The history of the Canterbury Country Store

Do you know the story of the store that the town bought?

Canterbury for the most part has always had a store…from 1767 onward.  First they were in homes and blacksmith shops surrounding town center, given licensing to sell goods or alcohol by the provincial government.  And eventually they took roost in town buildings; in 1826 in the Vestry building in town center for several store keepers then in 1861 in the lower level of the Union (or Grange) Hall for several store keepers. 

At one point several stores were in operation at town center to include the Union Hall and another in a Sam Lake building that also offered livery goods at the adjacent livery stable.  In 1923 fire destroyed that building but the livery stable survived.

When the fire of 1943 ripped through town center destroying most all the houses and buildings, the then current store keeper at the Union Hall that was destroyed, Gerald Giles, temporarily set up in the Vestry building while he remodeled the surviving livery stable into a store.  This building remains the current store location.

There has been a succession of store keepers in this livery stable location as the sole store for the town of Canterbury.  It has become more of an iconic institution and simple gathering place rather than simply a provider of goods since modern day grocery stores abound.  But even still, when in 2000 the store keeper Robert Summers, who also owned the building, was retiring and selling to the highest bidder, the town panicked. They could not be without a store in town center!

So in a herculean effort “over-night,” the Canterbury Community Market LLC was formed to purchase the building with the stated mission to preserve a place for a town center store in perpetuity.  Shares were sold to town folks, store workers, elementary school classes and those who embraced the idea of a country store.  Under this new ownership the building was updated to keep the postoffice residing there like it had for over 100 years and the existing store keepers apartment was separated from the store so it could provide rental income to offset the upkeep of the building.

With this new model, the Canterbury Country Store is owned and operated by individual store keepers that do not own the building while the LLC acts as the landlord and building maintenance entity.  While the story goes that the “town purchased the store” or that it is a “community owned store”, the separation of the building ownership and the ownership of the store business is distinct.  

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In 2023 new store keepers Dave and Jane Balshaw pitched the Canterbury Community Market LLC with a vision for a completely updated version of a store.  Following their idea, the LLC embarked on a huge renovation process to reclaim worn-out spaces for a new gathering room, a kitchen and a public restroom.  Along the way, the opportunity was taken to restore exterior spaces including new clapboard siding and roofing, updated drainage, electrical was cleaned up with energy saving installations and septic & plumbing was updated.   

2023 will be remembered as the year that this building was restored back to life.

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If you love history you might enjoy this video of a presentation by local historian Mark Stevens. It is the history of the center fire of 1943 but also contains many oral histories of the store. CLICK HERE to view it.