Super S Drugs
It was for many decades a Calgary Institution. Not just a place to get a prescription filled, no, it was much more. Picture it, an almost full on department store where one could purchase nearly anything their heart desired without having to drive all over town. A bottle of Tylenol, yes. A Black & Decker drill, yes. Small appliances, yes. Cameras, glasses, sporting goods, a pet adoption, the latest hit record, yes, yes, yes! They had it all in this convenient location, two floors of pure bliss for the shopaholic and one single stop to get it ALL.
And now the business is but a memory even if their iconic building remains, empty and vacant on our visit. This was the mega-drug store at the corner of 14th Street and 12th Avenue Southwest, over the years operating under many names, but most famously known as Super S Drugs. It was the go-to for many, especially given their extended hours with them being open for business late into the night when other stores were closed. It was a handy place to shop.
Before Super S there was Sunalta Drugs. Starting about 1930/1931 (records differ a bit), that firm came on the scene, their location this very same city block. Research suggests they were a pretty traditional style pharmacy of modest size. Then in 1964 it all changed. The structure seen here was built transforming the operation from a small neighbourhood store to a retail shopping destination. It was an instant hit and business thrived. Initially the store took on the name Sunalta Super S Drugs, later shortening it by dropping the Sunalta within a year or so. Sunalta, incidentally, is the name of the neighbourhood in which the store almost resides. It’s technically in the Beltline Community across the street. Let’s not split hairs.
The store seemed to do well in the coming decades. For a time they even opened other outlets in town but the 14th Street store always remained the flagship operation and had the largest most varied selection. None of these satellite stores lasted all that long. At one point, late 1970s, it became Super S Drugs, a division of White Cross Pharmacies. In about 1985 the store was rebranded as Mercury Drugs and then again, about 1988, became just one outlet of many in the competing Super Drug Mart chain. At least it was back to being Super!
By this point, it’s suggested the lower level closed, or business down there scaled back. That’s where all the non-pharmacy stuff was. They slowly got out of this biz and reverted back to more traditional health related products mostly.
Super Drug Mart 14th Street @ 12th Avenue then became a Rexall Drugs outlet (a country-wide chain), who went on to be the last permanent tenant here. This happened sometime in recent memory, but we could not find an exact date. The store’s been vacant for a few years, save for the occasional temporary pop-up business using it short term. Since shooting these pics, a dollar store has since moved in. That sounds more long term. Time to go in and take a tour – the place was a fixture in your author’s life, back when he was a troubled teen. Lived in the area in the ’70s and shopped (and shoplifted) at Super S Drugs often.
Super S Drugs, given their broad selection of products, reminds us of present day London Drugs (chain) who similarly offers way more than most competitors and not just traditional health based products. Super S was a real innovator and did it first in Calgary.
There used to be other businesses that operated out of the building. There was a store run lunch counter (ate there a lot) and variously over the years other restaurants/pubs, a doctors office, optometrist, bank, computer shop and various hair salons. Oh, and a floral delivery service out in the parking lot. But most memorable to the person writing this, circa late 1970s, was housed in that long skinny addition out front. There it was pinball heaven, a home away from home and if there was a quarter in my possession it was at this arcade where you’d find me. Loved pinball then, and still do, a relationship destined to go on forever I suppose. Got kicked out of this arcade for being a wizard (a skill since lost) and monopolizing machines too long…but that’s another story.
Given the layout of the arcade it was quite cramped with little room to move. Bumping into people lost in the game, and the resultant “hey I’m playing here look” was a common place happening. Pinball players like their space.
In the 1970s (at least) they’d have an Christmas Tree lot on the Super S property come the holiday season.
Random memories: the legendary wall of magazines! And the tube tester downstairs.
The building, while not over the top architecturally wise, still has lots of 1960s design cues, The broadly tapering tops of the otherwise delicate support columns, the use of those funky decorative blocks on the outer walls and liberal use of glass are fine examples speaking back to the styles of the time. There’s not a whole lot of commercial buildings from this era in Calgary, relative to other periods, so this makes the it rather unique and special in that regard. Doubly so given it’s little changed from when built. From that same period, this cool structure in town: Hyperbolic Paraboloid.
A look through grimy old windows shows the interior completely stripped, the only things left behind, a couple lonely chairs (shout out to Seph…oh, never mind) and the old Associated Cabs direct hot line phone. Remember those? No dial, just pick it up and it’d call out to them. This would from the 1980s or earlier and maybe was original to the store.
Even with the building being vacant (recall, on our visit), the parking area was in use as a pay lot. Might as well make some income from it. This area of town has a distinct shortage of places where visitors can park.
Across the street, a building also of your author’s youth. That one structure in the shot with the pay station, in back, two stories in two tone brown, it’s that one. It was a corner store where we’d turn in bottles…money soon spent at the temple of the silver ball out front of Super S. Wasted so much time there and it rotted my brain. Out back behind the building a camera store that has been around for a long time.
The last pub to operate in the building, 12th Avenue Bar & Grill (which technically fronts on 14th Street) seemingly had a notorious past. We found a few old newspaper articles speaking of the troubles to be found there. Can you say drug busts?
Wandering about the property, we’re taken back. It’s 1977 all over again, if but for a moment. It may have had many names over the years, but it’ll always be Super S here. With it getting that new tenant, we presume the building has a solid future – not that it seemed to be threatened based on our research. Still, it’s reassuring. Thanks for tagging along, it was a blast!
They’re saying…
”I love your pictures and articles. Such amazing history you uncover.” Jean Dunsford O’Rourke.
Uniquely Calgary…
The Curious Castle House – a strange dwelling.
Ex-Alberta Midland/CNoR Calgary – an old rail line.
Retro Service Stations: Lakeview Husky – stuck in time.
Sunalta – taking you to school.
If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!
Date: July & October, 2019.
Location: Calgary, AB.
Article references and thanks: Old Calgary Phonebooks and Newspapers, City of Calgary Land Records.
The former Super S Drugs, once a Calgary institution.
The little flower shop in the parking lot.
On the corner of 12th Ave & 14th St Southwest.
Empty here, it’s since had a tenant move in.
A bar on one end.
This tattered old sign.
A doctor’s office in back.
Hanging on for dear life.
A whole lot of empty.
Obligatory lonely chair shot…and call a cab.
Get styled, down in the basement.
Once a temple to the silver ball.
Out front it’s a pay parking lot.
The building’s from the mid-1960s.
Don’t think about gear…
Along the east wall.
No roses for you!
Later it was Mercury Drugs, Super Drug Mart and lastly Rexall.
Your author once lived blocks away.
All quiet this night.
They had a machine in there for testing vacuum tubes. If your TV went on the fritz you took out the tubes and went there and tested them. When you found the bad one the clerk would open up the cabinet under the machine and get the one you needed. You paid for it and went home a happy customer. I used it many times.
Everyone seems to recall that machine (we do to). Such cool memories of that place.
Super S Drugs the store looks just like when I worked there ’73-75, minus the store contents. I worked in the camera department and was there and heard the shot blast from sporting goods downstairs when the guy in that dept was shot by a supposed customer. The shooter went up the escalator within a few feet of the cash register in the camera dept where I was making a sale on camera film. It took me a few seconds to figure out what the hell had happened but I kept hearing calls for Mr. Roy on the intercom which was the call for security. I followed the guy out of the store. He crossed over the road and into a parking lot and continued up the alley short ways to another small ‘overflow’ lot. By this time the Calgary police had arrived and I waved them over and pointed to the shooter who was still casually walking thru the lot. A cop was close to me and as the guy was stepping over a low guardrail the cop yelled out for him to stop. He turned and the cop shot. It hit his upper chest and the guy just sort of shrugged and pulled at his jean jacket as if to say that the the bullet didn’t go thru his clothes. The shooter started to jog and by this time there were many police around and I did hear another shot. I don’t recall if they shooter actually was killed. I do remember I was shaking pretty badly and went back into Super S to continue to do my job but it was chaotic with people trying to get the customers out of the store and I guess trying to give the injured salesperson in the lower floor sporting goods dept. A short time later I went to work at the Bay downtown (Calgary) and wouldn’t you know it, while I was employed there some nut started shooting out of the windows out of the 2nd floor down at people in the mall area. I have more negative memories of that also.
Woah, intense stuff! Thank for adding to the story.
We moved to Calgary in 1976, I grew up not far from Super S, (we lived at 14th & 14th) and I remember my parents shopping there for everything but groceries. Those incidentally, came from the Safeway which is now (and has been forever) the McDonalds on 17th Ave & 14th St. I had completely forgotten about the arcade but yes, there was a cramped arcade. I didn’t play so I was never in it but I remember it being packed all the time and loud. I do remember the lunch counter! And the wall of fish tanks. I had an aquarium growing up so that was my “arcade”. On that same note, one store in the area I remember well is Hole in the Wall fish store, also a great resource for fish. I remember when the rotating sign in the parking lot burnt down. It had a giant S at the top, we could see it from the end of our street. I vaguely remember a veterinary clinic where the dentist was although I can’t say for sure if by then it was Mercury Drugs. I’m glad I came across this website, nice trip down memory lane!
We lived on 15th & 15th! Recall that Safeway too and my mom shopped there all the time. The arcade was my hang out – dropped a lot of quarters in those machines. Thanks for sharing your cool memories.
Feeling like the Underdog but it seems nobody remembers Pay ‘n Save Drugs. Calgary had 3 locations; 326 7th Ave SW, 6707 Elbow Drive and 3012 17th Ave SE. Everything Super S had and likewise endured the Sunday shopping regulations back there. It was a Seattle based chain with other Cdn locations in Greater Vancouver and Regina.
Through some federal income tax wrangling Pay ‘n Save disappeared from Canada. Matter of fact; London Drugs is a copy of Pay ‘n Save right down to the department locations and brand/height of shelving.
We had totally forgotten about P&S so thanks for jogging our memory. They seemed like an also-ran when compared to Super S here. I knew London Drugs didn’t originate that type of store. Thanks for commenting!
Feb.14, 2020
One huge merchandising head scratcher for me were the carpet swatches Super S brought in from Oscar’s Surplus. Various colours and textures. About 3 or 4 different sizes, the largest, if memory is correct, were about two feet square. Most with finished/bound edges on 3 sides, ragged on the fourth side. Some with only a couple of inches unfinished on one edge. They were shipped all jumbled up in very large boxes. We paid pennies apiece and sold them for pennies apiece (.39 ? .59 ?) Can’t remember exactly- 40+ year old memories.
Staff told me that some customers would “paw” through the piles of these for hours to match up colour and texture, supposedly to sew together. I found this incomprehensable – but never argue with success – they used to sell like the proverbial Hot Cakes !
On a buying trip to Toronto and Montreal I decided to stop in and meet the man I used to affectionately refer to as Uncle Oscar. The man I met appeared to be nearing retirement age. He had a very noticeable (how could you miss it) large gouge/scar on one side of his forehead.
While talking to Oscar I learned his source of the carpet swatches. At the end of each season he’d run around to all the carpet outlets and pick up (for free ?) their now outdated sample books. He’d hire a couple of day labourers to cut the swatches out of the books.VOILA
But what really made this meeting memorable was when Oscar opened up to me and told me his “life story”. DAMN-wish I’d written it down then.But, to the best of my memory:
Oscar was a teenage Jewish boy in eastern Europe when the Nazi’s rounded up his family. Oscar maintained that they all knew what their ultimate fate would be and yet all, like sheep, meekly went where they were ordered. All except Oscar. He fought back. In a skirmish with a lone Nazi he was shot in the fore head but still managed to dispatch his adversary with a knife !
On the run he was picked up by German soldiers who took him to be a German forces deserter. Was that head wound a blessing in disguise? It would appear he’d had active military experience. Safer to be a deserter than a Jew. They put him in uniform and sent him to the front lines. Oscar doffed the uniform, crossed the lines to Russian territory. Russian troops eventually picked him up and took him to be a deserter from their forces. They put him in a Russian uniform and shipped him to the front lines. Oscar soon realized that he was unlikely to survive long in this situation. He had, all along, been active in the local black market. He marched into his commanding officers office and dropped two suitcases stuffed with cash declaring “I want to be an officer.”! And thus survived the war!
WOW
The war over he made his way to Canada, bring with him a young boy he’d taken under his wing.
Arriving in Canada he renounced his Jewish religion stating he couldn’t forget how complacent/docile all the Jewish people around him had been.
Next time – Young at Heart – another supplier
Carpet swatches? Seriously? That’s about the craziest business idea I’ve ever heard. And that they sold is even more bizarre. Some powerful memories here, thanks for sharing.
Feb.06,2020
Super S and it’s grocery dept.
Hardly a real department. One or two double sided shelving units. Just about every soft drink.Lots of snack food variety – chips, crackers, cookies, candy, packages of seeds and nuts.A variety of canned goods.Canned beans, canned spaghetti, etc.,etc. Then:
Canned oysters ! What the hell. Is this a joke.
The average Super S customer was attracted to it’s discount philosophy, probably not a big oyster consumer.
To my eye the whole thing looked like a poorly thought out mish mash. Too many “dust collector” items.
The oysters may have hit the shelf after being included in some “job lot” purchase of distress/bankruptcy merchandise. Or if one of Len’s “well heeled” friends had told him he should carry them.
This area had obviously been neglected for some time.I knew exactly what I’d do if it was put under my control.
A couple of years into my tenure with Super S the general manager, let’s just call him Bob, came to me and asked me if I’d be able to take over this dept. I readily agreed and immediately went into hyperdrive contacting various potential suppliers.
A few days later, having heard of the change, the manager of the 14 St.store, let’s just call him Roger, phoned me and said “Jim, is it possible that we could carry bread?”
I said “Roger, great minds think alike. I’m currently negotiating between McGavins and Weston. You can expect your first delivery within the week. But, you’ve also got to make room for a large cooler because we’re also going to be carrying milk, eggs, and bacon.”
One way of taking care of those “dust collector” items is to dramatically increase the traffic into that part of the store. Saves
not having to practically give these items away.
HUGE SUCCESS !
I don’t remember the stores carrying fresh produce, but I definitely
wouldn’t say impossible. It could have been brought in after my time with Super S or could have been a decision made by store staff. There was a fair amount of autonomy granted on day to day mundane decisions.
Fallout on this may have been the demise of the convenience store on the west side of 14 St. within a stones throw of Super S.
I’ve, over the years, felt a certain amount of guilt over that closing. It certainly was not my intention to put some “little guy” out of business. But, having to do it all over, I’d do it all the same. It was the right thing to do for Super S – should have been done years earlier.
Next time: Uncle Oscar and the rug swatches
Junk food heaven, the go to for convenience type stores. Oysters? That is odd. I recall that corner store you spoke of and remember it closing not long after I moved to the area. Because they heard I was around…haha…lock up Aero bars! Your walks through time are awesome and please keep them coming!
BIG amendment to my error in Feb.04 comment
I described the location of the Heritage Dr.building as the “south east” corner of Macleod Tr.and Heritage Dr.
Of course this should read the NORTH EAST corner.Sorry for the oversight.
Feb.05 2020
The Pantera sports car:
Len used to often be seen bombing around in a brilliant yellow Pantera.
One day he was giving a senior staff member(dept.head at the 14 st.store),let’s just call her Isabel, a ride.Perhaps between stores.
Isabel got into the Pantera ,looked down and saw blocks attached to the pedals. Len,looking over, saw what she was looking at. He said to her “Isabel, don’t say a word”.
Len had a Giant ego and who could blame him with what he’d built.He was a Calgary icon, near celebrity status.
As Sixto Rodrigues (Searching for Sugarman fame)says in a song “he was bigger than himself”. Unfortunately his stature didn’t match his ego – Len was barely five foot two ! He needed the blocks to reach the pedals.
When this story got out – as get out it must – some of the less reverent of Super S staff used to occasionaly, probably when he’d done something to piss them off, refer to Lenny as BLOCKS !
Len, if you’re still out there ,if you’re listening (reading), sorry,sorry,sorry. Apology, but I’m just telling it the way it was.
And from subsequent contact “way down the road” years later I saw that you’d grown out of that phase.
I worked for Super S Drugs from 1976 till 1980.
Once, I was standing in the mezzanine board room at the Heritage location with Wilf(the same Wilf from the firearms story).
Crusty old Wilf -erasable- always cynical – looks down about 30 feet to where Len had parked the Pantera. A nice summer day so Len had removed the roof panels from the T-roof Pantera. Wilf says “I don’t believe it. $30,000 and the damn thing doesn’t even have a roof!” FUNNY
Next time – Super S and the grocery dept.
Awesome! What a great human interest angle. More, more, more! A Pantera? How exotic. The blocks on pedals story reminds me of a rather small friend who had to place a bunch of cushions and padding on his seat when he drove so he’d be pushed forward enough to reach the gas and brake. That worked well until one day, on taking a sharp corner, he slipped out of this make-shift seat, ended up on the floor and in doing so hit the gas and took out a pole.
Feb. 04,2020
Super S and it’s satellite outlets
This part told to me by the head of the advertising dept.,let’s just call her Marie.
Len Friedman called a meeting of all senior management staff.
He let everyone know that he had on opportunity to secure a location for a second Super S Drugs.This proposed location was to be built by some developer on the south east corner of the intersection of Macleod Tr.and Heritage Dr.and would be “super”sized – approx.twice the Sq.Footage of both floors of the 14 St.store.
Marie said she immediately voiced her opposition, that all other businesses took the approach of having smaller outlets in outlying areas. That she’d expect that a more reasonable expansion might be to have say 4 smaller Super S outlets “spotted” around the 14 St anchor outlet.
I’m not sure, but Lenny may have already committed to the Heritage Dr. building.
This next part was told to me by someone in the know (can’t remember who).Possible the comptroller, let’s call him Bob.
He said that the original plan for the Heritage Dr. building was that the front would face Macleod Tr.(the southern face presumably facing Heritage Dr.)but that somehow (city approvals?) the building got “flipped” 180 degrees.Also, that the building immediately north, to be built by the same developer, would be exclusively a medical professional/medical clinic. A direct access for emergency vehicles from Macleod Tr.would lead between the buildings.
A Dream scenario for any drug store !
Some how these plans went way off the rails.Super S became committed to more space (the entire length of that north/south wing of the building) than they could use efficiently.The medical building became space for whoever could pay the rent.
Ah, the best laid plans …………
Later satellites consisted of film (remember Fuji,Kodak) drop off kiosks spotted around the city.
I heard a story about how a staff member at one of these kiosks had “screwed up”.I didn’t hear what the issue was.One of the staff from the Heritage store was dispatched to give this person “what for”.
This staff member went to the mall ,charged up to the kiosk and immediately started berating the person behind the counter.Finished his tirade ,he spun around and returned to the Heritage Dr. store.
Upon reporting in with the superior who’d given him his instructions he was informed that he’d gone to the wrong mall – Super S had no kiosk in that mall !
I have a vague memory of a short lived small pharmacy on Stephan Ave.
Next – Lenny’s brilliant yellow Pantera sports car.
Once again, we’re in awe. A personal first hand account like this is history gold, if we haven’t already said that. We and our readers thank you for all your hard work. Since you’ve been sharing your memories traffic on this article has increased considerably.
Super S – the firearms counter and murder !
As told to me by an old time employee and a retired Calgary police officer.
Super S got into the business of selling guns.
And again I am compelled to take us back in time to get a sense of the difference then and now least we feel that we can apply todays attitudes and mores to yesterday events – an activity that’s far too prevalent these days.
Growing up in rural Manitoba in the 50s 90% of households had at least 3 firearms usually:
a .22 rimfire rifle for gophers (ground squirrels) and rabbits(hares).
a .303 Enfield military surplus rifle or 30-30 Winchester for whitetail deer.
a 12 guage shotgun for waterfowl.
These were the days before Free universal health care. No Workman’s Comp., no CPP , limited unemployment insurance (the “dole”).
Abject Poverty all around me.
Hunting was the difference between a poor diet and a more adequate diet.
We were trained at an extremely young age on firearms handling.The first time I was allowed to pull the trigger I was 5 years old.The kid granting this privilege , the one with the gun way out on the prairie , was 8 years old ! No adults present , just 6 or 7 grade school age boys.
So let’s not condemn Super S for selling guns.
An old timer , let’s just call him Wilf , told me he was unpacking a shipment of surplus military firearms that had last seen use in northern Africa (Ethopia ?) when he unwrapped a virtual work of art. The wooden stock had been intrically carved from “stem to stern”.
The murder at the gun counter occurred when someone asked to look at one of the rifles. Upon getting his hands on it he immediately slapped a shell , which he’d brought with him, into the chamber and fired killing the staff member.
The retired CPD officer told me that pursuing police were driving along side the perpetrators car – racing up the hill on 14 St.(south from Super S?). In trying to stop him they were firing their service issue .32 caliber revolvers into the driver’s side door. After wards it was discovered that the .32 slugs hadn’t even gone all the way through the car door.
One wonders why they didn’t fire at the car window.Perhaps they didn’t want to deliver a fatal wound.
This some retired officer told me that in those days if an officer ever drew his gun just to avoid a beating he’d be fired !
These were different times and obviously policing was very different also !
Fallout from all this:
Super S got rid of the firearms dept.
CPD upgraded to the more powerful .38 Special cartridge.
I don’t remember what happened with the perpetrator.
Thank goodness no rash of copy cat events.
Next time – Super S and the satellite stores.
Wow, this is amazing. Thanks for sharing this incredible slice of history. Living in small town BC for time long ago, guns were commonplace there too and the sight of one became something ordinary. Everyone there it seemed hunted.
Super S and the Lords Day Act
Again told to me by old time employee(s).
But first to set the scene we have to recognize how different were those times !
As a youngster growing up in the 50s in a small Manitoba town I can remember Sundays. All businesses closed for the day,oops, maybe not the Chinese restaurant. Many church bells chiming (13 churches) to call all to services. TV programming was all religious until into the evening.Nothing to distract people from their obligations to their religion or church.
This stretched into the early 60s but began to waver big time with the emergence of the hippy movement.
Lenny must have seen this as a huge opportunity. Sunday – no COMPETITION !
He threw the doors to Super S wide open.
This Major Crime Wave , this “thumb in the eye”of an orderly society could not be overlooked!
The police RAIDED and closed down the store.
The Monday following one of these raids – yes , there were multiple Sunday openings and multiple raids , the Herald treated it as front page news (as I said earlier those were different times).
Staff at Super S told me it would be crazy busy after one of these stories. People streaming in half expecting/hoping to see the Super S staff lined up against the wall – if not to be immediately machine gunned , surely, to be hand cuffed and carted off to jail.
You couldn’t buy this kind of advertising !
Eventually Len successfully argued that since pharmacies were exempt from the Lord’s Day Act he should at least be allowed to open the pharmacy on Sundays.
Located at the back of the store meant that there was an aisle way roped off from the doors to the pharmacy The camera dept. located beside the pharmacy created too great a temptation to be ignored and eventually there were Sunday camera sales also.
But in an endeavor to comply with the Act each camera that left the store had an elastic band with a tooth brush attached.
“No , your Honour , I was not selling cameras for $350 , I was selling tooth brushes for $350 with a free camera attached”.
Absolutely HILARIOUS !
I can only imagine that word of these antics , upon reaching Ottawa , were another nail in the coffin of the Lord’s Day Act which , of course , was eventually repealed.
This is priceless. Please, keep them coming! I recall one instance visiting a Safeway (or some such store) in Lethbridge about that time, on a Sunday. The store was technically closed but if you happened to wander in and made it past the signage and through an opening in a loosely roped-off area, they’d let you make a purchase. In your face, Sunday shopping laws! What a different time.
The Founding of Super S
The way I heard this story (told to me by an old time employee) was that Len Freidman the son of Sunalta Drug owner/pharmacist was studying pharmacy at , I think , Dalhousie U. He got called home to run the business – his father having become too sick to carry on.
Lenny quickly recognized that he couldn’t afford to pay a pharmacist (he hadn’t yet graduated) and pay himself too.
Always audacious , Len ordered a full car (rail) load of toilet paper – stacked a mountain of it in the store at a discount price and the Die Was Cast.
A later mass merchandising endeavor ( a mountain of soft drinks ) was so heavy it threatened to collapse the main floor !!
This type of discount/mass merchandising was quite novel at the time – not a lot of competition, and very attractive to many suppliers.
More on Super S on my next comment in a week or so.
Fantastic! Thank you for sharing these memories with us and we look forward to the next. Super S sure did things different.
They even sold fresh produce – not your typical drugstore.
And I swear they had a pet department too. It was wild the selection they had.
Yes they had a pet department bought guinea pigs and a ton of fish from there. Haven’t seen it mentioned yet but they also had the city’s biggest selection of adult magazines (Heritage) location.
Interesting. A one stop shop – get a prescription filled, a roll of film, a new pet and a boobie magazine. Life is good!
This was my go-to store when I moved to Calgary in 1973 and lived on 16A street SW.
It was a busy place back then.
“Time to go in and take a tour – the place was a fixture in your author’s life, back when he was a troubled teen.”
I can relate to this. LOL. I loved the arcade, and I’d often snoop around and hang out in the lower level… where they sold Atari cartridges.
I remember the place well… it was one-of-a-kind!
The pinball place…that’s were you’d find me. One of kind, indeed!
Outside sure needs to be cleaned up even if no other tenants are in there. I sure wouldn’t choose that store even though I can probably walk over there. Not inviting at all. Did shop there in the olden days.
It is looking a bit run down. Time will tell if the dollar store moving in will give it a facelift.
I bet it has good karma. Great site for something special. Don’t forget there is a big basement space too.
Yes, that huge basement. Recall they had a pet department down there too.
And a really good cafeteria
Ate a few lunches there.
They sold everything!
The London Drugs of the day.
It was open on Sundays in a time when most stores were closed. And as you say it was a mini-department store. A favorite Sunday outing back in the early 70s.
And to think there used to be a rule preventing Sunday openings.
Miss that store.
Now that we think about it, us too.
I started out with TD Bank at the branch located in the left hand corner of this building in 1975
If you were still there about 1977, we may have crossed paths. I hung out at Super S, well mostly the pinball place, a lot!
I lived about 3 blocks away (71-75) and banked on the corner – whenever my parents visited they loved to go to Super S
So many people sharing so many fond memories. Love it!
I loved Super S. I worked at Scotiabank nearby and lived on 11th. Would go there frequently.
Business sure was good for them back then.
TD Bank, the video arcade games, the great cafeteria in the back corner and of course Super S it self.
Fond memories of the pinball place. Ahhh, we’re taken back.
Back in the 90’s I lived on 13 &13 this place was the best place to shop.
They carried everything.
They had a tube tester there. If your radio or tv quit you could take the tubes out an test them . They carried a large selection of tubes.
I remember it!
Was it always a Super S? Judging by the architecture it looks like it was a Safeway at one time.
Yes, always. It does have that ’60s Safeway vibe though.
Loved going there, we spent many hours going down the aisles of that store.in the early 90’s but I’ve been to it in the 70’s before I moved here, my sister didn’t live far and we would walk. They had everything!
They did!
The 14 ave bar and grill was closed down after a near fatal shooting there about 10 years ago. I was part of the downtown team that dealt with the bar operator numerous times. Very seedy and dangerous place at one point in time with drugs and firearms being moved there
Our research confirmed what you said. It has a notorious reputation.
They also sold guns/rifles . In 1975 there was a tragedy in the gun department when someone loaded a gun and killed someone in the store.
Yikes!
Neat architecture!
It so very ’60s.
Dollar stores make some goods more affordable but they also bring a lot of junk and unnecessary stuff!
You are probably right – so much throw away goods.
They had an excellent camera department, bought my first camera there.
It’s like they sold everything. Rather innovative if you ask us.
Dollarama is opening soon.
And with that, the building’s future is a little more solid. We’re itching to go inside once they open.
My grandparents owned a house on that site, at 1117 13th Street SW. My parents, two younger brothers and I stayed with my grandparents when we first moved to Calgary from the Crowsnest Pass in 1957, until my parents were able to purchase their own home several months later. Housing was very tight in those days with very few options to purchase at that time. The house backed onto the original Sunalta Drugs, and a small ice cream parlour, which fronted on 14th Street SW.
Thanks for sharing these cool memories!
Loved Super S
They were doing a good business back then.
Remember it well but never thought much about the building design until recently. It really is quite distinctive but probably a tear down, sitting on such valuable real estate.
With the dollar store moving in suggests it’ll be around for a while. It sure is unique.
I lived 2 blocks away for a year in the early 70s when it was Sunalta. But my most vivid memory came from the 80s when I first got into computers. They had that great magazine section downstairs. I was looking for a computer publication and I asked a woman clerk where I could find Byte. She gave me a filthy look and directed me to the porn mag aisle. I thought I should show her the actual magazine once I found it, but she seemed to be avoiding me.
Hilarious story! I too lived not that far away, later in the ’70s, and spent hours reading magazines there.
Neat columns!
They scream 1960s.
Imagine the geometry involved in forming those tapered columns…
Yes, quite the job to get them perfect I suspect. I love that ’60s vibe but there’s not that many commercial buildings in town from the era.
This building was amazing – like a destination with all the “stuff” you could buy. I remember the florist in that small building as well. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.
It was unique for the time in many aspects. But I mostly came for pinball.