Cock Brothers

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• I remember going to the Cock Bros. on Tecumseh West to purchase chicken feed and other farm supplies with my dad in the 50's.

• The hobby shop on Wyandotte W. was Janisse's Hobbies, owned by Paul Janisse who went on to be the Commodore at the Windsor Yacht Club. Paul sold everything imaginable for the hobbyist from trains, planes, slot cars and steam engines. It was better than a candy store. The model planes we built were flown in the empty fields south of International Tool on Huron Line at Malden. These meets were frequently sponsored by Janisse's. The only other stores to go to were in Detroit. Does anyone remember the Toy and Doll shop on Woodward just north of nine mile? They were so popular they had ads on the radio in the 60's. Also there was Joe's Hobbies on Tireman Road and the Model Railroad shop downstairs next to a sheet music shop on Grand River downtown. Janisse's had slot car tracks at Lincoln and Tecumseh and it cost 25¢ for 20 minutes of track time. I delivered drugs on my bicycle for McGaffey Drugs at Leonard and Tecumseh at 40¢ an hour and one week, I worked 6 days and rode my bike as fast as I could to Janisse's to buy a slot car called a Cheetah. We'd put tape behind the motor's magnets to cheart and make them go faster. As with all fads, there were the fanatics who ate, slept and breathed slot cars. They'd build their cars from scratch and you always gave way to them. They'd run their homebuilts after hours withe front door locked.

• Thanks for this posting. I am a great-grandchild of Joseph Cock, one of the owners of Cock Bros. machinery. Happy to read this history and have these photos.My great-grandparents lived on Lillian St.

• Lorayne , I am the daughter of Ralph Cock owner of Cock Bros. I spent my childhood running and playing in all of the stores. The one on Pitt Street was lawn and garden seed, supplies and pets. The hobby shop was on Techumseh near Gladstone, then he brought in a partner closed the stores and opened up the new store on Techumseh west which had lawn and garden, hobby, pets, and a florist as well. We used to have pony rides out front during promos. Every spring we had baby chicks and rabbits. I have alot of fond memories of those stores. My father was a very hard working man and used to get kids from the Pitt Street area bringing in little puppies and kittens for him to sell for them he was kind to everyone and an honest man.

• Cock Bros on Pitt street was my father's store. His name was Ralph Cock. His uncle Joseph and his father started the store and in time Ralph bought Uncle Joe out and owned is solely. I worked at that store at 340 Pitt street from a very early age. Later on Ralph opened a store on Tecumseh East between Gladstone and Moy as a hobby shop as well as in a smaller way the things from the Pitt street store. Again, later on, about 1963, Hi Murroff of Mathews Lumber offered to build an addition to his place for a new Cock Bros. That location was operating for several years after that. I worked part time in both Tecumseh Road stores. It was an institution at the time and a lot of people really missed my Dad and the store.

• I have often told my daughter-in-law how comfortable I feel in the casino, as I used to work at the Cock Bros. store located there. I started when I was 16 years old and continued there until 1952. I thought the world of both Ralph and Florence, and considered them very good friends. I only left because it was a long commute from England, and was very sad when I returned in the 1970's to see it was gone. I really enjoyed finding these postings, as they bring back quite a few good memories.

• Oh, and to answer the question posed under the picture that led me to this page
  (http://internationalmetropolis.com/2008/02/19/more-we-ls-railway/)
  that is indeed a picture of the warehouse, and it was located on Howard Avenue.