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a _ wh Mersco Department Store opened with a bang and all sorts of specials Saturday after moving from a shop beside Luke's Country Store to a new location beside the House of Howard. That's Bill Smith (store owner, employee Sharon Shortt, manager Kathy Stapley, Mayor Jerry Taylor, employee Mike Fluke and co-owner Joan Smith cutting the official ribbon). Businesses move uptown to create new shopping (From page 1) store, Strawberry Threads, was an experi- mental branch of her successful Uxbridge store (also named Strawberry Threads). With the lease up, she had to decide whether she wanted to move, or forget about a Port Perry store entirely. Not one to give up on anything before its time, Ms. Hogg decided to find a new location for the store, preferably within the downtown area. Her first. choice, of course, was another east end location, but none was savailable. Finally, she had no other alternative than moving into a shop in the west end. "I only moved here because I had to," she said. "I really had no choice." Her first few months were a struggle, but she looked forward to the time when Country Classics would move into a newly built store owned and directly beside the Port Perry Star. '"When she opened her business, it helped my business, and my bus- iness helped her bus- iness. One clothing store in a town like this would die," she said. With the addition of Country Classics, which also was breed to move from an east end location, and the existence of The Pink Dot, '""my sales improved, certainly." Howard Hall, of the House of Howard, has noticed a big traffic increase into his furniture and appli ances store since the new stores have opened. More and more brow- sers are coming into his store when at one time, the only people in House of Howard were there Big year is planned society fundraising It'll be a big year for fundraising, if what the president of the Lake Scugog Historical Society has to say comes true. At the society's annual meeting last Thursday night, presi- Two year Via test (From page 1) commuters before it was yanked off the rails by the Liberals three years ago, will include stops in Burketon, Myrtle, Dagmar and Claremont. Last weeks announce- ment gave no indication abouf the fare structure once the service is resumed in June, but Via officials say this information will be released in the very near future. dent Yvonne Christie told the 17 members present that a real effort will have to be made in 1985 to raise funds for society coffers. "Unless, of course, we raise money as a society, there won't be a museum,' she warned. "The responsibility of the historical society has to be fundraising." Last year only one fundraising project was held, a bake sale that managed to raise more than $400. However, the society will soon be forced to shell out near- ly $2,000 for microfilm- ed copies of the Port Perry Star, a cost that- could drain the society's bank account. "We need a lot of volunteer help for the many fundraising activities planned in 1985," Mrs. Christie said. for a reason. Mr. Hall says his sales were up an unprece- dented 40 per cent this past December over December 1983. "Partly it's attributed to the kind of advertis- ing we did in December but by the same token we have one third more inventory,"' he said. "But I still think every new business you put into an area is going to help you, even though it might be your compet- ition." Last year, in co-oper- ation with Port. Perry Star publisher Peter Hvidsten, Mr. Hall expanded his operation with enough room for an entirely new store. For about a year, he used the space for his own business, but last week, Mersco Department Store moved in. His own inventory was moved downstairs and into other parts of his 8,500 square foot building. With Mersco right next door, he antici- pates even more traffic through his own show- room. "All this has created an awful lot more drop- in customers," he point- ed out. "The back park- ing lot is used more. It's seldom now that I look out and see an empty lot. You can come down . here sometimes and not even get in to park your own car." But even the people who run Mersco were reluctant at first to move into their new west end quarters. They too were searching for another store within the heart of downtown. "It really is the main part of town," admits Mersco manager Kathy Stapley. "There's stores on both sides. The post office is there, and the old store was situated between two drug stores. It was sort of the perfect spot, right in the middle." After being in the same spot for approx- imately 25 years (before the war it was a dry goods store owned by Howard and Sadie Durkin), the jig was up for Mersco just over a year ago when the landlord (Luke's Country Store) announced it was putt- ing a card shop in Mersco's place. However, the lease was extended for another year, giving Ms. Stapley a chance to look for new premises Like others before her, she sought another east end store, but she finally accepted Howard Hall's offer and move into the west end. : Although the depart- ment store has been open just over a week, sales and customer traffic are looking good. "We've seen 'quite a few of our regular customers coming in," Ms. Stapley said. "Most of them are the regular ones who came in from the old block. The new store is a lot brighter, cleaner looking. And it looks even bigger because it's so bright. " "It's got a lot of pros and cons like the old store but I think it's a much nicer store than the old one." Even Mary Hogg is. happy about the change in the west end status. "People are beginn- ing to find me now. A lot of people assumed I was out of business when they went to the post office, looked across the road and saw I 'wasn't there," she said. "Certainly I am very pleased with everything that's happened. Maybe if it hadn't happened, 1 would have been in trouble." As for Howard Hall, he had another reason for wanting Mersco to remain on Queen Street, west or east. "Every small town has to have a five to a dollar on the main drag," he said with a grin. '"'You've just gotta." bi PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. January 22, 1985 -- 3 Homeowners could be forced to shovel walks (From page 1) said he has received several complaints in recent weeks about the snow-clogged side- walks, especially in heavily travelled areas along Lilla and Queen Streets. In fact, the decision to ask for a draft by-law. for the January 28th meeting was prompted by a formal complaint to council by an elderly resident who said walk- ing downtown via Queen Street is nearly imposs- ible and dangerous. Councillor Cottrell doesn't think there will be any major problems with enforcement. If the Township receives a complaint that a stretch of sidewalk has not been cleared, the municipal- ity would notify the homeowner and give him 24 hours (or longer) to do the job. If the snow still is not cleared, the Township would have it done and the charge would go on the proper- ty tax bill. - He said if the by-law passes, he would like to see the Township com- pile a list of high school students who would do the work when necess- ary, rather than works department employees. Ward 4 councillor -Harvey Graham is also a strong supporter of the idea. He said that if the by-law is approved the Township '"'would pro- bably only act on com- plaints." SE And he said discretion would have to be used where snow plows throw large 'amounts of the white stuff off the roads onto sidewalks such as the east side of Highway 7A through Port Perry. Councillor Graham said he believes all property owners in the Township have an obligation to keep the sidewalks clear in front of their homes and places of business. He too said that if a property owner refuses to do this, the Township would have the work done and the bill placed on the tax roll. Ward 1 councillor Neil Hunter, who asked that the draft by-law be prepared said "there is a definite need at this time." "We have spent a lot of money to construct sidewalks, they should be accessible year round." He went on to say that it may "not be popular to have to enforce this; but it's not very popular to have sidewalks that people can't walk over." And he said that other municipalities are able to enforce their by-laws by having the work done and putting the bill on the individual's taxes. Prior to regional government, the former village of Port Perry had such a by-law on the books. However, with the formation of Scugog Township in 1974, this by-law was repealed by the municipality a year or two later. It was not being enforced, any- way, according to councillor Malcolm. Cha, 'Family Finder This sweet grey and white feline (the colour of Garfield's nephew Nermal) would be purr-fectly willing to move in with any nice family willing fo adopt her. You can take her home by calling the Scugog-Uxbridge Animal Shelter at 852-7295. The shelter also has a six month old hound cross, a large blonde shepherd and lab cross, a Siberian husky, a black Corgi and Dachsund cross and a four month old grey Calico kitten, all desperately in need of a good home.