Sunbeam Grocery Mt Pleasant Calgary

We always knew this building housed a corner store sometime in the past, but never delved any deeper until now. Many times we passed it by, but mostly ignored it since we always had other things to do. Then one day some work exposed old signage and it was just the catalyst needed. Magically, we found the time. This building was once Sunbeam Grocery (as we later found out), and it’s the subject of this here post.

Our location today is Calgary’s Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood, off 10th Street NW, and there’s been a grocery here since the early 1910s. It finally closed in the 1970s, and right from the start, and into today, the building also functioned as a residence (or residences). As was common practice in the old days, there was an apartment upstairs for the store owner. Now the whole place is a home.

The grocery business located here operated under several names over the years, but it’s last incarnation as Sunbeam Grocery was the longest uninterrupted stretch. Since it’s the most current, it’s the name people today are likely to remember the most.

The signage exposed is a faded billboard for Ginger Ale from Calgary Brewery. This storied beer making firm in the city’s Inglewood community also produced sodas at various times.

Calgary Brewing and Malting, as they were officially known, ceased to be in the early 1960s. They became part of the Canadian Breweries at this point, whose most famous brands were Carling and O’Keefe. Later still it became a Molson’s property and produced beer into the 1990s. The plant still exists but it’s mostly empty.

Calgary Brewery first started making soda during prohibition (1916-1923) and it was a way to keep the plant going. With no beer to produce, they has to do something. These non-alcoholic drinks ended up being popular enough that even after beer production returned, they continued to produce it for many decades to come. All the way until they closed up shop.

They offered many flavours – we noted lime, orange, fruit punch and grape – but it seems ginger ale was their biggest seller. We base that on the frequency of ads found during research and nothing scientific. They had slogans for that flavour: “Time for a COOL Cal”, “Season’s Treatings for friendly meetings” (Christmas themed, with two snowmen enjoying a drink), “A host of Cheer!” (with Santa and also Christmas themed) “Refreshment at its best”, “Truly Canadian – Calgary Dry Ginger Ale – Since the west began” and “Call for a Calgary Ginger Ale”.

Calgary Brewery’s iconic buffalo logo was well known in the city and region. It appeared in company ads and on bottles of beer or soda. The design changed slightly over the years, but there’s no definite timeline, so it’s hard to guess what year the one depicted on the side of this building dates from. The Calgary Brewery did some heavy marketing of soda products in the post World War Two boom period, so that era seems possible.

The first store to show up here is James Barratt Grocer about 1911-12. At this point in time, the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood had just been established and the store was on its west periphery. We’re talking the very edge of the city and beyond was farm country. The city of Calgary says the building dates from 1910, incidentally.

It became George Jones Grocery by 1913 and Pleasant Heights Grocery by 1915. George Jones (Geo Jones in ads) soon returned and a couple years later it became Mrs Mary Barratt’s Grocery (James Barratt’s wife?). Then it was Pleasant Heights Grocery again for a time. By the mid-1920s it was vacant and a few short years later appears as Pleasant Heights Grocery once more. Then the directory shows it as empty again for a stretch.

During this period the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood was still not well developed, so perhaps there was not enough population to reliably support the business. Aerial photos from the 1920s show there were more empty lots in the area than ones with homes. Not until later in the 1940s, did it it fill in completely. This may account for the store changing hands often during the early days.

All the while, it appears the upstairs was occupied, either by the person(s) running the store, or rented out. Incidentally, the storefront was on 18th Avenue, but the broad side of the building faces 10th Street, which has always been much busier with traffic.

It appears both levels functioned as residences in the early 1930s. By about 1933, it shows as McKenzie Grocery (alt: MacKenzie, Mckenzie or later Mac’s) and later that decade, Pleasant Heights Grocery again. It had many owners during this time. Later in the 1940s, Pleasant Heights Grocery became Mackenzie’s Red & White. Lots of back and forth during this time.

Red & White functioned as a collective of sorts for smaller grocery stores and offered both name recognition and better purchasing power.

J Mackenzie lived upstairs during his tenure and even did so late it the Pleasant Heights era.

At various times in the first half of the 1950s it functioned as Mac’s Red & White or J Mackenzie Grocery – same owner. Why so many business names though? By the mid-1950s it became Sunbeam Grocery (owners included Joe Wong and later Gordon Louie) and this business closed by the mid-1970s. It became the last grocery store here and with that, an era ended.

It appears the old Sunbeam Grocery mostly functioned a residence, or residences, ever since. Outside appearances suggests are are upper and lower suites today, but perhaps at times they were one. How amazing would it be to live in the old store? The odd (home?) business occupied this address from time to time in recent memory, but usually not for long. Data is a bit patchy and that’s something we see all too frequently.

Then one day while doing some work on the building, they were peeling back the layers and exposed something special. There’s the old buffalo logo for all to see, albeit faded and it’s likely been a long, long time since anyone laid eyes on it. On a more recent visit, they had removed more siding from the old Sunbeam Grocery and more parts of the old sign were gone. It’s possible that work progressed even further, resulting in even less than before.

What happens from here is unknown. We knocked on the door, but no one was about. A note was then left with no response received as yet.

Perhaps on our next visit, it’ll a be gone, or who knows.

Know more about company behind the old sign (new tab): Calgary Brewing and Malting Company.

They’re saying…

“…Your site is brilliant and showcases your talent well, but to me it’s the passion that makes OTBPwC&C a game-changer. You set the bar so damn high.” Pauline West.

Random awesomeness…
Bankview Calgary: They Moved a House.
St Matthew Lutheran Calgary 70 Years Apart.
Radio Shack Westbrook Mall (Calgary).

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Date of adventure: September, 2025.
Location: Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, Calgary Alberta.
Article references and thanks: City of Calgary, assorted Henderson Directories from the 1910s to 1960s, and Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society.

Formerly Sunbeam Grocery (& others), Calgary Mt Pleasant.

There was a corner store here from the 1910s to the 1970s.

A recently exposed Calgary Brewery Ginger Ale Billboard.