Family clothing store in for the long run: H. R. Lash has been a west end fixture for 95 years.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: SAULT STE. MARIE

Many generations of steel and paper workers in Sault Ste. Marie's west end have gotten their first suit or pair of dress shoes at H. R. Lash.

The corner store at John Street and St. Andrew's Terrace has been a fixture in the Steelton business district since 1914.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Over the years the store has inspired loyalty from its blue collar patrons for selling quality casual and formal apparel at affordable prices. Even the more well-healed head in Herb Lash's direction when other clothiers have gotten a tad pricey.

"That's exactly where I want to be," said owner Herb Lash Sr.

"I want to be of good quality but not out of reach for the normal working man."

The store sells about 75 per cent men's wear, the rest being women's jackets, coats and footwear.

Herb places a special emphasis on buying Canadian apparel wherever possible, including Canada Goose parkas and S. Cohen suits.

The walls of the store are a photographic archive of the family and the early days of the neighbourhood, back when Steelton was an incorporated city of its own.

There are photos of wood frame shacks, dirt roads, prize catches of fish, family vacations at the Goulais River cottage and Second World War memories from Herb's dad, Bill-Lash, who was a tail gunner on a Wellington bomber flying missions over Europe.

And floods, plenty of flood pictures back before there was a dam at Fort Creek when spring run-off would run down John Street and pool up around the sandbags at the store. Dad is photographed outside paddling in a canoe.

The store contains an antique three-sided full length mirror and a mounted billy-club from old the Steelton sheriff.

The Lash family and Herb's great grandfather moved to the Sault from the oil fields of Petrolia in southwestern Ontario and opened a grocery store a few blocks away in 1912.

It was while on a grocery run that Herb's grandfather, Herbert, met his 15-year-old future wife who was visiting from Romania and he convinced her to stay. They were married a year later.

The family bought the current store in 1914 when it was under construction and started selling shoes.

Herb started young in the 1950s, picking up pins off the floor and working after school for 25 cents a week.

"I think you always want to follow in your fathers footsteps as a doctor, lawyer...