'Steal & Run' - the S&R Story

 

Ask a long-time Kingstonian about downtown department stores of yore, and the one that always comes up is Smith & Robinson's, the much-revered and oft-remembered S&R (colloquially known as 'Steal & Run' or even 'S*** & Rubbish'! At its cornerstone location of Princess and Ontario Streets (George Lilley captured its imposing presence in 1960 - Queen's University Archives - top photo), it was well-known for a variety of wares. My Dad bought a suit there once, and we bought kids' clothes, candy & chips, toys, hardware items, well...anything and everything - always affordable. The store was a Kingston keystone, geographically and commercially, at that dividing line between north & south, town & gown, and the gateway to east & west sides of Kingston's harbour. In fact, if one stood on the roof of the Richardson grain elevator, with a lake vessel docked below you at the foot of Princess Street, the building was literally a stone's throw (especially if gifted with a good pitching arm!) from the water. Check out the roof-top water-tower, marking its location:

In its regular Friday Whig advertisements in the winter-spring of 1975, among the "5000 sweaters...leisure suits...quality leather coats...and suede jackets!" the store included a ten-part tiny block of its (then) 155-year history on a bi-weekly basis. Taken together, these well-researched tiny text-boxes give the entire history of the building and its evolution from a variety of uses into the 'Steal & Run'. 

More detail on the piano business in Kingston, some of it involving this venerable building: 

Built circa 1820, the curved corner section dating from 1840, the building was first a grocery store, then a shopping arcade before becoming a piano factory. John and Charles Fox moved their piano-making business to Kingston from New York City in 1862. In 1865 George Weber joined the firm, taking full ownership after Charles Fox died in 1869. Reorganizing in the late 1890’s as The Weber Piano Company, the firm produced Weber and McMullen pianos. In 1896, William Wormwith joined the firm, then reorganized it as the Wormwith Piano Company, building a full line of upright and grand pianos under the brand names of Weber, Wormwith and Columbia. Mr. Henry Richardson bought a controlling interest upon Mr. Wormwith’s retirement in 1919, reorganizing it as the Weber Piano Company, Kingston Limited until the Great Depression and the company’s demise in the late 1930’s. In 1939, the Lesage Piano Company purchased all assets, continuing the use of the well-established Weber and Wormwith names until 1961. The building operated as S&R department store from 1959-2009.