Sunday, March 16, 2014

Downtown Nanaimo - Back In The Day


Commercial Street circa 1965

While pondering downtown Nanaimo and all our efforts to 'rejuvenate' it my thinker drifted back to the late 1960's and early 1970's when the downtown Nanaimo I remember was far more vibrant than it is today in spite of all our efforts to breathe life back into it.

There is an interesting facebook group that is a treasure trove of Nanaimo memories which I asked to list all of the businesses they remember being on Commercial Street. The following list, which strays a bit off Commercial Street gives an idea of just why Commercial St. really was commercial.

The wide variety of stores that once occupied would rival any 'mix' you will find in any mall anywhere today. I invite anyone to add to the list any businesses that have been missed.

  1. A&B Sound
  2. AC Taxi Stand
  3. Andersons Clothing
  4. Around the World Travel
  5. Bank of Hong Kong
  6. Bank of Nova Scotia
  7. Bank of B.C.
  8. Bay's Cafe
  9. BC Hydro
  10. Block Bros.Realty
  11. Brewsters Fabrics
  12. Brian Ball's Office Supply
  13. Budget Centa Tax
  14. Central Pharmacy
  15. Charlie Yorks
  16. Charlie Yorks Childrens Clothing
  17. Commercial Pawn
  18. Copp Shoes
  19. Dakins Camera
  20. Diners Rendezvous
  21. Eatons
  22. Fiesta Lanes
  23. Fiesta Theatres
  24. Fletchers Furniture
  25. Fletchers Music
  26. Galloway Meats
  27. Glenn's Sandwiches by China Steps
  28. Grassicks Jewelers
  29. Harding and Son Jewelers
  30. Heavy Eddy's
  31. Home Hardware
  32. Hoppers Jewelers
  33. Horizon Imports
  34. Islander Cafe
  35. Jean Burns
  36. Johnson's Hardware
  37. Kellers Jewelers
  38. Kelly's Audio Underground
  39. Ken Maycock Optical
  40. Ken Thompson Men's Wear
  41. Kennedy's Drug Store
  42. Laurentide Finance
  43. Lindays Stationary
  44. Malaspina Florist
  45. Manfred Meyers Jewelry
  46. Marshall Wells
  47. Metropolitan
  48. Modern Cafe
  49. Mr. Mikes Steakhouse
  50. Mrs. Martin's Hat Store
  51. Nanaimo Florists
  52. Nanaimo Realty
  53. Nanaimo Sewing and Sound
  54. Nanaimo Smoke Shop
  55. Nanaimo Sportsman
  56. Nanaimo Pharmacy
  57. Nash's Hardware
  58. Overwaitea
  59. Ostles Gas Station
  60. Penny's Florist
  61. Pet Shop (China Steps)
  62. Purdy's Chocolates
  63. Quinn's Jewelers
  64. Ross Paints
  65. Royal Bank
  66. Sam Lees
  67. Sally Shop
  68. Scotch Bakery
  69. Sears
  70. Serendipity 
  71. Singer's Store
  72. Skyline Cafe
  73. Sports Centre Billiards
  74. Steve's Coffee Bar
  75. Sweet 16
  76. Terminal Hotel
  77. Terminal Restaurant
  78. The Daily Free Press
  79. The Fun Centre
  80. The Longhouse
  81. The Nanaimo Times
  82. The Smoke Shop (Gordon St.)
  83. The Tux Shop (Fred Meyers?)
  84. Willing Wayne The Discounter
  85. Woolworths
  86. Yales Shoes
  87. Yoxal's Deli

allvoices

2 comments:

  1. I don't like downtown, its dirty and I feel unsafe, quite a few dark places and sketchy people on the street. Maybe because of the Y and the casino and low income area surrounding it. "Back in the day" it was probably a much more upscale type of folk living and working there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great memories sneaking out of the office in late 60's....our office was in the photo
    and it was a matter of steps to the Palace Hotel where my boss taught me how to play shuffleboard in mid afternoons. Was a lot of fun coming back to the office as well. (we were beside House of Stein).

    ReplyDelete

Your comment will appear after moderation before publishing,

Thank you for your comments.Any comment that could be considered slanderous or includes unacceptable language will be removed.

Thank you for participating and making your opinions known.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.