The idea of restarting the Variety Store in some form, even with a reduced inventory or reduced hours of operation, has been in frequent discussion and examination since the “Pigeon Loft” closed. For anyone that experienced the Pigeon Loft, this re-opening has been on your mind or heart since the day it was closed. I certainly have a lot of great memories of walking my little ones over for this or that, renting a VHS movie, and of course, a mountain of ice cream in a cone served up by Jane. Truly, especially considering the many years, what Jane and Joe did for the Park with that store was amazing and never fully recognized. It is really easy to underestimate just how much work they actually did.

Replacing the efforts and love Jane and Joe put into the Pigeon Loft is something we need to seriously consider. Indeed, the list of necessary activities required to run a store operation isn’t something we can easily spread across a few casual volunteers or seasonal staff. Someone needs to run the operation, and with a breadth of skills and willingness to take on responsibility and accountability. Several people have come forward to bravely explore it in more detail with wonderful intentions. As you can obviously see - nobody that has explored it yet has decided to proceed. Re-opening means a committed long-term selfless human to be the accountable and responsible focal, aided by some additional committed volunteers.

The seasonal nature and actual volume of clientele also means there would need to be some level of membership subsidy. Subsidy means we all pay more in fees to cover the costs, and rightfully consider this a luxury amenity.

An additional consideration is that for the Park to take this on as a Park-run endeavour with then hired staff brings with it the fiduciary weight and reporting responsibility of a Not-for-Profit Corporation of the Province of Ontario. This includes an significant increase to our audit costs due to the nature of store activities.

Additional and related ideas like vending machines for drinks, food and ice are also being considered.

We continue to explore ideas and seek creative ways to bring back the Pigeon Loft. Presently we believe that the most feasible and cost effective way is to subsidize a private entity that will manage it entirely. We simply haven’t found that willing private entity yet.

However we proceed, changes with the location of the old store being the new location for the Office are not actually relevant to the store re-opening or not. There are still multiple logical locations available that would fit the purpose. By far the more pressing factors are:

1. Would the store be a private sponsored venture or a Park-run venture

2. Can we find that focal person to run the store

3. How much would the resultant subsidy add to the membership annual fees.