Cochrane Foodmaster Over 100 Years in Business by Ian Brooker
At its closing in the early 1990s, Cochrane Foodmaster had operated, under various names, continuously for over 100 years. Its closing is a sad reflection of the effects of our modern world, with its big box stores, supermarkets and easy commuting.
The store’s roots can be traced back to the original Thomas Cochrane family, who came to the area in 1886. They operated a sawmill about three miles west of the present town. In 1887, a town site was laid out at that location, and the name Mitford was chosen. In 1888, several buildings were built, including a general store by Mr. Cochrane.
The store was operated by Alexander Martin for the Cochranes, as Tom was busy with other ventures including building a toll bridge over the Bow River. The charge was five cents for an individual and 10 cents for a team of horses and wagon. The Cochranes also built a brickyard which supplied bricks to the small but growing local market.
In 1894 Mr. Martin joined with his brother-in-law and bought the store from Tom Cochrane. They called it Martin and Foleys General Store. After a couple of years they moved the business to Cochrane. In 1900 they sold to C.W. Fisher who had purchased the building on the north west corner of what became First and Main Street. The building had been a trading store owned by James Johnstone and Tom Quigley. He tore down the building and put up a large building which housed several businesses including a hardware store, newspaper office, shoe repair shop and, as the telephone system came in around 1906, the local telephone exchange. Mr. Fisher moved the Martin and Foleys store into his building and it operated at that location for the next 90 years.
When it became known that Alberta was to become a province, Mr. Fisher also set up the local Liberal Party headquarters in his building and ran for the local seat. He won in 1906 and became Speaker of the House. He remained speaker until he became sick during the flu epidemic and passed away in 1919.
Mr. Bill Andison worked as a butcher for the Fishers during this time. In 1925, he purchased an interest in the store, and it became Fisher and Andison. In 1928, the building burned. The business was moved to the curling rink temporarily while the store was rebuilt, although the building was somewhat smaller than before. At this time it became solely owned by the Andison family and became Andisons General Store, owned by Bill and his wife Agnes.
Bill and Agnes retired in 1955, but the business stayed in the family, as their daughter Alice and her husband, “R.E.” Moore continued to operate it. The store continued to be a true “general store”, carrying groceries, meat, clothing and agricultural products, and RE. became the local “Indian (sic) Agent”, and was responsible for native accounts for food and supplies. Their treaty cheques came directly to the store, so he gave credit to them until payday. He also often took items such as headdresses, rifles, saddles, etc., to hold as temporary payment for supplies. When we purchased the store in the late 1970s, a large number of these items had never been picked up and were still stored in the basement. Some had been there for many years. In the early 1980s, R.E. decided to clean out the basement and returned all these items to the families of the original owners, many of whom had passed on years before.
In about 1966, R.E. and Alice split the store and sold the grocery and meat business to the Keller family. The dry goods section was sold to Wes and Marion Nelson, and once again became called Andisons Store. The meat and grocery business under the Kellers became M & K Foodmaster, (for Moore & Keller). The two businesses operated side by side from then on. R.E. and Alice continued to own the building.
In 1976 we purchased the business from the Kellers and changed the name to Cochrane Foodmaster.
RE. still owned the real estate, and we rented from them. In about 1983, R.E. purchased the building to the west of us, and we knocked out a section of wall and expanded Foodmaster to include a coffee shop. This gave our store the unique distinction of being Cochrane’s first “shopping mall”, as you could now park and enter at the rear of the coffee shop, walk through into the store and continue on into Andisons Store without going outside. At that time the Post Office was right across the street, and everyone picked up their mail there. Customers could come downtown, shop, meet a friend, and pick up their mail. We still carried many accounts for the natives from Morley, so we were truly the community’s “meeting place”.
Our main claim to fame was our meat department. We kept most of the local family freezers filled and did a large business custom cutting local rancher’s beef for them and processing wild game. We had two delivery vans, and supplied oil camps with their groceries and meats as far away as Nordegg. At our peak we employed 34 people.
In 1985 we sold the store to Frank Krause of Red Deer and I moved to Christina Lake, B.C. The store went through several owners over the next few years, and finally closed forever in the early 1990’s.
The building has undergone several renovations since then, and is now the location of HQ Coffee Co., Old and Crafty and Pots and Peppers.
