OMG! I can remember penny candy. & other stuff

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I'm 70, and when I was a little kid, I barely remember the end of the previous era. I can remember going to the store to buy penny candy-ya know 3 of these for a penny, the caramels 4 for a penny. These two brothers, both in their 90s, had an old fashion store. There was a large glass case with trays of candy in it. You could buy 4 of these for a penny, but only 2 of those for a penny, etc. If you had a nickel, it would take 20 minutes trying to figure out what you were going to buy.

Also, I was born in a town that was settled by French-Canadians. When I was a kid, Wednesday afternoon was "French Day". All the clerks in the stores down town would only speak French.
Another thing, we were all French-Canadian Catholics. The next town over was all Polish Catholics. My French-Canadian aunt married one of those Polish Catholics. Horrors!! :)
I heard my two old biddy great-aunts being upset that my aunt couldn't "marry one of her own kind". Today, you're happy if the spouse is human.
 

Lol..you made me laugh with that last line :). I'm 65 so maybe things went up but I remember the candy store across the street from the school..and I remember gettin 5 cents a day to spend.

I enjoyed reading your memories :)
 
Yes, those were great days at the candy store.

Now, the convenience store up the street charges 5 cents per piece of loose candy. Not too bad, considering the passage of so many years.

But their selection is nowhere near as awesome as ours was.
 

Ah yes, we had our equivalent in the UK. 4 'Black Jacks' or 4 'Fruit salad' for 1 old penny. Sweets (as we called them) from big glass jars were about 6 pence for 4 ozs. There are quite a few traditional sweet shops here now - obviously a taste for nostalgia.
A very traditional Scottish sweet called 'Coulter's Candy' has made a comeback. It gave rise to one of the first advertising 'jingles' in the mid 1800's. It starts.......

Ally bally, ally bally bee,
Sittin' on yer mammy's knee,
Greetin' for a wee bawbee,
Tae buy some Coulter's candy.

Poor wee Jeanie's gettin' awfy thin,
A rickle o' banes covered ower wi' skin,
Noo she's gettin' a wee double chin,
Wi' sookin' Coulter's Candy.
 
The store I went to was strategically placed down the street from my elementary school.. It was called JoJo's owned by an old Italian man who lived in the back. He has a huge assortment of penny candies.. and that was a frequent stop after school.
 
My dad told me when he was a kid, a sack of candy cost one penny! Must have been great being a kid in those days!
 
Yeah Fuzz, my brother married Irish and I married Italian and it did raise eyebrows in the family.

Penny candy oh yum. We would go to Cape Cod for the summer. Hyannis had a penny/nickel/dime/quarter store with a variety I haven't seen since. The best? A cherry flavored mushy lipsticky thing, those flying saucers, the wax soda bottles, caramel bullseyes, and cotton candy...always cotton candy.
 
Penny candy? Loved it. Especially Mary Janes the toffee covered peanut butter rectangles that could rip a filling out. ( Or a baby tooth). I remember 5 cent candy bars too. Every Sat afternoon when my friends and I would go to the movies, I'd buy 5 candy bars for 25 cents at the drugstore on the way.

Good times. :cheerful:
 
I remember getting 25 cents a week, for chores from mum and dad. To which I would skip on down, to the corner store and buy a 12 cent bottle of Coca cola, a 10 cent candy bar and 3 penny mojo's.. Good times..
 

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