S&W M18 and Woodwards Department Store

R

Rod

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Any of you guys been around long enough to remember the Woodwards Department Store chain. In their prime they had a real good shooting, hunting and fishing section. How times have changed for the worst. Everything was there on the shelves, in plain view; guns, ammo and never a problem.

I remember going with my Dad, on a day trip to the Burnaby Woodwards Store, as this was the day he bought his 870 Wingmaster. Was excited because I got to carry it out to the car. No bag or case, just barrel down and pointed straight ahead. I remmember it had quite a heft as the gun was bigger than me. Where'd that gun find that little kid? Still have the Wingmaster and the memory of the many hunts.

In 1975 I was working in Calgary and bought a brand new S&W Model 18 at the Woodwards Department Store at the Chinook Shopping Centre. Hard to figure today, huh?

Still have it and here's a fairly recent picture.
S&W Model 18
18-3006.jpg


Rod

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I used to love Woodward's - lots of fond memories going there with my Mom and Dad too. I used to run off and sneak a look at the sporting goods section whenever I could, admiring the hardware in the display cases or openly on racks. I still have Dad's Model 54 (Sears knockoff of Winchester 94 in .30-30) from when Simpson-Sears used to carry guns too.

Why gone, those times? :( Liberal bastards, that's why.

-M
 
I remember going grocery shopping at Woodward's Northgate with my mom when I was a kid.
They actually had "Chocolate Covered Ants" - man they sold everything there. Simpler times, simpler pleasures.
 
Anyone remember the Lakefield 22's in the Sears mailorder catalogue, I really wanted one of those to replace my pellet gun when I was 8. I couldn't shoot the 303 in the backyard - we were only on 2 1/2 acres and the house was too close to the road, this was on 88th at 140th for those familiar with Surrey :eek: just up from Bear Creek Park. The police said it was OK to shoot .22's on the Hydro right of way behind our property, as long as we were careful. Woodwards was terrific too - $1.49 day peanut butter, and ogling the rifles :D
 
I'm not that old - 34 and when I grew up in South Africa guns were a part of my childhood. We even had a shooting club at my high school in the early nineties with an armoury and shooting range on school property. A couple of our teachers used to wear holstered pistols.

Funny thing is in those days crime was relatively low compared to now and we had never heard of school shootings.

Of course if you think about it how far would a school shooter get with the teachers armed and an armoury on the property with dozens of guns and kids trained how to use them?

Maybe we have stumbled upon the solution to school shootings lol.

Now gun control in South Africa is much stricter and crime is through the roof.
 
Woodwards Dept Store

Cool story.

When I was a kid our local Woodwards store had a $1.49 day sale of clearance items every Tuesday. If you were in a working class family lots of interesting stuff could be found on Tuesday evening when Mom went to the $1.49 day sale during the day.

2007-10-27_091302_1aCoffee.gif

NAA.
 
The Cocker said:
I'm young, and I don't believe it!
Click to expand...

How about this - in 1961, my Dad bought a No.5 Mk.I Jungle Carbine Lee Enfield at a pawn shop on Stony Plain Road here in Edmonton for the whopping sum of $20.

And just about all the ammo he could carry for the same amount.

I still have that gun as well; it's the one gun in my collection I would never - EVER - part with.

-M
 
When I worked at the Army and Navy in Edmonton in the late 50's we sold brand new No.5's with the military rifle serial number tag on the trigger guard for $24.95, No.4's were $9.99 and once a month they went on sale for $6.67. The "sportized" SMLE's were $8.97 and the 98 Mausers were $24.95 but jumped to $29.95 quickly. Oh...Pat: 07 bayonets were $1.49 and 1910 Ross bayonets were 99 cents. The web cases were 1.49 and slings were 29 cents... Woodwards also had a huge gun department in the basement in the south end of the building and sold a lot of "converted" surplus guns as well such as the No.4 by "Surrey". Hudson Bay and Eatons also had a huge gun department and Eatons sold EAL's for 24.95...This was the initial reason for the thinking that EAL was Eatons Arms Limited.....which was later proven to Essential Arms of Toronto (now Markham). Don't get excited on the prices as the wages were 65 cents an hour and the "blue plate special" at the Purple Lantern was a whopping 87 cents or 99 cents with the extra egg rolls.....
now what did I have for breakfast 1/2 hour ago.
 
MY MOM WORKED FOR EATONS AFTER SCHOOL AND WEEKENDS AND JUST BEFORE THEY GOT MARRIED (1972) MY MOM BOUGHT DAD A 410 BOLT ACTION REPEATER AND THEY JUST HANDED IT TO HER AND DEDUCTED IT OFF HER PAYCHECK AND WALKED OUT OF THE STORE!!! I SURE WISH THIS COUNTRY STILL HAD COMMON SENCE LIKE IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS. :bangHead: NOW THIS IS HOW MOST PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT OUR GOVERMENT INVOLVEMENT IN OUR LIVES, LONG LIVE FREEDOM, OH I FORGOT OUR PRIVILEGES;) DALE I T-BAY
 
My mother worked for woodwards as a general manager in the 60's-70's-80's and used to get a 40% managers discount on everything in the store.She would wait until 15% off day and let us go shopping with her 55% discount to buy ammo.You didnt need to show your FAC to by ammo as a kid since they knew my mom...in fact you didnt need to show a FAC to buy ammo period.Shooting back in those days was almost free.The old fellow that ran the sporting good section was always doing gunsmith work for us kids and never charged us for his time.Customer service sold any hunting tag that you needed and if you bought a firearm you paid for it and walked straight out the front door with it over your shoulder and no one blinked an eye.Oh and the next day i would take my new gun to school to show my hunters ed teacher and he would always send you to the principle .....because he was a big hunter too.
I am just getting back to shooting after a 20 year absence and man has the gun culture changed in this country.
BTW Sears was the same when it came to firearms.
 
And like the OP my father bought the 870 wingmaster but it came as a set with the .22 pump fieldmaster,and a .257 roberts 760 pump gamemaster.They should be in my possession by the end of the week as he hasnt used them in 20+ years and were just sittting in his basement un-registered.
 
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