New Brunswick grocery store helps reunite lost stuffed animals with their families

Sandy’s Independent Grocer is a staple in Salisbury New Brunswick when it comes to every day essentials, but if you look closely you’ll see that it’s more than just a grocery store, it also doubles as a temporary soft landing for lost stuffed animals.

“I have grandchildren and I know when they lose their stuffies, it is the end of the world,” said owner and operator, Sandy Cantelo.

“So we always encourage lost and founds or to help somebody out, but we know how much children love their little toys so just to make sure it goes back to its rightful owners.”

On Tuesday afternoon, a small cheetah stuffed animals was found in the grocery store parking lot and brought in for safe keeping.

“If you find somebodies little bear, you can tell that it’s loved, right? That’s the only way I can put it,” said Kim Landry, a cashier at the local store.

“You can tell that somebody’s probably missing it especially when they lug it into the grocery store, right? If they have to take it everywhere they go, then you know that it’s probably special to somebody.”

Landry posted the toy on Facebook earlier Wednesday morning stating “We brought him in from the rain cause someone told us cats don’t like water. We’ll keep him safe until his friend comes back!”

A few short hours later, Stephen Lisson showed up to bring his son’s stuffie home.

“Right now, grateful because my little boy is only two and he missed the little fella,” said Lisson.

Adding, “Normally, I don’t expect to find my kid’s lost toys, because like they say, when it’s lost it’s lost.”

Lisson saw the post on Facebook as soon as it was posted.

“He came in and he showed me the picture on Facebook and he goes ‘do you have this? This belongs to my little boy’ and it was so good knowing he’s going home,” said Cantelo.

It was a reunion that made the entire staff happy on Wednesday morning.

“It’s kind of nice to be able to see who it belonged to and because a lot of the little kids who come in with their parents, you kind of feel like you kind of know them a little bit especially when they’re regulars,” said Landry.

She knows how important stuffed animals are to kids after going through a similar scenario when her daughter was young.

“She lost her little baby stuffie and one of the girls at the diner where she lost it, knew that it was loved and put it away for us so when we went back, when I called they said ‘we knew she was loved, we put her aside,’ so I just feel like the same thing,” said Landry.

Even though the cheetah wasn’t lost for very long, it was a reunion that two-year-old Dawson was excited for, thanks to some helping hands at Sandy’s Independent Grocer.

“I’m just grateful that they do the smallest things, looking out for the smallest things and just making everybody happy,” said Lisson.

While Wednesday brought a happy ending, it wasn’t the first of its kind at Sandy’s, earlier this summer a lost giraffe spent time exploring the shelves.

“Somebody brought him in and said he looked loved, so we put him over on the counter and kind of made a little Facebook post for our village and posted a little thing and he became kind of famous around here,” said Landry.

Cantelo says it’s common practice in the small, tight-knit community of Salisbury.

“You get to know everybody here, small community and it shares and everybody shares the post,” she said.

“We found a cellphone yesterday and, of course, everybody sent it until we got the right owners. It’s just the small town, it’s just great.”

Right now, Sandy’s staff don’t have any lost stuffed animals, but they say they’ll be ready for the next time a stuffie needs to reunite with its child.

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