© September 2021, Christian Cassidy
Name: Commercial Building
Address: 898 Westminster Avenue (Map)
Constructed: 1932
Architect: Unknown
Uses:
1932 - 33: W. Colish Grocery
1933 - 35: Westminster Drug Store
1935 - 36: Trillier's Drug Store
1936 - 37: Variety Bake Shop
1938 - 39: Parker's Bake Shop
1939 - 43: Your Handy Store
1943 - 44: Kearne Grocey
1944 - 45: Ron Glass Grocery
1946 - 60: Gil's Grocery
1960 - 05: Gil’s Automatic Wash and Dry
2005 - 18: The Neighbourhood Bookstore and Café
2019 - 21: The Ruby West
2021: Bonnie Day
May 1932, Winnipeg Free Press
A $2,000 building permit was issued to Isaac Colish to construct a 22-foot by 28-foot commercial building at 898 Westminster Avenue in May 1932. At the time, it was the only building on this block of Wolseley Avenue between Lenore and Ruby streets. It was joined the following year by a Safeway store at number 894.
It is unclear why this block of land remained vacant for so long after the Wolseley neighbourhood was formally subdivided by the city around 1910. There is nothing to suggest that the neighbouring house at 127 Ruby Street had a large side yard for stables or an industrial shop. In fact, there was a beauty salon on Ruby between the house and Westminster Avenue.
McPhillips’ 1910 map of Winnipeg, which was part map and part
development plan, shows Wolseley as it was transitioning into a modern
neighbourhood. It suggests that the land may have been owned by the city as it notes a "school site" at Ayr Avenue, now Westminster Avenue, at Ruby Street.
The general practice at the time was that the school board identified potential school sites and the city would purchase and hold the land and later transfer it to the board.
The area’s elementary school, Laura Secord School, ended up being built a block away on Wolseley Avenue and Ruby Street, not here. With the land no longer needed for a school, it appears the city tried to make it the home of Wolseley’s fire hall.
In March 1913, the Fire and Light committee of city council chose the intersection of “Westminster and Ruby” as the home of Fire Hall No. 14. The decision was forwarded to city council to ratify so that the tenders could be let for its construction. For reasons that don’t appear to have been reported in the newspapers, the fire hall ended up being built on Lipton Street at Westminster Avenue instead.
The land is not mentioned again in newspapers until Mr. Colish’s building permit was issued in 1932. This suggests the city may have held onto it until it became clear that there would be no other civic uses for it.
Isaac Colish was born in Lithuania in 1878 and came to Winnipeg in 1907 with his wife, Anne, and their four children. They settled in West Kildonan and opened the municipality’s first grocery store at 1969-1973 Main Street, (now best known as home to Blondie’s Burgers). The family lived upstairs until the early 1920s.
The Colishs became pillars of their community. Isaac served on the West Kildonan municipal council in the 19-teens. He was also a Justice of the Peace and was appointed Manitoba’s first Jewish police magistrate.
How Isaac Colish, or son William who would manage the new store, became interested in constructing land in Wolseley in 1932 is unclear. Prior to operating the store, William was a clerk at the Main Street store and lived in the residence above it. He was also secretary of Northern Grocery on Jarvis Street which appears to have been a consortium of independent grocers with a joint warehouse.
W. Colish Grocery on Westminster Avenue did not last long. Street directories indicate that it closed in 1933, likely to coincide with the opening of the Safeway store next door.
The next business to call 898 Westminster home was Westminster Drug Store.
Winnipeg-born Daniel M. Salak graduated in 1928 from the U of M's School of Pharmacy. His yearbook described him as “A good worker, square shooter, and, in all, a real asset to the class.”
After graduation, Salak became manager of the Brathwaite Drug Store chain's Main Street branch. In July 1931, he took over McBurney's Drug Store at 499 Ellice at Spence and renamed it Salak's Drug Store. He moved his business to Westminster Avenue in 1933.
At around 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, 1934, Salak was robbed at gunpoint. Armed holdups of drug stores, usually for narcotics, were commonplace in the 1930s. This was the fourth one that month.
Salak had been robbed at least once before in February 1926 when a gunman burst into Moyer's Drug store where he worked as a clerk and yelled “Hold up your hands or I'll blow your brains out” and dragged him into the dispensary area.
The 898 Westminster Avenue robbery went much the same with Salak being told “stick ‘em up” by a “glassy-eyed gunman” who made off with $60 and a stash of narcotics.
What is noteworthy about the 1934 robbery is who the bandit was.
George “Shea” Jayhan, 34, a heroin addict according to newspapers, carried out a string of robberies that year to feed his habit. His spree came to an end in late July when he held up the Norbridge Pharmacy on St. Mary’s Road.
Police were on the scene shortly after the robbery took place and gave chase to Jayhan. In the resulting shoot-out, Jayhan killed Sergeant John Verne of the St. Boniface Police Department and the father of six children.
Jayhan confessed to several robberies, including that of the Westminster Drug Store, and was put on trial for the murder of Verne. He was found guilty and hanged at Headingley Gaol in February 1935.
Salak sold the business in 1935 and relocated to Toronto. For about a year or so, the business was was known as Trillier's Drug Store owned by Toble Trillier of 541 Boyd Avenue.
In 1936, it became Variety Bake Shoppe with George R Thomas as proprietor. The business was put up for sale in October 1937 and appears to have sat empty for about a year before it became Parker's Bakery owned by Mrs. Marie Clark.
In 1939, the building became home to “Your Handy Store”, a small grocery and confectionery shop. This may seem an odd choice of business with a Safeway still on the block, but the chain store was preparing to move to a larger location at 775 Westminster Avenue the following year.
Your Handy Store had a couple of proprietors. For the first year or two it was Mrs. Audrey E. Lockyer of 73 Arlington Street. The store was put up for lease in October 1941 and was taken over by George Stevens. It closed around 1943.
It then became William Kearne Grocery in 1944, and Ron Glass Grocery in 1946.
In 1946, Gil’s Grocery, owned by brothers Nathan and Harry Gilfix of 426 Bannerman Avenue, opened at 898 Westminster.
Nathan was born in Winnipeg and attended St. John’s High School, though he left before graduating to work at Oretzki’s Department store on Selkirk Avenue. He served with the RCAF in World War II and soon after returning met Riva whom he married in March 1953. The couple had twin boys, Murray and Perry.
In 1956, Nathan left the grocery business to work at Modern Headwear Ltd., a company started by his father-in-law. His two sons eventually worked there and the company, now known as Modern Promotions, is run by a third generation of the family.
Harry Gilfix was also born and raised in Winnipeg and attended St. John's High School. He also served in the RCAF from 1939 to 1945. It seems that Harry did not marry. His obituary mentions leaving to mourn his “loving companion Annette” and daughter, Doris.
In 1960, Harry changed the business from a grocery store to Gil’s Automatic Wash and Dry laundromat. He then went into the real estate business with a small firm called Gil’s Realty.
Harry tried unsuccessfully to sell the laundry in 1969 then began to lease it out. It is likely that Gilfix owned the building until 1983, the year before he died at the age of 65. In 1983, D. G. West received approval from the city to construct an extension to the rear of the building which expanded the laundromat from about 620 square feet to the present 1,100 square feet.
The building remained a laundromat until 2005.
Source: The Neighbourhood Bookstore and Café Facebook page
The next owner of 898 Westminster was Bill Fugler.
Fugler, from Pointe Claire, Quebec, came to Winnipeg in 1992 to be the writer-in-residence at the St. Norbert Arts Centre. After a three-year stint in Japan teaching English, in 1999 he and his now ex-wife, Mari Campbell, moved to Arlington Street in Wolseley.
In 2005, Fugler saw a for sale sign on 898 Westminster that read “Thanks for 16 years of business, if you forgot your pants give us a call.” He recalled his conversation with Mr. West, “He told me that the machines were being vandalized too often. He also said that the place would be packed on hot days but there would be only one machine running, everyone else would be relaxing in the air conditioning.”
Fugler says, “I opened the store because I had seen a lot of people talking on street corners in Wolseley and I wanted to provide people with somewhere to hang out. I loved books and used bookstores, so I added that in the mix. I was partly inspired by the former Heaven Book and Art Cafe on Corydon.”
Bill and Mari Fugler ran the business together from its opening in 2005 until about 2009, then Bill ran it on his own.
The Neighbourhood Bookstore and Café, which became a popular neighbourhood hangout, as Fugler hoped, and live music venue, closed in August 2018.
Source: The Ruby West Facebook page
In December 2018, Erin and Peter Keating and Laura and Jamie Hilland purchased the building. After a few months to receive the necessary permits and an extensive, five-month-long renovation, The Ruby West restaurant opened on November 15, 2019. In 2021, Brian Johnson and Rachael King purchased Erin and Pete's shares of The Ruby West.
In November 2021 it was reported that Rachel King and Brian Johnson, King's partners and Ruby West's Kitchen manager since it opened, had purchased the business and rebranded it Bonnie Day. they told the Free Press that they plan to "ramp up the cosiness and elevate the menu."
The new restaurant had its 'soft opening" on November 22 and will have its grand opening on December 1, 2021.
Thanks to The Gilfix family, Bill Fugler, and Jamie Hilland for contributing to the content of this blog post.
July 21, 1984, Winnipeg Free Press
February 6, 2002, The Jewish Post
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