She called my name from a distance, and I had to remove my sunglasses to see just who it was. It's been a few years since we've seen one another, and she has changed, somewhat. But we hugged, glad to see one another again. She and her close extended family co-own a dollar store. It's not a franchise, but rather an ownership arrangement.

Actually she and her husband own the remaining store. They got fed up looking for a replacement for their earlier, very successfully Loonie-Toonie shop. Their lease, after a decade, was not extended because the nearby pharmacy had plans to extend its footprint.

The two stores, Loonie-Toonie and Loonie-Toonie-Two, located a relatively short distance from one another, in two separate plazas, employed the extended family; brothers, sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews as part-time help. They stock durable, well-made items that were a better quality and more varied than other dollar stores. And we've been shopping there for as long as they've been open, which is about fifteen years now. We usually drop by on a week-end when she isn't working, our interaction being with other family members.

They're a Lebanese-Canadian family, close-knit and gregarious by nature. Unself-consciously kind and quick to greet old customers, personable and personally interested in each and every of their customers whom they treat like valued old friends. They're an established social presence in the community. And a credit to themselves for their enterprise and sociability combined.

We shop there for useful items like pot scrubbers, batteries, and garden supplies like peony cages and coir inserts. We never know what's new in the store, and potentially useful for the kitchen; an inexpensive and pleasant outing, seeing old friends and acquiring new utensils.