Winnipeg’s most iconic signs are lighting up once again before heading to auction
Posted October 8, 2025 3:54 pm.
Last Updated October 8, 2025 6:31 pm.
Neon, nostalgia, and a little bit of Winnipeg history, all packed inside one shop. SRS Signs has been collecting these pieces for years, and now, they’re giving Winnipeggers a chance to take a bright piece of the past home with them.
For nearly two decades, SRS Signs owner Shane Storie has been preserving the city’s past, one sign at a time.
What started as a moment of reflection while tossing old signage out with a colleague turned into a full-blown passion.
“He mentioned I would be the last guy to touch it, and if I threw it away, it was gone forever. That resonated with me, and from there on, if it had value or was Winnipeg significant, I tried to keep it,” said Shane Storie, the owner of SRS Signs.
From there, Storie knew he was hooked, as he was willing to go the extra mile to save a piece of Winnipeg history.
“We removed the red lobster over on Pembina Highway, and they wouldn’t let me take the signs with me, so I went back and jumped into a dumpster in the middle of the night and took the signs, so I pretty much knew I was committed to sign collecting,” Storie explained.
“The Bell Hotel has to be one of the most Iconic hotels in the city. If you grew up in Winnipeg and drove around downtown, you knew about the Bell Hotel, so it’s really interesting.”
Now hundreds of signs fill the shop grounds, from the Bell Hotel and James Richardson Building to Hys Steakhouse stools, Blue Bombers signage, and more than seventy-five vintage Winnipeg Transit signs.
“For 15 years, I have been sitting on these transit signs waiting to do something with them. Now, with the revamp of them redoing the signs to the blue and silver, I thought now was the time to get these signs out to the world before people forgot what they looked like.”
The collection is featured online through the McSherry Auction in Stonewall, with the sale wrapping on October 28. As for Storie? He admits some of the proceeds will go right back into buying more signs.
