We are thankful to be part of the community of Welland! May 15 at noon, we put out a Facebook post asking if anyone had old windows.  Multiple people responded. Before closing that day someone had dropped off 4 windows. Combined with the windows we had, we were able to create safe shopping alterations to The Pantry. The Tuesday after Victoria Day we reopened our door to in-store shopping. For your safety and that of our staff, one customer (group) may shop at one time. It is wonderful to hear voices in the store again! Thank you to all the people who offered windows!

We are still offering our “front porch sales” and curbside. It is our goal to not just make you feel safe but to provide multiple safe shopping options. We continue to do frequent sanitizing sweeps of touch points.

We also would like you to see the Welland “July 25, 1858” commemorative bricks we are making. These bricks came out of our house which was made by a bricklayer called Roach from recycled materials in 1916. The bricks were handmade in the 1800s and must have come from a local Welland farmhouse that was torn down. Each brick is unique and tells its own tale through the chips and scratches on its surface. Welland was known for its brickyards, the most famous being the Hooker brickworks. I would like to think that our bricks were made here in Welland. If anyone has an authenticated Hooker brick it would be fascinating to compare it to our bricks. Regardless, as I handle each brick I can imagine the time consuming work that was was required to make each of these by hands. If you have ever seen how they were made you will know what a labour intensive job it was.

We had a special “postmark” stencil cut to commemorate the date Welland became a town. We are offering these bricks for $10.00 each while they last.

Looking forward to seeing you all again!!