Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 30/02) - "Go North young man," says Pat Winter, recalling a snapshot in time. It was of her uncle Ralph England heading up the Athabasca River to Yellowknife in 1945 with a barge full of supplies.

Service with a smile -- Pat Winter works the till. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

That quote has no doubt been said by many. After all, words like these built this town.

Yellowknife Hardware -- like the three other stores featured in this series -- began with intuition rather than forethought.

Winter's uncle arrived in Yellowknife shortly after the Second World War ended. It was a heady time to be a young man in the North.

Yellowknife, which was largely ignored during the war years, suddenly roared back to life. It was hardly a problem for England to convince his brother Walter -- Winter's dad -- to join him in January 1946.

Walter moved his young family from Toronto, which included wife Carolyn, and Pat, the eldest of four children, into a house on School Draw.

"Dad use to go to work in a canoe," Winter recalls. "In winter, he would walk across the ice."

Before his arrival, Walter England had been awarded money from the federal government for his years of service in the air force during the war. His nest egg would prove useful in helping to turn his brother's tent frame, which was located in Old Town, into a store-front hardware business.

Ralph did not take to the North and left after only a year or two. So Walter and Carolyn England took over the store.

"It was just a tent back then," says Winter. "The building came from Outpost Island. It use to be the old rec hall, and it came over in the winter of '46 or '47. A dock was built behind the store so barges could land there."

The building served as the store for nearly 15 years, and it still stands today. These days, Carolyn, Winters and her husband, Robert, call it home.

"From '49 on, that's where we lived (upstairs)," says Winter. "People from Dettah would come and park on the dock. Dad use to supply the mines with a lot of stuff. The cheapest way to bring things up was by rail to Fort Chipewyan Water Ways, up through Lake Athabasca."

New town, new store

Yellowknife Hardware stayed in Old Town until 1960, but the Englands felt it was time to move.

"By then, New Town was really starting to blossom," says Winter. "We decided that we needed a new building anyway, so we moved uptown (corner of 51 St. and Franklin Ave.)."

Even with the apparently boundless optimism expressed by the city fathers in building New Town, questions over its long-term survival still lingered. Until it was officially designated as the territorial capital in 1967, Yellowknife was essentially a one-horse town. Life in the city revolved around the gold lying deep in the rock beneath it. To many observers, without its two gold mines driving the local economy, Yellowknife may not have been a prosperous town.

"For a few years in the '50s, my parents were quite concerned," says Winter. "Giant and Con could only last so long. but then the government moved in, in '67, so it was no longer a fear of a ghost town situation like Pine Point."

A further guarantee of the store's longevity was granted that year when the family signed an agreement with Links Hardware. Yellowknife Hardware, through the western Canadian conglomerate, now belonged to a "buying group," which assured the store they would receive a steady and reliable supply of merchandise.

When Links Hardware merged with Home Hardware in 1981, the family store followed suite.

"Home Hardware has 1,100 stores across Canada, all independently owned and operated," says Winter. "If we weren't a member of a buying group, we'd have a difficult time competing against the big guys. It's been a real asset."

Winter points to the shift in mercantile dynamics over the years as evidence that few options are available to local businesses that resist seeking outside support.

"It's been MacLeod's closing and Canadian Tire opening," says Winter.

Still, like Yellowknife's other old-time survivors, a little customer service still goes a long way. Another key element in maintaining a healthy business is making sure the staff feel they belong, says Winter.

"Having a personal interest is very important, and treating your employees well. Even the girls who don't work here anymore are still loyal. They didn't go into the rival companies."

Unexpected career move

Yellowknife Hardware made its final change in location in 1973. It was the same year Winter rejoined the family business.

In 1962 she moved to Edmonton with her high school sweetheart, Robert, to attend the University of Alberta. She had planned on becoming a nurse but plans changed.

"I had earlier aspirations, but my dad said, 'Gee, I need someone to help me out,' and so I came back," says Winter. "When I graduated from high school, there were three options: be a nurse, a teacher or a secretary. Not everybody wants to follow in their parents' footsteps."

Over the years the next generation of Englands became more involved with the day-to-day operation of the store. Robert Winter went into the family business as did Pat Winter's baby brother Frank.

Walter England retired in the early 1980s, and died in 1998. Carolyn is still involved in company affairs.

And Winter, as an active partner in the business, began to enjoy adding her personal touch to the store.

"We try to carry things that are a little different, a lot of gifty type items," says Winter. "We try to do gourmet stuff like expresso machines. I really love kitchen stuff, and Christmas in a big way."

As for the store's future, Winter says it's too soon to predict.

"His (Frank's) children are too young to know what they're going to do," says Winter. "Davie wants to be a hockey star."

For now all that really matters is keeping the doors open during the day, and holding onto dreams through the night.

"I never thought I'd be in the hardware business when I graduated from university," says Winter. "But here I am."