Soon after we opened the store and were getting settled into our new way of life, my mother had to go back to Montreal to have kidney stones removed. In those days, that required an operation on the kidney. I am sure that dad had his hands full -—six small children, a new store to operate and a new language to learn. There were no "English

Second Language" courses in those days. My dad' s strategy was to stock up the grocery items on the shelf with the French writing facing

out and when the customers would point out the item they wanted, such as peas, beans or flour, he would gradually expand his vocabulary. I always admired my father for his ability to speak, read and write English, French, Arabic and some Russian with little more than a grade three education.

Our first store, where ReMax Realty is now located, was only about twenty feet by thirty feet, but it was my dad's policy to stock everything and anything people would buy. I think this concept came from his general store experience in Quebec. It paid off. People soon came to realize that if there was something you wanted and it was

hard to get, you could likely get it at Zakem's.

During the war years, when many things were scarce, such as candy bars, cookies, and clothing items, dad would go to Montreal and use his contacts to obtain many items that other stores could not get. I can still remember the time when he sent home over 100 cases of cookies. We had to stack them in the hallways, bedrooms and even in the washroom. The other huge purchase I remember was Schwartz spices,

especially pepper.

A gentlemen by the name of Leo Frank, whom everyone called Dr. Frank, although he was not a doctor, but a salesman for Schwartz Spices, told my father that when Japan was defeated, spices would be very scarce and very expensive and that he should stock up as much as he could. Well, in came another 150 cases of spices to stock. I don't recall if we made any money on the cookies,

but I am certain that the spice deal paid off because we had not only retailers but

wholesalers looking for pepper.

11