7 minute read
LEE’S FOOD MARKET An Unlikely Story of Longevity
David Murray
The ongoing life of Lee’s Food Market is an unlikely story. A simple 1948 one-storey building was the origin of this family business – a corner store in the post-war Edmonton neighbourhood of Strathearn.
After WWII, during the Alberta economic boom, every new neighbourhood in Edmonton was given a commercial core, a slight expansion of the ubiquitous corner store. A permit to build was approved on June 16, 1948 for a one-storey wood-frame building that would accommodate a meat market and a grocery. The first business, the ShopRite Food Market, occupied one half of the building; the other half was Hart’s Drug Store. By 1951 the store was owned by James Lee and known as Lee’s Food Market. James was joined by his brother, Tom, who had come to Canada in 1925 to work as a chef on the railway. James, who lived behind the market from 1951-3, and Tom ran the store for a few years until James returned to Hong Kong, selling the store to Tom in 1954.
Tom Lee, now operating the business on his own, decided that he needed help with running the store and in 1954 he summoned his grandson Stanley from Hong Kong to join him in Edmonton. Stanley had escaped the Chinese revolution when his grandmother, See Pui Lee and Tom’s wife, took him to Hong Kong in the late 1940s. Stanley, 16 years old, arrived in Edmonton to assist his grandfather and to finish high school education at Victoria School. In 1956, just two years after arriving, Stanley was so immersed in Edmonton culture that he purchased season’s tickets to Edmonton’s Canadian Football League team, the Edmonton Eskimos.
In 1958, Tom Lee bought the adjacent vacant lot to the west and built a one storey infill building with a family apartment in the back. The front of the building was leased as a neighbourhood commercial space.
Stanley, now 19, returned to Hong Kong to be married, then came back to Edmonton with his new wife Donna, and two children followed – Tony in 1959 and Cindy in 1961. They lived at the back of the new one-storey infill, Donna tended the store and Stanley ventured into local business - insurance, real estate and development.
A momentous decision was made in 1965 when Tom and Stanley hired prominent local architects, Sinclair Skakun Naito, to design a second floor on the 1959 building, and to completely re-design and unify the exterior of these two buildings. This is when Lee’s Food Market expanded into the entire floor space of the original 1948 one-storey building. It was a stylish modern International Style transformation that has now endured seven decades of civic growth as Lee’s Food Market and continues as a popular neighbourhood destination in 2023.
Why is this? The development of shopping malls and the ubiquitous use of the automobile since WWII diminished the need for local corner stores, most of which in Edmonton are now gone. There are several reasons why this business has survived so long. By good fortune the location continues to serve a willing neighbourhood, aided by a large seniors’ complex nearby. Family-run corner stores are typically not viable as businesses anymore, supplanted by chain convenience stores and car-oriented malls. The fortunate location of this corner store has contributed to its longevity.
The decision to transform the buildings in 1965 brought gravitas to this prominent location and to the Lee family businesses. The multi-generational Lee family is an important link that has helped secure the continuity of this important corner store, allowing it to flourish well into the twenty-first century.
Perhaps even more important for the conservation of Lees’ Food Market is, first, the strong family ownership during the first half of its life and, second, the beneficial stewardship over the last 23 years by a dedicated conservationist, current owner Joe Clare, who has deliberately resisted persistent redevelopment pressures for this prominent corner location –prominent for its central location in this neighbourhood and also because of its visibility to a recently-completed light rail urban transit line. Under normal circumstances, progress would typically dictate that this type of urban location would be densified with new development that would probably erase the former memories of the site.
Edmonton has a progressive City Plan that supports the conservation of this important historic resource.
From the 2020s Edmonton City Plan, Charter Bylaw 20,000: Essential City - Not everything in The City Plan is about making something new. Much of our work is about keeping things the same. A critical part of The City Plan is rooted in stewardship and preserving the attributes most valued by Edmontonians today that were handed down to us from previous generations. As a community, in return, we continue to deliver on what makes for a safe and liveable city as part of our gift to future generations. This is the essential city and it comes to life through many of the Intentions and Directions of The City Plan.
Future City - Cities are constantly evolving and responding to a changing world. Expressing and igniting transformative change is necessary to allow the city to respond to emerging opportunities and deliberately shape the place we want to live in. We have an opportunity to proactively alter Edmonton’s course. This is the future city and it comes to life through the Big City Moves and many Intentions and Directions that collectively will help us transform.
The future of Lee’s Food Market, as unlikely as it might seem, is now on the path to long-term conservation. The owner will be submitting an application to designate the property as a municipal historic resource, under Edmonton’s progressive heritage conservation program. Progress will not destroy this memorable iconic building and business, but progress will play a part in its survival. Under the municipal designation program, the City will consider rezoning the property to allow substantial residential densification, as per City policy, to allow multi-storey residential development on the back portion of the property while preserving the 1965 building at the front.
Lee’s Food Market is a story of good fortune – fortuitous development decisions, fortuitous ownership, supportive City policies including Edmonton’s Corner Store Program with generous grants for rehabilitation and streetscape improvements, and a wonderful location where this unlikely longevity has been cultivated for over 70 years and will continue to flourish.
Research assistance: Erik Backstrom
DAVID MURRAY is an architect in Edmonton, Alberta, who specialises in the evaluation, protection and conservation of historic building resources. He has a keen interest in the human stories that are embedded in his projects.
