Bulk food dynasty

Reese Burns takes over popular downtown store

Burns Bulk Food in Lindsay is officially a three-generation family business.

At the age of 24, Reese Burns is following in his father and grandparents’ footsteps by recently taking over the popular destination for candy connoisseurs, bakers and healthy eaters for nearly 40 years.

Started out as Country Call, situated beside the Flato Academy Theatre, the store later moved to the Kent Place Mall where it operated for a few more years. Around 1985 Reese’s grandparents Dave and Joanne purchased the business from Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, who Reese says are still loyal customers. The store was booming and quickly outgrew its space, moving to its current location in 1997.

“Somewhere in there the name Country Call was traded out for Burns Bulk Food,” says Reese.

In the early 2010s Reese’s father, Dan bought the store from his parents. Reese says since it’s a “social business,” his congenial dad was a natural.

“He was always ahead of the curve with new products, too. We were the first place in the Kawarthas to really double down on Keurig products,” Reese adds.

Before Reese had even entered high school he started working with his dad until he graduated from LCVI.

“Most of my time was spent sampling the candies and checking my phone when no one was looking – or at least when I thought they weren’t looking.”

In 2020 when Dan got sick Reese was in college studying business management. When he found out the news about his dad, he decided to leave school and take a full-time position at the store to help keep the business running. In 2021 Dan lost his battle with cancer and the family was unsure about what to do next. Luckily enough Reese’s grandparents decided to come out of retirement until he was ready to take over.

“When we were losing dad, he was worried that I felt like I was obligated to take on the family business. And I do feel obligated, but that isn’t a bad thing; it’s what I want to do. There’s a lot of Burns family history in this building and we’re just getting started,” says Reese.

He adds that running a business like this takes a good sense of humour and good judgement. It’s important to remember who his customers are, he says, since they often come in and joke around while catching up.

“You can’t be shy in a store like this. The one important skill I haven’t got (yet) is the ability to remember names,” says Reese honestly.
Reese may get better at this with time, hoping that one day the tradition will continue when he has a family of his own.