store n Cp OED ~ sb 11 'a place where stores are kept' (1667-), DC 2 (1959) for sense 1; for comb in sense 2 see OED store sb 13 b ~ loft (1852 quot).
1 A building forming part of a merchant's, planter's or fisherman's waterfront premises or 'room' where supplies and gear are stored for use or trade; esp place where dried and salted codfish are held for shipment; FISH STORE.
[1696 (1895) PROWSE 232 [tr] From there we went to Old Perlican, there were there nineteen houses, several stores, more than thirty head of horned cattle, and a number of sheep and pigs.] [1791] 1976 HEAD 231 I was, on my arrival this year, forcibly struck with the change which had taken place at St John's, where the trade has increased to such a degree that the north side of the harbour is now taken up with Merchants' Stores Wharfs etc for the purpose of trade. [1794] 1968 THOMAS 77 Here are some good Stores and much Trade is carry'd on in Fish. 1819 ANSPACH 437 [The fish] is left some time in that state, then again spread out, and the same day, towards the evening, lodged in stores or put on board the vessels. 1832 MCGREGOR i, 188 But the appearance of the town altogether, indicates at once what it was intended for—a kind of lodging-place for a convenient time; a collection of stores for depositing fish, with wharfs along the whole shore for the convenience of shipping. 1849 [FEILD] 32 A store, the largest in the place, was put at our disposal for that purpose by Mr Seallur, the Agent. 1857 MOUNTAIN 4 Wealthy merchants ... built large fishing establishments or 'stores,' as they are styled. 1868 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 25 He has a large shop and store and has a good deal of fish collected. 1937 DEVINE 41 Room [is] a fishing premises: stage, flakes and store. 1977 BURSEY 30 When they came back expecting to land their fish at March's store they found that the premises had been burned out of recognition with every thing on the waterfront from Bowring's to the East end of St John's harbour. 1977 Them Days ii (3). p. 23 [At Mary's Harbour] there was stages, flakes, houses, men and youngsters... There was a big store, under the bank, over forty feet long.
2 Comb store keeper: merchant's agent.
[1764] 1976 HEAD 173 The Families that remain [in Trinity] During Winter being Store-Keepers. [1765] 1954 INNIS 155-6 [Other imports were] engrossed by a few opulent merchants, store keepers, and considerable boat keepers who retail them to the rest of the inhabitants and to those they employ under them in the fishery, at exorbitant prices.
store loft: area or room on fishing premises for the storage and repair of gear; LOFT, STAGE ~ .
1936 SMITH 28 After spending our Christmas holidays and enjoying ourselves until Old Twelfth Day, we went to work on the store loft repairing the cod traps, etc, for another season. 1966 FARIS 239 The upper story of a two-story fisherman's storage structure is the 'store loft.' The 'loft' is where cod traps are stored and where net mending takes place during the winter. The 'loft' usually contains a small stove for warmth. P 150-68 The store loft was a place of joy and curiosity. It means the top floor (second floor) of a store which might contain stored wood, fish, salt beef and other supplies on the first floor, and the top floor would be a carpenter's workshop used for making things, with shavings on the floor and all kinds of carpenter tools around and pieces of wood which one could cut and chip as a boy likes to do. 1972 MURRAY 52-3 In the late spring 'trapmen' would be busy in their 'store lofts' mending the linnet... [it was the] area where cod traps, trawls, and other fishing equipment were stored in winter, and where dry fish was stored during the curing process in late summer and early fall.
