After 99 years — three generations — of business, community, and family, Barry’s Trading Post is finally closing for good on Dec. 29. Just a few months before it’s 100th anniversary.
And while the owners, Bruce and Trish Barry, are excited to start this new chapter in their lives, it’s clear that the store will be sorely missed.
“There was a drumming ceremony for us on Thursday (Dec. 21),” Bruce said. “So, the fishermen, they came up and had a drumming ceremony for us, for the wife and I. We got cedar hats and blankets, and they sang a couple songs for us.
“We’ve known some of these kids — well they were little kids when they came in and now they’re coming in with their little kids. And yeah some of these families have been with us since the 50s’, coming fishing up here.”
Last Thursday was an emotional day, the couple said, as they were reminded of the impact Barry’s had on the communities both within and outside Yale. It was also a bittersweet moment as they were reminded of how many people, both locals and visitors, relied on their store for nearly a century.
Established in 1924, Barry’s Trading Post served as Yale’s post office, liquor store, convenience store, and grocery store. Originally more a bustling town, the creation of the Coquihalla Highway significantly cut back on the traffic and visitors that Yale receives. As such, aside from the Yale Historic Site, the community has fixed itself around Barry’s as a staple fixture for the town.
For 48 years, Bruce and Trish have continued to grow these relationships — talking to people, getting to know them, and providing Yale with a space to socialize. In fact, they’ve even run Costco grocery-run service for the community; once, sometimes twice a week, the couple have taken orders from people who didn’t’ want to leave Yale and head down to Costco in Abbotsford.
“I kind of have second thoughts sometimes. You know, is it the right time? But, I think we’ve been here long enough. I might regret it later but it’s a different stage of life,” Bruce said. “What I’m going to miss, I think the most, is talking to the people. We get people that stop in on the way to a cabin up in the Kootenays or the Interior. And we get to know them over the years. We had a couple from Vancouver, and we told them that we were closing. The lady got really emotional. She’d been coming here for 20, maybe 30, years.
“So, that part I think I’m going to miss, just talking to the people. Cause you get to know them. So, it’s very sad, that part of it.”
According to Bruce, Barry’s first started out as a small grocery store run by his grandfather, Charles E. Barry. The post office was added to the store a few years later.
Charles was a formidable man, taking on many roles in his lifetime that included working as a shopkeeper, local postmaster, elections officer, church warden, school trustee, and judge who handed out sentences in Hope.
Despite his time as a judge, Charles biggest and current impact in Hope (aside from Barry’s) involves the C.E. Barry school, which was named after him in the mid-70s’. The school was permanently closed in 2014, due to a combined result of seismic upgrade work and falling enrolment numbers. Former students of the school eventually erected a kiosk in Charles’ memory three years ago.
Throughout his life, Charles maintained the grocery store, originally known as The Red and White grocery store and eventual grocery chain franchise. After the building, where the shop was located, burnt down in the 50s’, the store was moved across the train tracks and rebuilt near Yale’s entrance. Bruce’s father took over running the store in 1967 and Bruce began working as a full-time employee in 1975, after graduating from Hope Secondary School. Eventually, his father retired and Bruce took over as the owner in 1997.
“My brothers and sisters didn’t want to do this, so I kind of took over,” Bruce said when asked why he chose to continue the family business. “We raised a family through the business. And it’s been good.”
Sometime after graduating and taking over the store, Bruce met and married Trish. Trish, who was from Cranbrook, met Bruce while visiting her sister who lived in Hope at the time. The couple had three children together — two boys and one girl — who, like Bruce, were raised within the store. And, like Bruce, the children witnessed the store’s growth and change, including adding a restaurant (that eventually closed down due to not having enough workers in the summer and not having enough customers in the winter).
Like Bruce, Trish said she was going to miss the everyday conversations she had with the customers.
“I’ve been a little emotional because of the drumming ceremony,” she said. “There’s a lot of people I will miss. But I told them, we live right here (in Yale). They can just knock on our door, have a visit.”
Though Bruce said he took over the store due to family, he and Trish didn’t place those expectations on their kids as they understood they had “their own jobs and lives.”
“My kids were raised in it so they know what’s it like. Cause you get married to it (the store), 24/7,” Bruce said. “They’ve helped out, though, and still do. They’ll come back and help us out.”
With no one willing to inherit and run the store, Bruce said he tried selling Barry’s but it simply didn’t work out. Eventually, after talking about it with Trish, they decided it was time to move on and let go; the store closes on Dec. 29 and the couple will officially retire on Dec. 31, the end of their fiscal year.
This unknown moment, Bruce and Trish said, is scary. But, aside from knowing it’s time to retire, they’re also excited to finally be able to try new things and start enjoying life fully again.
“I’ve lost a few people in my life, in the last little bit. Life is short,” Trish said. “And now we can visit family instead of them coming here. And Bruce hasn’t been out of here in eight years, for a holiday-holiday.”
A holiday, especially if it involves travelling, is something that Bruce said he is looking forward to the most. That and getting to put his feet up for a bit.
“I’m just gonna sit back and relax a while. Do some travelling. Maybe go see the rest of Canada,” he said. “I’d like to go back east. You know, I’ve never been further than Manitoba. So, I’d like to go to Ontario, and the Prairies, and the Atlantic.”
For now, though, the couple have been getting ready for the store’s final day, as well as prepping the post office for it’s relocation. To all those worried about needing to travel to Hope for their postal services, Bruce said that the post office is being moved into the Ward Tea House located just across from the Yale Historic Site. The post office should begin it’s move sometime this weekend, just in time for the new year.
Of course, they’ve also been getting the people ready — both Yale and it’s visitors — of the store’s closure too.
“I’d like to thank everybody for their support over the years. And good luck,” Bruce said. “There’s not much in Yale anymore. So, hopefully it comes back.”
After it officially closes, the store will remain as it is for a while. The pictures will remain on the wall, the items will still be on the shelves, and the signs will remain throughout the store. Serving as a reminder of the past 99 years.
And of the three generations of family who stood by Yale during that time.
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