By John Francis, Bruce Peninsula Press
Life in the village of Lion’s Head took a heavy blow last August 29 — a fire at Hellyer’s Foodland left the village without a food store for the first time since 1934.
Other merchants tried to help out over the fall and winter as the community had to deal with the loss. But as one longtime resident told me at the Grand Re-Opening, “It’s the hub of the village”.
And on June 13, that grand re-opening came much sooner than anyone thought possible (although not nearly soon enough for Kyle and Kara Hellyer who run the store). “Plan on being closed for 18 months,” they were advised. After five generations and ninety years of daily service at this store, the Hellyers could not accept that long a delay.
The fire left the store in need of major renovations — a new west wall including ceiling and roof, new freezers and a complete rewiring of the entire store to bring it up to 2024 code. Kyle and Kara also took advantage of the break to redesign the store, expanding the produce and deli sections, installing new retail cooler and freezer display units and adding the new indoor/outdoor “cart corral” and entranceway.
They got all that done in nine months. The community couldn’t be happier.
June 13 dawned cold and rainy but it didn’t dampen the celebration. Hundreds of people came out at 8:00am to watch the ribbon being cut, applaud and tell the Hellyers how glad they were to have their store back.
Bob and Jeanette Hellyer (Greig), 3rd Generation of Hellyer’s and Grandparents to Kyle Hellyer offered the following congratulations:
“Kyle and Kara, Congratulations on a job well done. The people are so glad to see you back! To Steven and Kathy, thank you so much for the support you gave Kyle and Kara and the work you did to help them. We’re so very proud of you.
It’s amazing what family can do when the chips are down. To all the returning staff, it’s great to see your smiling faces. So glad to see you back. I’m sure Kyle’s great great Grandfather Roy and great Grandfather Morgan would be so proud to see how the business has grown.”
