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The Recently Opened SHELL CORNER STORE GAS STATION on Geneva St., ST. CATHARINES



Fast Facts:
Full Name:  Shell Corner Store Gas Station
Address: 333 Geneva St., St. Catharines
Phone: 905.935.7117
Hours of Operation: 6-11pm everyday!    


Owner Mark Attwah
There’s a new gas station in town! Shell Corner Store Gas Station located 333 Geneva St, St. Catharines – directly across from Ted St. and close to the Fairview Mall, is now open for business!

Owner, Mark Attwah is a funny guy. When asked who the owner was, he replied with a smile, “the bank”.

Mark, along with two others, will be taking care of business at this Shell location. What used to be the former home of Bruno’s Automotive Service and a Avondale Store, is now home to Shell’s new Corner Gas Station.

View more photos:

VIDEO: The HORSESHOE FALLS in Winter

A winter's visit to the "Canadian Falls" along with some interesting tidbits!





VIDEO: DISCOVERING St. Catharines – Musician RONN METCALFE | PEOPLE of NIAGARA


Club owner of The Castle in St. Catharines, Ontario, back in the day, Ronn Metcalfe was known as the 'king' of The Castle and hosted many great bands of the mid 60's...




People of Niagara

Ronn Metcalfe (July 20, 1930 – May 18, 1969) was a Canadian big band leader from St. Catharines and music industry leader.

He released an LP named after the title track "Twistin' at the Woodchopper's Ball" which garnered him a gold record. He used this success to start a rock and roll band scene in Niagara, Canada. He created Image Artist Representatives booking/managing agency, and opened The Castle in St. Catharines, the premiere club for bands between Buffalo and Toronto.

Another hit from Metcalfe (which he wrote) was a song called "Back to T.O." (T.O. is vernacular for Toronto)

This Niagara scene spawned many musicians such as Neil Peart from Rush, Glen Gratto from Lee Aaron, Bullrush, and The Mad Cats, Gary Storin from The Stampeders, The Hunt's Paul Dickinson, and Brian Gagnon and other music industry "behind the scene" types such as Jimmy Johnson from Rush and Styx.

Some of Metcalfe's band include:
  • Drummer Chico Fernandez who went on to work with Motown and Vegas acts
  • Alto sax Fred Lipsius who went on to create Blood, Sweat & Tears
  • Bass trombonist Tony Salvatore who later joined Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show Band
  • Sam Falzone who later joined up with Don Ellis.

Ronn Metcalfe died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 38 while on a business/family trip to Ottawa. At the time he was securing a deal with Polydor Records.

In 1976, the building that housed The Castle was demolished for a parking lot. 


Winter Series | Recently Fallen Snow, ST. CATHARINES (11 Photos)



Winter Photos taken around the northern parts of St. Catharines during the months of November and December 2013.

This collection consists of recently fallen snow captured on trees…

COLOURFUL FRUIT DISPLAY at NO FRILLS Supermarket

Colours, colours everywhere! Took some photos of the colourful fruits and veggies displayed over at NO FRILLS supermarket on Welland Ave., St. Catharines...









SPOTTED: IT'S A BIKE, IT'S A QUAD... Around St. Catharines

Back in April, we were heading to the Canadian Tire store when we came upon something… some sort of bike we’ve never seen before and we just had to take a pic.  We’re not sure exactly what it is called. Do you know?




All we knew was it was unique looking...


ST. CATHARINES: FIRST Vertical CONDO In 2 Decades Gets DAMAGED by FIRE


began on the first vertical condominium in St. Catharines in over 20 years.
In November of 2012, construction was started and well underway when a fire broke out in May of 2013 at the Walkers Creek Condominium on Scott St across from the Grantham Plaza.


Start of Construction...

A & W’S Popping up EVERYWHERE!

Is it just us or has there been a lot of A&W restaurants popping up everywhere lately?

Before we only knew of ONE in our area, the one on Lake St. near the CAA building, now within a span of a few months there are TWO – one near the Pen Centre and the other on Welland Ave. near Bunting Rd.
The A&W on Bunting Rd. was the former Taco Bell Restaurant!

We LOVE A&W restaurants!  As a matter of fact, we remembered thinking (while at the one on Lake St. about 5 months ago), that we hoped it would never close down.

A&W Food Services of Canada, Inc. is a Canadian fast food restaurant chain.

Read on to view some facts and check out some photos we took from the one on Lake st...


Sharing a PRODUCT/PRODUCE: ICE CREAM (A Shrinking Product)

SAME PRODUCT, SMALLER CONTAINER, MORE MONEY…

Lately it seems, we are getting less and less for our money.  Now they’ve ‘shrank’ the ice cream containers but not the price. As you can see below, Nestle, a popular brand of ice cream, has been reduced significantly.




Gone are the days of paying $3.25 to $4.75 for this brand of ice cream. Even at the most ‘competitive’ stores such as Walmart, it was expensive…


Boo Hoo. BIG LOTS Closing Its 'CANADIAN' Doors



If you haven’t heard by now, American-based retailer, Big Lots, parent company of (Canada’s) Liquidation World, is closing its doors. Yes, that includes the one here in St. Catharines on Bunting Rd – one of only 5 locations in North America! From what I’ve read, I guess they’ve decided that doing business in Canada is not such a great idea. They will try to focus strictly on the American marketplace.

Winter Series | Ice-Storm 2013, ST. CATHARINES (22 Photos)

We didn’t seem to get hit as hard here in the Niagara Region as the Kingston, Toronto and Hamilton regions. Kingston, Toronto and Eastern Ontario had major power outages. As we were writing this post, up to 350,000 homes have been reported by Hydro One to be without power – which could take up t o 72 hours to repair.  Arthur, Ontario has 4cm of ice, (almost 2 inches)!



Even a centimetre of ice writes the weather network, coating a heavily-laden tree branch can cause it to snap and fall on either a vehicle or a power line. Here now are some pictures we’ve taken in a nearby neighbourhood in northern St. Catharines capturing the ice storm of 2013.

I was still learning how to use my camera...