Maitland general store marks 185th birthday, looks ahead to bicentennial | CBC News

Ninety-three year old Albert Annand has shopped at Frieze and Roy in Maitland, N.S., throughout his life, but the store is about double his age. 

The business, considered by many as Canada’s oldest general store, is celebrating 185 years of selling goods in the village at the mouth of the Shubenacadie River near Cobequid Bay. 

“I’d come down for a little piece of candy on a stick,” said Annand. “I think they were five cents.”

Troy Robertson, owner of Frieze and Roy, said restoring the building over the past decade has helped it continue to be a gathering point for the community.

“This place was falling apart,” Robertson said. “There was snow blowing into the back walls. The floors were falling apart. There was water damage.” 

WATCH | Frieze and Roy’s owner reflects on buying, restoring general store

A display case at Frieze and Roy shows past merchandise like clothing and medicine. 

“They’ve done everything,” Robertson said. “You bought all the material you needed to build your house. They used to hang up a cow and a pig and cut it up in the back of the building.” 

The business was also a key part of the shipping industry in Maitland — where William D. Lawrence launched the largest wooden hulled ship built in Canada 150 years ago. 

‘Good things in a good place’ 

While still operating as a store, the building also houses a restaurant. 

Head cook Manuel Ching moved to the community from Toronto in September 2023. He said living and working in the small village on the shore has been therapeutic and has helped him on his path to recovery from drug addiction.

“They accepted me for who I was,” he said. “It’s easy to make good things in a good place.”  

Ching and others in the community helped organize the first Maitland Days to mark the birthday — something the committee hopes will become an annual occasion. 

With the bicentennial in sight, Annand and others are confident the business will remain in the community. 

“I never thought it would be gone unless it caught fire or something,” Annand said.