Stacks of sausages are piled high on the counter of Commissary Variety, a seemingly insignificant sight for a corner store deli.
But this stack of meat that dwarfs a foot-tall pig statue at the deli counter is significant for co-owner Marie Penko. For 10 months the neighbourhood business at McLeod and Christie Streets was unable to operate a deli after the May 28th flood destroyed the building’s basement.
Stored meat, deli equipment and machinery were left in ruins after backed-up sewage began spilling out from the toilets. That sewage continued to rise for days and eventually killed half of Penko’s business.
“Everything was lost,” she says. “We couldn’t even go down there for days. We had to seal it off and a few days later we cleaned it all out.”
Food that could be salvaged was distributed through the neighbourhood.
“It seemed like everyone lost something. I thought ‘how the hell are we going to recover from this?’”
Penko had to cut deli staff and went without a paycheque for nearly a year as she tried to keep the store from closing permanently. The corner store has been a part of the community for decades and was once run by Penko’s grandparents in the ‘40s.
After the flood, Penko was able to continue running it as a barebones corner store, but without an operating deli the business was not without its struggles.
“There’s not enough money in a little corner store to make a living,” she says. “You just pay your basic bills and try and tough it out. Everyone took on a second job just to get by. We’re very fortunate that this neighbourhood was so supportive.
“People came here and shopped here and basically kept us going. We’re very grateful. This is a great neighbourhood.”
But after 10 months, the store has its deli back.
“It took us that long to build the basement,” she says. “Everything had to be gutted and sealed off and approved by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.”
Dan Nesbitt, a Commissary Variety customer, says he’s glad to see the deli back in action.
Nesbitt used to live in the East End, but moved to Current River after the May flooding. Despite the move, Nesbitt still travels across the city twice a week just to buy bacon.
“They have the best bacon in town and the sausages are to die for,” Nesbitt says. “I was saddened that I couldn’t buy my bacon or my sausages and had to wait. Small businesses are what make this city run. There’s the big box stores but you come here you have nice staff to talk to and they look after you.”
