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Delta throwback: Perry's gets fresh look

J.H. Perry had not run the store for over a decade but still worked there on occasion as a hobby
perrys-department-store-1970
Gordon Peacock, owner and manager of Perry’s Department Store, arranges a stock display in his newly decorated store. Although the entire store interior had been refinished and modernized, some old furnishings had been kept as keepsakes. The thread cabinet in the photo, for instance, had been in the building since it first opened as general store in the 1880s.

Let’s head back to May 1970 when Perry’s Department Store in Ladner Village got a face-lift.

First opening as a general store in the late 1880s, the interior of the building was completely renovated to give it a modern look.

While the renovations had brightened up the store, some of the antique furnishings remained.

Gordon Peacock and his wife bought the store in 1965, but retained the Perry name. He had worked there for eight years after moving to Ladner in 1947.

Among the many other employees of the store over the years was Mayor Dugald Morrison, who worked in the grocery department a few decades earlier.

Although J.H. Perry at the time had not run the store for more than a decade, he still worked there on occasion as a hobby.

The 85-year-old, who purchased the store in 1934, and his wife also still lived in an apartment above the Westham Street (now called 48th Avenue) business.

The store would go on to be operated under different owners until it was demolished in 1989.