In the early 1960’s Willard hatched a scheme to improve his finances by getting into the luxury car business. His plan was to take advantage of various import and duty regulations to sell British luxury automobiles in Nestor Falls. He designed a simple but spacious building and identified a piece of land along the roadside in Nestor Falls.
At the time, the land was marshy and wet. He secured it for a low price, then had the crew remove a beaver dam downhill from the property to reduce the flooding. With the land dry, he drew a simple design on the back of an envelope for half a building. He showed it to the crew who shook their heads and asked where the rest of the drawing was. He simply said, “just turn this the other direction”.
The building went up quickly, it was on track to open just 30 days after the first load of lumber arrived when news came across the radio that nearly stopped the project halfway done. Tighter regulations were passed for Duty-Free and new limits were in place. Luxury cars were out. The crew laid down their hammers and headed to camp for lunch while Willard considered his options.
Back at camp, Willard sat in the converted icehouse that served as office and camp store. This where bait and fishing supplies were sold, along with candy bars and soda. He wondered what he was going to do with the massive building at the roadside. All that open space. He spent the afternoon sharing coffee and stories with the crew and the few guests who returned early from fishing, seeking a break from the intense July sun. After a while the conversation turned to the offseason, where Willard kept cash flowing selling Christmas trees and pottery. Then the idea came to him, he just needed to do in the summer what he did during the winter.
He quickly rounded up the crew and headed back to town, leaving Mary a list of telephone calls to make. The building was finished on Willard’s frantic schedule, and was ready to open in 30 days. Mary had secured deals with suppliers to begin selling porcelain good, woolens, shirts and other items. Eventually a Hudson Bay franchise would be secured and fuel pumps added.
Willard’s Duty Free became a thriving business. The location was good and attracted tour buses and families. Fishermen from the camps would buy gifts to ship home to their wives. Even the Harlem Globetrotters stopped by on a swing through Canada.
Willard’s Duty Free was a victim of it’s own success. Willard and Mary ran the store and lived on the roadside where they had built a small apartment at one end of the store, a similar space at the other end served as stock room and office. The end came on a bright sunny summer day. Mary fixed sandwiches for lunch and set them on the table, ready for a relaxing afternoon. At 9:00 that evening, the sandwiches sat, half-eaten and stale. Mary broke down in tears. She hadn’t come all this way to live life in a roadside gift shop. She longed for the peace and rhythm of the Camp.
By the end of the summer, the store was sold and Willard and Mary returned to the Camp at Gohere Bay.
Over time, the store became the Maple Leaf Gift Shop. The store sold souvenirs, china, linens, Hudson Bay and others. The building would change hands a few more times before the land was acquired by Nestor Falls Marine and the building razed.
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