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He and Dorothy bought their own business on Chemong Road which included a coffee shop, restaurant, grocery store and gas bar. They ran business in the 1960s for 6 years. One of his memories from the store is that kids would come in with a nickel or so to spend and try to decide what they wanted to buy. Sometimes it would take them forever to make up their minds.The work was too hard, very tiring. They were open every day around 7am and would finish for the day at about 1am by the time the floors were scrubbed and you were prepared for the next day. They closed at 11pm and it took a couple of hours to get the clean up and preparation done. All of the children in the family had to help out with the business as well. See Robert Laing.
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Stuart remembers the post war years as being a good time, the economy was good, automobiles were coming into fashion, you could buy a car for $900. He bought his first house for about $4,000 after the war. He thinks it was the only house in Peterborough that was for sale, it was up on Armour Road (known as River Road at that time). After the war there were so many veterans coming back from the war and buying up the wartime houses. There weren't any other houses being built in Peterborough until the building boom during the 1950s.The house on Armour Road was a white clapboard bungalow and he put an upstairs in it, it is still there, across the street from the Stop Awhile Restaurant. The original address was 137 River Road and then it was changed to 837 Armour Road. After Canada Packer's closed he moved the family out to Chemong Road where they had their store.
Stuart says that you see a lot of changes over the years when you get up into your 80s.
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