McClearys close up shop after 40 years in antiques

 In Business, News

After 40 years in the antique business, Richard McCleary quietly closed up shop this past year.

He and his wife Kathy, who retired from her interior design business five years ago, have been operating out of the old general store in Avening. Their sign has been taken down and a small note posted on the window last month informed people they were selling off their inventory.

Richard said he had no intention of retiring and thought he would just keep working away but he was in need of a kidney transplant and when he got the call that an organ was available, he had to go with only four hours notice.

“I was in the hospital for more than a week and I thought to myself, life is too short to keep working,” said Richard.

The McClearys specialized in pre-1867 early Colonial. These are pieces hand carved by the best French craftsmen who came to Quebec to do commissions for the Catholic church and did work for the early French settlers. Often made of pine, the most abundant material.

Richard caught the antiques bug when he met Kathy in 1967. Her parents were hobby antique collectors and Richard began learning from them.

He worked in IT for Bell Canada and with Kathy, moved to Montreal for work in the early 1970s. They bought a home and began filling it with antiques.

“We were crazy collectors,” said Kathy, with a laugh. “The convert is more fervent than the one who grew up with it.”

Richard said he was feeling a bit of burnout from a decade in corporate IT and they wanted to get out of Quebec because of the unstable political climate so they both resigned from their jobs, sold their home and decided to take a sabbatical.

They had more antiques than their home could accommodate so they moved to Cookstown and opened an antique shop. Richard said, the intention was to dabble in antiques for two years, as a break.

Maintaining ties to Quebec, they were dealing in late 18th Century furniture in the tradition of Louis XIV.

“This is at a time when antiques were really hot,” said Richard. “We had trouble keeping it stocked and I was making regular trips to Quebec.

By 1985, after 10 years in business, they were doing so well that they set out looking for a bigger shop but there was nothing available in Cookstown. Richard said he tried to get a house adjacent to the commercial district rezoned but the process was so frustrating that they decided to look elsewhere.

With a large client base of weekenders in the Creemore area, Richard and Kathy decided to take a drive north to see what they could find.

On their first outing, they drove through Avening and saw its only commercial building vacant.

“We didn’t even get to Creemore,” said Richard. “We called the realtor that afternoon and we bought it.”

Before signing though, they made a trip to town hall, and made sure they could get a permit to build a house in the back.

In their first year in Avening, while they transitioned, Richard built a home and fixed up the old store, which had been vacant for a couple of years, while Kathy kept things going in Cookstown.

The business flourished and they maintained good relationships with antique dealers and pickers. There was such a market for the pieces that they would have events when furniture was unloaded from a large truck straight from Quebec and their customers would pick numbers and take turns choosing what they wanted.

Richard also made reproduction pieces to suit his clients’ needs – a table of specific proportions, an entertainment unit that would blend with the décor, a cabinet to fit antique doors or a coffee table because there was no such thing back then.

The antique business slowed down at the time of the recession in 2008, said Richard.

“But people say people aren’t interested in antiques but it’s not true,” said Kathy. “Especially people who have a second home up here and they want an informal country feel.”

The McClearys are staying in their home in Avening but they haven’t decided what to do with the store, despite several proposals.

There may still be a few antiques in the shop for sale – washstands, a table, a buffet, some chairs and other pieces. To make an appointment with Richard, call 705-466-3019.

Avening General Store

Z-OP-AveningGeneralStore2-DE11
Avening General Store In the centre of the picture are Avening General Store owners William Garrick (WG) Carruthers and his wife Ellen Tweed. Carruthers was named after a ship called The Garrick on which he was born in 1848 while his parents and grandfather were crossing the Atlantic Ocean, emigrating from Scotland to the United States. The family moved from New York to Avening where they cleared the farm known as Clydebank. WG was very adventurous in his early years and worked in the mills and as a clerk at stores in Banda, Creemore and Dunedin. In 1877, he moved his family to Emerson, Manitoba, where he built bridges and operated sawmills. He had a serious accident while on a business trip and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. After returning to Avening, with the help of his brother, he converted the Odd Fellows Hall into a general store, selling groceries and dry goods with his wife. They had a successful business which also included operating the post office for many years. Pictured left is Duncan Carruthers who lived across the street and on the right is family members Mrs. Bob Carruthers, Ellen and George Carruthers.
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