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As a kid, we always biked to a small grocer/deli that had a glass case full of penny candy. A girl patiently waited on each of us as we made our selections -- Mary Janes, shoe string licorice, jaw breakers, dots on paper, or a 5¢ splurge on a candy necklace. Our purchases were put in a tiny brown paper bags and we biked to the local playground to eat them!
I love walking in shops that still have wooden floors -- something nice about the way it sounds when you walk on them.
Blinx, I grew up in North Philly. We had a candy store (sold ice cream cones, fountain sodas, cigarettes, and a whole case of penny candy) We had a little grocery store on one corner and a Jewish deli on the other. The opposing corners had a barber shop and a taproom. Around the corner on Germantown Ave we had a bakery, butcher shop, produce store, fish store (always fresh on Friday!), coffee store where they roasted beans and the smell was heavenly. We had dress shops, lingerie shops, a Chinese store that sold imported trinkets and we loved looking at the articles until the man told us it was time to go home. We had two Five and Ten Cent stores - Woolworth's and Kresge's. A Sun Ray drug store. A movie theater. Another candy store but this one didn't sell penny candy - this was upscale chocolates! Shoe store, dry cleaners, Bratspis the Tailor, shoe repair shop, beauty salons, jewelers. Just about everything you needed was contained in two short blocks.
I think what I miss most of all is knowing that the same people would be behind those counters every day and most of them even knew us little kids as we went about our parents' errands. Either the world has gotten too big or I have grown too old. <sigh>
For city kids growing up in Philadelphia there was a large number of wonderful huge department stores that are all gone now: Wanamaker's, Lit Brothers, Gimbels, Strawbridge & Clothiers, Snellenbergs, E.J. Korvettes, etc. These huge departments stores had everything from dry goods, crystal, china, silver, millinery,children's toys, appliances to watch repair departments. They had furniture, carpet and household goods departments ... and always a very attractive restaurant with upscale decor but reasonable prices. Nowadays the department stores that are left (in this part of the country mainly Macy's and JC Penney, but a couple of upscale ones like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus) seem so generic and bland. They over emphasize perfumes, cosmetics, jewelry, and lady's fashions. The last big store downtown - once famous Wanamaker's - is a Macy's that uses only three floors of the 8 story building, has no food department and only a small snack bar and no restaurant.
Clark, I used to ride the street car with my Grandmother from Broad and Erie down to Market St and she would buy any number of things. We would come home on the street car and she might have one small bag. The next day, a truck would pull up to the front door and deliver the purchases she made!
I currently live near Wilkes-Barre and we have a Boscov's department store. It was a department store prior to Al Boscov taking it over and it still has the old "downtown" store feel. Escalators, restaurant in the basement, bill-paying on the fifth floor along with the furniture department. It's like a step back in time.
Great memories! I missed out on much of this--I guess it depended upon where you lived, as I'm not exactly a "Spring chicken" myself. It does sometimes surprise me to see MCM (mid-century modern) looked upon as such a pinnacle of design. Growing up, we took it for granted that everyone lived in new houses & shopped at brand new strip malls & drove on the brand new interstate highways. Dizzybint--here are the candy dots--Candy Buttons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oh they look like pill packets, thanks a lot for that as never seen or heard of these.. Do any shops still have scales outside the door... All our chemists used to have them.
This is a pic of the inside of the old Havey & Wilson Rexall in Eastport Maine. All of the old stools from the soda fountain remain along with the old store fixtures even though the building is rented to an artist who sells his works every summer.
I remember having a shoemaker in town who could repair your shoes like new. Also, he could do other things to leather like repair a broken shoulder bag strap. I'm sure there might still be a few around, but not in our city.
I also remember those little mom and pop grocery stores that were located every three or four blocks. We had one on the way to school. If we had five cents, we thought we were rich. We could get a whole little bag of candy with the nickle. The candy was bulk, so we children would just dig our grubby little paws into it. Some candy was two for a penny, some was one penny each, and those little licorice babies were six for a penny. They were my favorite.
Does anyone remember all the women's hat shops? Back then, Catholics had to wear hats to church, but I'm sure other ladies also wore them. On Sundays, when I would put on my hat, I would also put on my white gloves.
I miss the "5 & 10" stores. When I think back, those little stores had everything a person in the 50's desired and needed. If I could go back in time for one day, you'd find me there. Here, in KS, I often say to my husband as I look at the dying towns, IF we could go back in time for just one day and see the hustle and bustle of times past.................
Lovely memories there but whats dots on paper.. never heard of them...
Little dots of hard candy on paper -- can't remember if they came on a roll or in pre-measured strips. You either picked them off with your fingers or bit them off with your teeth:
I remember when going to buy shoes was an event. You sat in a chair, got your foot measured. The stores were often really lovely. The salesperson had to "go in the back to see if we have your size".
When I was a kid, I could fit into sample-size shoes. They were usually a ladies' 4 or 5. We would wait for those sample sales-they were fun!
It really was an event, wasn't it. I remember my Mom would buy us new socks to wear when we were going to the shoe store to get new shoes! Kinney Shoes, Thom Mcan, back-to-school shoes (couldn't wear until school started), "easter" shoes, shiny Go-Go boots, PF Flyers!
Thanks for the memory. Things sure have changed/
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We had two Five and Ten Cent stores - Woolworth's and Kresge's. A Sun Ray drug store. A movie theater. Another candy store but this one didn't sell penny candy - this was upscale chocolates! Shoe store, dry cleaners, Bratspis the Tailor, shoe repair shop, beauty salons, jewelers. Just about everything you needed was contained in two short blocks.
