Tucker Plus

"Typewriters. Adding Machines. Sales & Service" the sign reads in bold letters. In front, a Burroughs adding machine sits atop a shelf beside vintage cheque writers and a mural paper roll dispenser that was original to Tucker Plus when it opened in 1929.

"John Tucker used to wrap his customers' purchases in mural paper," owner Pat Lisson explains of her charmingly vintage store that pays homage to the shop's history and longevity. "They're great conversation pieces," Pat notes as she also points to the original "John R. Tucker" desktop name plate and speaks of finding receipts dating to 1929 for a Remington typewriter fix.

Known originally as Tucker, the shop opened in the Lister building specializing in typewriters and adding machines. "Back then, everybody used a typewriter," Pat says. Pat eventually joined the business in 1978 as a bookkeeper and John's assistant, answering telephones and greeting customers after replying to an advertisement in the newspaper. "I had five children, and my youngest was old enough. So I started part-time," Pat smiles.

John, who worked until he was 93, sold the business to Pat in 1995 and she modernized Tucker Plus to include selling fountain pens, used books and giftware as well as producing customized rubber stamps from any image or series of words.