Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 09/02) - Weaver and Devore Trading store sits only a few feet up the shore from Back Bay where its founders, Bud Devore and Harry Weaver, grounded their barge in the early summer of 1936.

If you're looking for a decent parka, or some new camping gear, visit Ken Weaver upstairs. - /NNSL photo

"It was right there where we tie our boats today," says Ken Weaver, Harry's grandson, who runs the store today along with his brothers Bud and Dave.

"The barge landed, and they started trading right there."

Over 60 years later the frontier spirit that led the two fur traders to venture North from the United States, is still evident.

Devore actually sold his shares of the business in 1954 to Harry Weaver's son Bruce, who is Ken's father. The three generations of Weavers have quietly maintained the business that has grown into a Yellowknife institution.

Walking into Weaver and Devore is like looking at an old snapshot of the Wild West. Every inch is jam-packed with produce and merchandise -- like an old family store out of a John Wayne movie.

"It's cluttered, and there's shelves hanging from the ceiling," says Ken from his desk on the second floor dry good's department.

"We've entertained the idea of expanding, but perhaps that's why we've survived. I never had to worry about the banker knocking on my door because we've grown slowly and steadily. We're quite a conservative family, I think."

Ken, who is the eldest in a family of eight, is the company's acting spokesman, but the store is managed by the three brothers.

Ken is the dry goods manager, Bud manages the bush orders department, and Dave runs the front end of the store.

Bud's wife, Diane, is the bookkeeper and Ken's wife, Esther, also works at the store.

Many of the store's 10 or so regular staff -- some of whom have worked there for several years -- have become regular fixtures.

"We rely on each other so much," says Ken. "We don't even have a standard for answering the phone. It's like a marriage between staff and family members. Whoever is closest to the phone will pick it up."

Closing time a family affair

"Dave ended up on the till because he was the younger guy, and dad said, 'OK, we'll start him off on the till, and he's been there ever since,'" Bud says with a laugh.

The three brothers share in the nightly task of cleaning and closing up the store. As Bud recalls, general maintenance of the building has always been a family affair.

He remembers his dad spraying the wooden plank floor regularly with oil at the original Weaver and Devore outlet across the street where Bullock's Bistro now serves up fresh Northern caught fish.

Working at the store was something the Weaver children did from an early age. By the time they entered Grade 4 or 5, Ken and his siblings were working after school stocking shelves, boxing groceries, sweeping floors.

"Maybe we were more under foot than helpers," Ken muses. "I don't know, it was just a way of life. It was expected of us and nobody questioned that."

But working at the store was not always a chore, says Ken. When prospectors were in town, after spending many months in the bush, the mood turned festive in the store.

"I remember the diamond drillers coming through town," says Ken.

"There were some real characters. They worked really hard in the camps, but they played even harder when they came to town.

"Bruce McMaster use to come in and do hand-stands in the aisles. Sometimes he'd start jigging, saying "have you ever seen the Red River jig." He'd be entertaining us and most of the customers would find him pretty entertaining as well."

Dedicated to service

A sense of community was crucial to keeping the business alive, says Ken. Trust was also essential. The handshake that cemented the partnership between their grandfather and Bud Devore many years before became a standard of doing business for decades.

"One word that symbolizes Weaver's is service," says Ken. "Obviously, we're not the brightest light in town but I guess it's the service that keeps bringing people back."

Weaver's has faced its share of competitors since the early days when the store rivalled Hudson's Bay Company for a cut in the fur trade market. It was through the fur trade that Weaver's reputation for fair dealing grew.

"In the old days a lot of the outfitting was done for trappers," Ken recalls. "We would outfit for them in the fall when they'd be going out for the winter hunt and they'd bring in the fur at Christmas time. They might run a bill for $400-500. The number really didn't matter. It was a trust relationship that we had."

However, times have changed. The store left the fur trading business behind in the early 1980s. But resource development in Yellowknife brought new opportunities.

"They (mining) became one of the things we really relied upon," says Ken. "The mining community has always supported us, and kept coming back to us. I guess we developed a reputation as being good and reliable outfitters."

Outfitting has always been the main staple of the Weaver business. Other retail chains offer prices that are difficult to compete with but no one in town holds a candle to Weaver's time-tested ability to get orders to the bush.

"We used to work a lot of evenings," says Ken, chuckling at the thought of long hours at the back of the store packaging and loading goods, most of which wind up as air cargo.

"We don't have as many late evenings as we use to. Maybe we're better organized, I'm not sure."

Carrying on tradition

Hard work, service and tradition are the key elements that have ensured Weaver and Devore's survival into the 21st century.

Will the store still be around in the next century? Ken is uncertain.

"We can't speak for our children," says Ken. "I can foresee the family store closing down someday. I'm not projecting it. We all wish the best for our children. I want to see them get a good education, and do whatever they want."

But Ken and his brothers are content to stay put for now. The question of carrying on was put to rest many years ago And Yellowknifers, who have never been without a Weaver's store, will likely see the present generation of Weavers working alongside them into their old age.