When I was about 6 years old our family made trips to Saskatoon for shopping. I always looked forward despite the hour drive because we would often visit Handicraft Supplies!
This incredibly packed store had lots of parts for my Meccano set and model airplanes hanging in the ceiling. I remember a young kid that worked there. He may have been about 17 and for some reason the name Greg comes to mind. I also remember an old man with a large white beard. I want to say his name was Chris but I’m less sure about that.
I always saved my allowance or whatever money I had to buy Meccano parts (over and above what my parents got me).
Often the store operators agreed to watch over me while my parents did their shopping. This would prevent my parents from the constant hounding I’d give them wanting to go to Handicraft Supplies when they were at various stores. I’d hang out at the counter and the staff would entertain me. I usually had about an hour and a half of questions to ask on each visit. The staff answered every one.
“What’s the pitch of that propeller? Why does it have more pitch than the other one? What’s that? Why does the blue plane have three landing gear but the red one only has two? How does a helicopter turn? Can I have see all the gears in that Meccano Gear Set? Can I handle that gear to see how heavy it is?”
I spent a lot of time with my Meccano set and like most 6-7 year olds, money was a little sparse so I really enjoyed seeing all the stuff at Handicraft Supplies. Other activities included kites, paper planes, tree-house building, go-cart building, cubs, camping, exploring, bicycles, tobogganing and much more. I really wanted a model plane. One Christmas my dad bought a Cox .049 control-line airplane. During the summer we flew it off the baseball diamond but broke it. I remember vaguely being the pilot. I remember that I was incredibly nervous. That plane stayed in the closet after it was broken. Those Cox products are really just a legacy product. They don’t repair well since they’re made of plastic. They weren’t as beautiful as the balsa frames I was shown at Handicraft supplies on some of my visits.
From the days of Handicraft Supplies I had a lot of interest in these elusive flying models!
Note:
I’m wrote the above this morning which is about 40 years after that fact so I spent some time doing some research to check the sanity of my memory. I checked Google for “Handicraft Supplies”. Nothing much came forward. I then found the Web site of the model airplane club in Saskatoon and emailed all the contacts on the club executive asking if anybody remembers Handicraft Supplies or the white bearded man. A gentleman named Greg got back to me remembering the store and that he worked there in 1974 and 1975. He sent me a picture of the store which was in the Hutchinson Building (144 2nd Avenue South). Okay, this isn’t just a figment of my childhood memory.
Wow.
The building still exists because it was designated a heritage property August 9th, 1999! It was a hardware store till 1970, and home of Saskatoon Handicraft Supplies until 1995. With a major historic renovation the Hutchinson Building lives on continues its tradition of commercial and residential use. Current commercial tenant is CBC.
It was designed by Frank P. Martin, and built by R. J. Arrand in 1923 after a dramatic fire. The previous building was Saskatoon Hardware Ltd (Saskatoon’s largest hardware store). The new building (owned by J. L. Stanley Hutchinson) was considered a high end prairie commercial building and it had California style upper suites. It had a sprinkler system and was considered fireproof. Apparently considered evidence of recovery from the World War I economic downturn.
More just in (Jun 12, 2011):
Hello Darcy, Handicraft supplies was started by a high school art teacher, Mike Egnatoff, in the mid to late thirties. He branched out to other hobby interests as the years went by. I will try to ferret out any photos that the Hub City Radio Control Club has stored. There may also be photos of the store in the city archives. I can remember two locations for the store. My late 1950 memories are of the store on 23rd. Street between 2nd and 3rd. Avenues. The later location was on the west side of 2nd Ave. between 21st and 22nd street. I will have to enquire about the large white beard at Handicraft. — Duncan, Executive of local flying club.
I remember Handicraft Supplies well, having worked there for a few months in 1967, not long after arriving in Saskatoon from England. I wasn’t much of a worker, and whilst the job wasn’t bad, it soon taught me that I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. In the end, I became a Professor of English Literature instead. It was a great place, and they could have paid me in model aeroplanes if they’d wanted to, as I spent most of my money on them anyway.
I am sorry to here the store no longer exists. I have an old catalogue, tha shows 229 – 22 nd Street East.
Really? Can you take some pictures of it and send them to me? Thanks!