When Barb Pierce announced a couple of weeks ago on social media that Calico Junction was closing, she was given lots of positive messages by many people.

But Pierce was struck by the fact that after 47 years, she was in some cases dealing with third generation customers at the popular Town ‘N’ Country Mall location.

“Hundreds of people commented and … we were just taken aback,” Pierce said. “The community support was amazing. But unfortunately with the pandemic going on, you have to keep paying your bills and you still have to keep going on, and we just couldn’t at that point keep going on.”

On a personal level, Pierce had been there since 2003, but Calico Junction had been in the mall in her husband Todd’s family since the mall opened in 1973.

Their original location was close to the centre of the Mall, and they moved to their corner location when the mall expanded decades ago.  But the COVID-19 pandemic forced a huge decrease in the amount of business they were able to do. 

Barb Pierce said they had ‘the best’ staff  and their customers enjoyed the food.

“People loved the consistency,” she said. “They loved poutine. I was surprised how much we went through in the last (few) days. People are going to miss it.”

Employed elsewhere now, Barb Pierce said she wasn't sure what the future would hold when it came to Todd but they may wish to have something like a food truck once things become safe again in the future.