“Hey Lang, you should go out of business more often!”
The place was packed, not an empty seat in the house. Lang Nguyen struggled to keep everyone’s coffee cup filled as longtime cook/server Anna Case flipped more eggs than she had in a very long time.
The jokester with the wry comment was referring to the extraordinary crowd that had showed up that summer morning in 2017 to wish the Nguyens well as they slipped into retirement. The regulars were there en masse. Hugs, tears, gifts and wisecracks were plentiful.
The East End Variety and Snack Bar soon had new faces behind the lunch counter. That business venture was not very long-lived and, soon enough, Lang and Deo Nguyen were back doing what they had been doing for 30 years – serving up honest diner food and exchanging good-natured insults with their longtime customers.
Anna put her apron back on and picked up her spatula once again, just as she has done since she was a 13-year-old kid, newly arrived in the neighbourhood from the Allandale side of the bay. It was her first job, a good decade before the Nguyens took over.
History is about to repeat itself. Saturday, March 27 looks to be the last time that folks hungry for Anna’s famous hot breakfasts will have the opportunity to do so. The coffee pot and the grill will go cold after that and, this time, it appears that the end of the East End Variety and Snack Bar will be permanent.
In a recent letter to their dear patrons, the Nguyens wrote, in part: “This time as we write this letter, it truly is goodbye because the store has been sold and from the end of April 2021 that bell on the front door will ring for the last time. (We believe the developer who has bought the property plans to reincarnate it into a different form.)”
Am I premature in envisioning a demolition crew arriving at 193 Blake St., in the near future?
The Players Restaurant is gone. With the departure of the East End Variety and Snack Bar, only the Midway Diner will remain of the authentic old-style diners in Barrie.
In 1949, Robert Flewelling, a New Brunswick native, came to Barrie and opened a variety store at 141 Bradford St., just north of the Midway Diner. Soon afterwards, he observed a building boom and an increase in population to the east end of town and decided that neighbourhood needed a store where confectionery items, newspapers and tobacco could be purchased.
Flewelling sold his Bradford Street shop to Robert Sheppard, who enlarged the little store. Flewelling then bought the large O’Hearn home, at the corner of Blake and Nelson streets, in early 1952 and began remodelling the building.
Opening day was Saturday, June 27, 1953.
Not quite one year later, the following announcement appeared in the Barrie Examiner: “And now Barrie’s East End has its own Lunch Bar at the East End Variety Store for quality food! Visit Barrie’s newest lunch bar opened this week for the convenience of East End residents and travellers alike. Call in today and enjoy a lunch or a snack… the food’s good… the service is good… and there is plenty of parking space.”
So, there you have it. In case you have ever wondered how long the East End Variety and Snack Bar has been serving hot coffee, bacon and eggs and the like, the answer is almost 68 years. Wow. That is a long run for a restaurant.
Not many like it around anymore, as I wrote in a previous goodbye story. While you can, do drop in during the next little while and soak up the retro vibe of a true small-town 1950s diner.
Each week, the Barrie Historical Archive provides BarrieToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past. This unique column features photos and stories from years gone by and is sure to appeal to the historian in each of us.
