Family-Owned and Operated Since 1945
By Martha Aitkin, Bruce Peninsula Press
2025 marks 80 years that Verna’s has operated as a family-owned business in the village of Tobermory. Opening as Verna’s Dry Goods in 1945, the business has evolved into a well-known Tobermory landmark.
Verna Moore was born in Wiarton in 1917. She spent her childhood years in Oliphant. Upon completion of secondary school, Verna attended Business College in Owen Sound.
In 1935, at the tender age of 18, Verna moved to Tobermory and went to work for Bert Golden in what was, at the time, the largest business operation in the Tobermory area. In 1937, she married Bud Hopkins and worked alongside him in the small shop, currently vacant, that stands in front of The Sweet Shop. Bud’s Butcher Shop was kept open for a time and operated by Verna, with assistance from her father-in-law while Bud was overseas during World War II. The store was closed for a time as the war raged on, as were most of the businesses in Tobermory, because most of the men were overseas, leaving the village nearly abandoned. Verna lived in Hamilton for a while and took work in the produce department of a grocery store.
The war finally ended, and Bud came home. They reopened the little butcher shop, but it soon became apparent that the little shop needed to expand. In 1945 they purchased the Belrose grocery store building that now houses the Tobermory Trading Post. The store had three sections, one for meat and groceries, one for hardware and one for Verna’s Dry Goods. Verna’s section of the store stocked bolts of fabric, buttons, thread, yarn, needles and everything else that was needed for the production of clothing and blankets as well as oilcloth for table covers, ointments, cards and gifts.
One of the few cars in Tobermory in those days was a green station wagon owned by Bud and Verna Hopkins. This car was primarily used for the picking up and delivery of goods for the store, but it was also famous in Tobermory for use as an ambulance to transport people who needed urgent medical attention. From time to time, the green station wagon was loaded up with young men for transportation to and from hockey games all “down the line”. Bud and Verna were well-known and well-loved in the community for their kindness and community service.
By 1959, Verna was ready for a separate space of her own. She hired Bert Munn to build the new store in its current location at the head of Little Tub Harbour in downtown Tobermory. Soon after she opened the store, she became a widow at age 47. Not long after Bud’s death, Verna sold the larger store.
Verna’s daughter, Susan (Lyons), grew up working alongside her mother. She remembers her mother fondly as a great teacher. She was “gentle and kind and welcoming”, the kind of person who opened her home to many young people in the summer months and believed in using “the good dishes”. The children, grandchildren, and now many of the great-grandchildren of Verna and Bud Hopkins, along with many loyal, long-term staff, have carried on the kind tradition of warmly welcoming visitors to the store.
Verna’s business college education is evident in the carefully handwritten books of store accounts. When Verna’s health declined due to asthma and osteoporosis, she had to retire from the work that she loved and move into the Golden Dawn Nursing Home in Lion’s Head. Susan and her husband, Dale, inherited the business with “no clue” how to manage it. Thanks to all the careful records that Verna kept for many years, they were able to figure it all out. Record keeping for a business has become more and more complicated over the years, but Dale and Susan continue to keep accurate and tidy handwritten books of accounts.
These days, Verna’s store stocks shoes, hats, purses, fine and casual clothing, along with gifts, jewelry, toys, cards, and souvenirs. Of course we don’t know what the future holds, but it seems likely that Verna’s store will carry on in the same traditions under the management of the next generation of Verna and Bud’s family.
