theresa and her team have been immensely grateful to the local community for their support during these difficult times and are enjoying welcoming folks back into the store. Stop in this summer for takeout coffee or to cool off with some ice cream from Kawartha Dairy.
Shop Trousdale's General online today.
Read on for a story about the history of Trousdale's...
The Oldest Store in Canada with the newest intrigue
By Rosanne Lake
The Trousdale name has been synonymous with business in Sydenham for almost two centuries. What’s even more remarkable is that what’s old is proving new again as Trousdale’s General Store is attracting a new generation of customers to Canada’s Oldest General Store.
Over the years, the community has surmised that the Trousdales have entrepreneurship in their blood. The Sydenham businesses have taken many forms and the current incarnation includes the Foodland, Home Hardware and Trousdale’s General Store. While the former two fill important needs within the community, the General Store is where it all began – and it has an intriguing past which intertwines with the history of the village.
Walking through the door at Trousdale’s General Store is like stepping back in time. The long wooden counter shines and there’s even a spool of string still hanging from the tin ceiling, used for wrapping brown paper parcels long before plastic bags existed. The welcoming squeak of the old door leads way to a fascinating history that has spanned generations, the keeper of stories for almost 200 years and a veritable window into the past of small town retail in Ontario. With roots dating back to 1836, Trousdale’s General Store is Canada’s oldest, remarkably run by the same family.
What makes it astonishing all these years later is that it has kept safe a treasure trove of history. From an old brass crank cash register to a collection of yard sticks, it’s almost a social museum. John Trousdale, whose great grandfather began the journey of the store’s ownership, said the equipment which outfits the current store as a quirky and beautiful gift shop, wasn’t purchased at an auction sale. “It’s all family heirlooms passed down from generation to generation,” John said. “Nothing was thrown away.”
Humble beginnings
The business was born of bartering and necessity. In the mid-1800s and at the turn of the century, Sydenham was a vibrant and bustling community with nearby mica mines, a mill, a large dairy and milk condensing factory, and 100-acre farms dotting the landscape surrounding the village. The journey to Kingston on narrow dirt roads with horse and cart wasn’t something one could accomplish easily, so shopping was done locally.
The business itself goes back at least four generations of Trousdales from Noble, to Percy John, to a John Wesley and even a John before him. The family believes that the first store likely transpired as an extension of serving the community through bakery deliveries with a horse and cart. Payment took many forms in those days, and the baked goods were often exchanged for eggs, butter or other means. In fact, John said the store’s earliest roots are a direct descendent of the bartering – it evolved into a general merchandising store. “It was a natural progression – if we’re bartering for butter why don’t we also barter for a box of nails,” he said.
The original store was known as the “Matchbox Store” because it was so small. It was located beside the homestead home and was run by John Wesley. According to family history, John Wesley went on to have six sons and three daughters and as they grew up there wasn’t just one business bearing the Trousdale name in town - but three, with brothers owning bakeries and competing against each other!
Percy Trousdale eventually outlasted his brothers, known for making bread deliveries all across the region on a tall, black cart with wooden wheels. It had the Trousdale name painted down the side in white lettering and can still be seen in the store today. The baking and delivering was a big part of family life and the business then.
Before he passed away in 2004, John’s father, Noble, remembered being a little boy and accompanying Percy on the bread route each morning. Noble recounted that Percy would wake up at 4 a.m. to bake and then make deliveries around town and the countryside beyond. They would go as far afield as Inverary, Elginburg and Battersea by horse and cart. Luckily, it was made more efficient by the horse memorizing the daily routes. Noble said that while the driver was delivering the baked goods to a home, the horse would slowly walk to the next customer’s house and wait for the driver to catch up.
As the business was evolving towards general merchandising, the store quickly became the one-stop shop for the community’s needs. “They brought in everything that the farming families needed,” said John, noting the store had available for purchase a head-spinning variety of items so everything was available under one roof for the farmers. Ever since, Trousdale’s General Store has been a fixture in Sydenham, with the main constant of the Trousdale’s stores always being their commitment to service.
A new store
Eventually, Percy recognized that the village was growing and set out to revamp the store. What started as a renovation turned into a demolition and re-build. During that time, the Trousdales continued to do business in a drug store down the street. A new concrete building with 10-inch thick walls was completed in 1929. That structure ended up being a saving grace, when less than 10 years later, a hotel and several buildings across the street burned to the ground. The Trousdale family protected their store by hanging wet blankets from the windows and the roof so the cement store survived.
Shopping lists
A long wooden counter greeted customers who walked into the store. At that time, customers asked the merchant behind the counter for items on their shopping list that day. The lists would then be filled by the storekeeper. Overalls, tobacco, candy, liver pills, tea, livestock feed, hair brushes, wire fencing, shoe polish, tools – anything a customer wanted was under one roof at Trousdale’s. There were no pre-packaged foods, in fact it was quite the opposite. Everything arrived to the store in bulk and had to be separated into smaller quantities. Ledgers from the early 1900s show an intriguing variety of purchases from a peck of clover seed to 18 lbs. of salt and butter, to “lead pencils and scribblers”.
Aside from the business end of things, Trousdale’s naturally became the unofficial village gathering place. In fact, at one time it was the place to be on a Saturday night, staying open until 11 p.m. to accommodate farmers from Sydenham and surrounding areas who would come down to Trousdale’s after milking and chores were done for fiddle playing and a social occasion!
Moving forward
While the history is important, John says it’s impossible to ignore recent realities and survive. The store was run traditionally until the late 1960s when Percy passed away and Noble turned the store into a self-serve with checkouts. Much of the historic material that people find intriguing today was put into storage and aluminium shelving replaced wood, peg board was installed to hold stock and Noble’s wife, Margaret, took over the books.
Things continued to change. John said it became more like survival through those years, as the mines and industry closed and families were moving away from farming. The town was changing and Kingston was becoming a manufacturing center. With improved roads and transportation, people started taking day jobs in the city – and Sydenham slowly became a bedroom community.
“We had to evolve; we weren’t selling truckloads of feed out of the back of the store anymore,” said John. Noble could see the writing on the wall and so he started selling appliances and focusing more on food items. “That was the progression. The town changed and we had to change with it,” John said.
After John graduated from Queen’s University in commerce, he came home and carried on that Trousdale tradition. As Sydenham became less of a farming community he adjusted the family business accordingly – the one store turned into three stores, including a Foodland and Home Hardware built where the dairy condensing plant once stood. “You have to keep it changing all the time,” he said. “That’s part of business.”
But Ginny knew there was magic to be had at the original Trousdale’s and she started discovering what was in storage. After Noble passed away in 2004, she uncovered a wealth of family history to celebrate the bones of the 3,000 square foot general store. Now it has come full circle and the store itself has gained attention for going back to its roots and showcasing the immense number of items that have been saved during generations of selling to a small town community.
Today, as a person comes looking for the perfect gift for a special someone, they can get a latte at the old soda fountain and sip while they walk through history and find modern day items like soaps, culinary sauces, beautiful local art, books, funny signs, linens, clothing and fun gifts for kids. Even though the stock may have changed, the underlying commitment to service and personally knowing their customers still resonates throughout five generations and almost 200 years at Canada’s Oldest General Store.
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