By John Francis,
Bruce Peninsula Press
It was quite an event on January 19, 2023 — the new Peacock’s Foodland was finally open and hundreds of residents came out to celebrate. It was “all hands on deck” for year-round staff, with quite a few seasonal employees coming up for the day as well. There were hugs, speeches, cake and a slide show of memories of the old store.
MP Alex Ruff and Deputy Mayor Rod Anderson offered congratulations to Rick Peacock Sr and Rick Jr for their commitment to improve service to their community.
The new store is more than 25,000 square feet, up from 6,500 at the old location.
The change is pretty dramatic.
There are 90 parking spaces. The aisles are wide, the produce area is huge and has automatic misting. The freezers are large, there is a hot deli, flower displays, 5 check-outs, plus 3 self check-outs.
Customers wandered around the store wearing stunned expressions, having difficulty believing that a facility like this could exist in Tobermory.
It represents quite an evolution for the Peacock’s operation.
Ron and Barb Peacock bought “Haythorne’s Grocery” in 1974. At the time, it was the smallest of three grocery stores in Tobermory.
The Peacock family had been living in the Toronto area for ten years at that point, with Ron working as a pressman for Maclean-Hunter. But Barb had grown up in her parents’ grocery store — Gardiner’s Meat Market on 8th Street in Owen Sound — and the longer they spent around Toronto, the more appealing the small-town grocery business seemed. When Barb’s parents decided to close Gardiner’s Meat Market in 1974, Ron and Barb bought their freezers and some other equipment and used them to upgrade their new grocery business in Tobermory.
They never looked back. They loved the business, the customers and the opportunity to serve their community. Ron and Barb both worked at the store until their deaths (Ron – 2002 and Barb – 2018).
Their son Rick, a teenager at the time, remembers the original store as tiny — “maybe 1,200 square feet, tops”, he says — and adding freezers and a full-service meat department made it feel even smaller. They expanded the store five times over the years. In 1985, they got permission to extend out at the back of the building. A few years later, they extended out both sides (see picture below). Around 1990 they bought Vera (Whit) Hopkins’ property nextdoor. After removing the house and clearing away quite a bit of rock they extended the store onto that property. As Tobermory’s population was growing quickly at that time, the new expansions were never enough. Another expansion to the west was needed almost immediately.
The final renovation at the “old” store took place around 2005, with a few feet being added at the front of the store and a second storey added at the back so that deliveries could come in that way.
As the population of Tobermory continued to grow property was bought on highway 6 to build a larger store. 8 and a half years later here we are!
Between Gardiner’s Meat Market and Peacock’s in Tobermory, Rick and Ricky (aka Rick Sr and Rick Jr) represent the fifth and sixth generations in a family tradition that extends back to the 19th century.
“A huge thank you to Jack Schenk for his guidance in seeing my vision” said Peacock. “Also, Jamie Hastings General Contractor and all the sub-trades. Daryl Robins and Laura Swanson for all their engineering and guidance. The crew from Owen Sound Foodland, for helping set up our larger store and the Sobey’s/Foodland team for helping with the store layout.”
All three current members of the seventh generation attended the Grand Opening. The future looks bright.
