Which stores do you remember from your childhood?

Gardenlover

Gardenlover

The world needs more love
I loved going to the five & dime to buy plastic model kits or candy to take into the single screen movie theater next door.

I vividly remember the soda bar at Woolworths.

I loved all the holiday window displays as well.
 

i grew up in Delaware county, PA (near Philly). right next-door was Chester... was actually a thriving city when i was a kid. could get on the bus right outside my front door (practically) to get there. though a little later in time, the store scenes from "A Christmas Story" are my memories. the store was named Stotter's.
 

Yes!!! to the joy of trips to Woolworths, Kresge, Murphys, and other dimestores.

And the annual trip downtown on the coldest night of the year to "see the windows" and visit Santa at the department store......priceless memories.

I loved Morrow's Nut House for the smell alone. All different kinds of hot nuts, fresh from the roaster and fudge.

The big department stores were exciting. I especially loved Ayres, which had 11 stories and fast elevators with glass doors so you could see the floors whizzing by while the operator announced, " Better Dresses, Notions, Lingerie, Menswear....". Sometimes we'd just ride the elevators up and down until the operators would urge us out.

Remember the "Floorwalkers"? Men (and toward the end, sometimes a lady) who circulated throughout the store, helping shoppers find things or watching out for shoplifters. You could always identify one; he would be nattily dressed in a sharp dark suit with a crisp white shirt and a carnation in his lapel. " May I be of assistance, Madam?"

My grandma was a shopaholic, always in pursuit of that Holy Grail.....The Ultimate Bargain, The Unpassable Deal, The Sale of the Century. That would involve multiple trips downtown each week, never less than two, and I tagged along frequently. We'd always be dressed nicely: this was a Quest-with-a-Capital-Q, y'know. We'd always have lunch at Ayres Tea Room, in a lady-like atmosphere, because even if we were on a Quest, we were still ladies, after all.
 
Last edited:
Can never forget the lunch counter at Woolworths. Nor shopping at Kresge’s

In Toronto it was a real treat to go to Eatons or Simpson’s, especially for the Christmas windows. The Bay was also popular and still exists in some places. Saw their Christmas windows in 2019 and they weren’t special.
 
In Toronto Eaton's and Simpson's faced each other at Queen and Young streets. The 2 biggest national department stores in Canada. At one time Eaton's had a number of their own factories where they made their own furniture, radios, clothing and even canoes. The Eaton's mail order book was how many rural Canadians bought their staples. Living 300 miles north of Winnipeg, getting things delivered by the Royal Mail was a way of life then. My Mum swore by Eaton's for their bedding and pillows. Jimb.
 
I grew up in a small mountain town. I remember our 'five and dime' store also, especially their penny candy layout. I also remember the 'Soda Shop' at our local corner drug store. Getting ice cream soda's and once in a great while a banana split! Those were the days.... when walking to school in the mornings I had to walk by the local bakery, they were cooking fresh donuts, I could not get one, but the smell still stays with me...
 
There were two stores next door to each other-Woolworth's and McClellan's. I used to steal tiny packets of postage stamps for my stamp collection from Woolworth's. And I did get caught stealing a fountain pen from McClellan's. I was a kid, and I used to walk to them, by myself. This was around 70 years ago, and I kind of remember the layout of the stores- where different departments were. I'm filled with such useful information.
 
Last edited:
I remember getting to go downtown with a friend starting at 12 years old.

$2 would do you for the day. 50 cents round trip on the bus, 50 cents got you a BLT and a Coke at the Woolworths lunch counter, and 50 cents for a movie, a second feature, cartoons and a newsreel, leaving 50 cents for shopping at the dimestore. A Tangee lipstick was 19 cents....oh, paradise!
 
Back in the 50s and 60, it seemed there was a penny candy "mom & pop" store on every corner. The closest thing we had to a department sore was Levine's and that burned down in the mid-60s, if I remember correctly, and Grant's.

When the paper mill (the area's largest employer) went OOB, all the other businesses folded. Mechanicville is just a ghost town compared to what it was in 60 years ago.

My hometown in the 1960s - Grant's is on the left corner.

Mechanicville Corner of Park & Railroad, Grant's Store.jpg
 
In our small town there was Novak's, a small grocery store. My mother sent me there for lunch meat and a few other things. I went there for penny candy and ice cream.

There was Irene's Pharmacy in town where I would buy balsa wood model airplanes, and John's Restaurant where you could buy a burger and magazines and with a juke box in back.

My mother would take me on the street car first, and later a bus when street cars no longer were, to Penney's and Kresge's in another town. We got ice cream at Kresge's and sometimes a goldfish.
 
Last edited:
You all are bringing back some memories! I never met a floorwalker, except for the following. This was during my young adulthood, not my childhood:

On Bank Street in Ottawa there was a discount department store called Big Bud's. Bud, the owner, had 3 or 4 daughters working in the store. Bud would approach me, say a few friendly words, and ask what I was looking for. Then he'd yell out to whichever of his daughters was in that area, and tell her to help me find the thing.

I believe when he got older, he no longer walked around to make sure everyone was taken care of. He sat in a chair in the middle of the store and yelled from there.
 
Last edited:
I think everyone in the western world misses Woolworth.. I used to work there as a wages Clerk when I was young before I married and had my DD... and my office was right next to the record dept.. so I got to listen to all the latest hits for free when the teens would come into buy them , and ask for the to be played which they always did to ensure there was no scratches.. we didn't have Booths in our stores..

I agree with @Gardenlover with regard the Christmas store windows.. Oh, nothing will ever be as magical as walking along in the dark with the streets lit by the store windows, and looking in to see all the glorious things for sale.. even when we had no money to buy anything

download

This is how they look now... not fun at all...

7b2aafc6dca4bf99ff6b7608c4b31c49.jpg
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top