The original George Carlson General Store in Osoyoos in the 1930s was located close to where the Subway is now. As the signs on it indicate, it housed the post office, was the bus stop, and it sold gasoline, hardware and groceries. This undated photo is probably from the mid-1930s. (Osoyoos and District Museum and Archives)
For a while in the 1930s, the George Carlson General Store was a commercial hub of Osoyoos. It was the post office, bus stop, gas station and it sold hardware and groceries.
Carlson brought his family to Osoyoos in 1931 after his hardware store in Star City, Saskatchewan fell victim to the Great Depression.
The family camped near the bridge at first before Carlson was able to acquire the old trading post, his daughter Dorothy Fairbairn recalled in a 2016 interview.
For years the village had been unable to expand due to government control of available land. That changed in 1937 when a new townsite was established in the present downtown.
In 1938, Carlson moved his store to the new townsite, roughly where Westland Insurance is now located.
The new store went through several incarnations and for a while was affiliated with Red and White. It remained a fixture in the new downtown.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
