At this holiday time of the year many people are racing around to malls or clicking like crazy online to complete their holiday shopping. Which led me to think about going shopping as a child and trying to remember everything I could.
The local drugstore was Mangini’s. That’s where we went for anything that was from the doctor. There was a Rexall Drugstore on the same block but I think we just went there for cards and other things. Not pills. Mr. Mangini had some candies in the store too and I remember going there to buy melt-in-your-mouth wintergreen lozenges.
Mayfair Market was our grocery store. They gave out Green stamps. I don’t remember where we had to go to get the highly coveted Blue stamps but it wasn’t in our regular circuit.
Quality bakery was where my grandmother got the occasional loaf of fancy white bread or fancy rolls for a company dinner. It was also where I lusted after a bakery birthday cake with those plastic decorations. (I never got one of those.)
Beedee’s was next to or very near the bakery. It was a hodge-podge of a store. A modern day version of a general store. They carried all sorts of fabric and patterns and my grandmother would spend hours in there getting her fabric to make many of my clothes.
There was a Rhodes department store where I got any back-to-school clothes that my grandmother didn’t make. Which means that’s where I got socks and shoes and underwear and a coat. Rhodes was also where I went to take the class White Gloves and Party Manners.
Darned if I can’t remember any other stores downtown though I remember when Sun Valley mall was built. The most exciting thing about that was that there was a gym of some kind that had a swimming pool and my mom and my grandmother joined so they could go swimming. I wasn’t allowed.
At Christmas time I remember getting the bigi Wishbook catalogs. I can’t remember going to many stores at the holidays though. Once in a while we would drive into San Francisco so we could look at all the Christmas window displays.
Your turn. What stores do you remember from your childhood? Any special or not-so-special shopping memories?
we had a Rexall drug store up the street. I worked there eventually, although it wasn’t Rexall any longer. It had a soda fountain, and squeaky floors and was a very old building. I took my younger brother there so he could buy his Christmas presents. He had a LOT of pennies, and the clerk stood by very patiently as my brother counted out his total – “sixty seven cents”. I didn’t appreciate the clerk nearly as much until I got older and did retail work myself.
We had three grocery stores. There was the IGA (we still call it that), the REd and White, and then there was Kenny’s. Kenny’s was the place with the penny candy (and the higher priced hot dog rolls!) The Red and White had squeaky floors like the drug store did.
The City, at Christmas time, was a wonderful place. There were lights all the way up the main street, suspended by wires and mostly snow covered most of the time. The REAL Santa was at Edwards department store, although he had helpers at Dey Brothers and Grants. Funny, now that I’m thinking about it I can remember standing in line, in my winter clothes, with my gloves and hat on and my boots leaving puddles of water on the floor. I was HOT, but I was going to see Santa.
Oh, my, what a long long time ago.
Grants! Yes, we had one of those too.
LOL on the patient clerk. I so don’t do well with that sort of job.
Alpha Beta had Blue Chip Stamps. Also, Thrifty Drug.
I remember following my mom down the grocery store aisles. “You’re a guest here,” my mom always reminded us. To make sure we didn’t touch and/or break anything, we had to walk with our hands clasped behind our backs.
There were no Thrift Drugs near us and I always wished there were because they had ice cream!
What an instant picture I got of you walking with your hands behind your backs. Nice!
We had a stationary store, Weintraub’s, and a 5&10. My elementary school music teacher actually wrote a song about Christmas in our town (called “Christmas in Our Town”) with the line, “The lights at the 5 and 10 go on at sundown.”
Nowadays, I think Walgreen’s is a wonderland for Christmas shopping if you’re a kid. They have all sorts of cheap items, “as seen on TV stuff” like Chia Pets, and things like perfumed candles. little jewelry.
Yep, I agree that Walgreen’s is great for kids today. Oh, we had Woolworth’s too!
I remember back-to-school shopping at GEMCO – the best! I loved that place. Also, I remember when my mom dragged me for those long, boring shopping trips, she would reward me with tea time at the Bullock’s cafe, where she got me the tea sandwiches – yummy!
Oh I had forgotten GEMCO! And before that, White Front too.