Murray McCorriston is perched on a stool at the front of his Squamish Native Art Store looking out the window onto a freshly snow-dusted Cleveland Avenue.
The usually busy street is hauntingly quiet as a winter storm prepares to bring Squamish another round of cold and snow.
McCorriston prizes himself on never closing his shop doors, no matter what. That is perhaps one of the reasons he has survived the ups and downs of the economy and art business in Squamish for 17 years.
The Chief sat down with McCorriston for a chat about business in Squamish, some of his famous customers and his support for the current development boom. What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Q: When did you first come to Squamish?
A: I first came to B.C. in 1969; I worked in Britannia Beach at the mine. From there I left B.C. only to return in 1972. I worked in the Chieftain Hotel for a time.
Q: What was the Chieftain like back then?
A: It was busy and full of loggers. Woodfibre [pulp mill] was booming, BC Rail was booming, Weldwood [mill] was booming.
Q: How did you end up owning a store that sells Squamish Nation art?
A: In 1975, I got married and we had a daughter in 1976. I decided I needed to have a better job so I went to work for FMC Chemicals (a chemical plant that sat on the current site of Newport Beach). They turned into Canadian Occidental Petroleum (CanOxy). In 1991, they shut down. I took my severance pay and started my own business.
My first business was vending machines. One time thieves stole a cigarette vending machine off me. That machine is still up behind the golf course, up the old road toward Quest University.
They dumped that thing over the bank and it is still down along the river.
The vending machine business was in the Kindree Building on Cleveland Ave. I was renting the basement for the machines and I was living upstairs. First Nations artists would come by and I would buy art off them and hang it on the wall. One day I said, ‘I have an art gallery here!’ And so the Squamish Native Art Store was born.
Q: That former location was used for filming?
A: Another good thing about that location is that it’s on the intersection of Cleveland Ave. and Victoria Street and the movie industry just loves it. When they were filming the TV series Men in Trees they were paying me about $1,000 a day every time they wanted to use my store.
Q: When did you move to this location at 38059 Cleveland Ave.?
A: I moved down here about seven years ago. I was the last one out of the old Kindree building before they tore it down. This location was previously a used bookstore.
It was so full of books in here that you could hardly walk. The books were up to the ceiling. The owner wasn’t making a go of it, so she said I could take the location over in October of 2010.
Q: Almost all your pieces sold here are by Squamish Nation artists. Being a white guy, do you get any push back for selling Squamish Nation art?
A: Not a bit. I have been here for 45 years, so I have a good relationship with First Nations. I am kind of like their representative in art.
You know, this artist here who I sell, Delmar Joseph, he has a piece in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. and he is a Squamish carver. That is amazing.
Q: Can you tell me about any of your interesting customers?
A: I had this one woman from Italy who was a famous pianist. She was 80 years old or so. Men in Trees actor John Amos came into the store. The Rock [Dwayne Johnson] is a really nice guy. He came in when he was in town shooting the movie Walking Tall. Robin Williams was here shooting Insomnia. He is a nice guy. He even went up to visit Hilltop House when he was here.
Q: Business has been good?
A: Business is like a job. You put a lot into it, you get a lot out of it. If your doors are closed half the time and then opened, closed for three days then open, then your business won’t last. I am open all the time.
I get return customers from all over the world.
Business has been good, thanks to the new Mayor, Patty Heintzman. She is great. She is the best mayor I have ever seen in this town. Everything is moving. She is not just talk – she gets things done.
Q: So you feel good about all the development?
A: I feel great about all the development. My idea for the Newport Beach lands is to have some docks and then cruise ships come in. If they get going on Brohm Ridge (Garibaldi at Squamish), they could have people skiing up at Brohm Ridge and then staying on the ship for two or three days.
Q: What do you wish newcomers knew about Squamish?
A: I wish they would know that it is dog friendly community, but always carry your dog baggy with you.
It is not OK for their dog to pee on my sandwich board.
