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The Neighborhood Grocery Store

grocery.jpgThe year was 1966. Dad would give me 55 cents to run across the alley to Moonwink Grocery. Mark, the store owner, would sell me a pack of Phillip Morris Filters in a box with a plastic top, knowing I was heading straight back home to give them to my father. I would also spend a nickel, my allowance delivered twice daily, on a candy bar. If dad wasn't in a hurry, I might browse the comic books before I left.

Every neighborhood had a corner grocery within walking distance in the 1960's. These were real mom-and-pop businesses, sometimes being run out of a building on the same property the owner had his house on.

Moonwink had other things going for it, too. It resided in a building with two other smaller store spaces. The local barber rented one, the other was frequently sitting empty.

Those were idyllic days. In my little Northeast Oklahoma town of Miami, there were no security cameras, bars on the windows, or height scales on the doors. Nobody would dare rob a neighborhood market in the daylight, and they closed up at 5:00.

The store owner would let you have things on credit, too, frequently not even writing anything down. He knew his customers were good for it.

In 1967, a new store opened in Miami. It was a Quik-Trip. It was also the harbinger of what would be a major factor in the death of neighborhood markets.

Corporate-driven chains, along with supermarkets, would quickly drive mom-and-pops out of business. While Moonwink survived the Safeway and IGA markets in town, since it was more convenient to walk to the store rather than drive uptown, customers began drifting away to the convenience stores that were open late at night. When I was in my hometown last, Moonwink's lot held an apartment building.

The last mom-and-pop I remember being open was in my high school town of Pea Ridge, Arkansas in the late 70's. One day at 5:00 sharp, they closed their doors (missing height scales) for good.

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Comments (13)

Tammy Farmer:

I remember our corner grocery store, small but had lots of character. Those were the good old days when it was actually safe to walk to the store and back. I can still remember the smells, a combination of bread and cookies and bologna. I loved those old coolers where they kept the meat. If you were well known, which most of the patrons were, you could usually get a free sample of something. Whether it was cheese, bologna or a piece of candy. I also remember the sound of blades on the meat cutter. Comforting not scary. I also remember getting the candy cigarettes, always one of my favorites. Those truly were a part of the good old days.

Catherine:

I remember going to Elsie's - our corner grocery store. For a nickle I'd get either a whole handful of penny candy or a Big Hunk. She had a huge selection of penny candy, candy necklaces, cigaretes, malted milk balls...
She'd let us get stuff on credit for our mom, too. Milk, hamburger meat. I still remember the bell jingling as the door opened!

Scott:

Our local "Panazzo's"
was where you bought comics, soda, deli meat,
cigs, newspapers, etc.
Unfortunately, they always had day-old papers that they were too cheap to remove, which led to our families in-joke about going to panazzos to get yesterdays' paper...

Jake:

Thanks for the memories. Growing up on Vancouver Island (Canada), in the summer we kids usually hand around Hill's Corner Store. We would spend our money on "soda pop" or popsicles and lay around and watch the traffic go by.

Those were the lazy days of summer. :)

I marvel today at how free I was as a kid. We never locked our door and we could walk four blocks to the grocery store and the department store where there was a great candy counter. When we went to Albany (NY) to visit our grandparents, we could walk the same number of blocks to *their* corner grocery store. I still remember the day I stole a five-cent fudgecicle. My mom figured out I didn't have any money that day, gave me a nickel and made me go right back there to face the owner and pay for my fudgecicle. I knew that she or Nana could stop by there any time and find out if I had followed through. That's a village raising a kid.

Alas... that kind of care seems to have disappeared with the overuse of cars and computers. Such a loss. With any luck, gas prices will keep going up and we'll have to start developing urban neighborhoods for humans to walk in. Won't it be grand?

Rivers End:

We did have a little store near us where I remember getting 1 and 2 cent candies. It eventually closed and then all I remember is the chain grocery stores. Giant, Safeway, Grand Union, IGA stores. Living in the MD suburbs, we were exposed more to the big chains then anything. But I have been in many an old Ma and Pa stores still today in small rural areas!

vera:

my neighborhood grocery store was called, THE CRYSTAL MARKET. really awesome. devil dogs,5 cents, yankee doodles 10 cents, omg i was in wonderland. sodas 16 ounces 15 cents.

NCeddie:

I had my first "real" job one summer in our corner store, Edgewood Superette, at the ripe ol' age of nine. The owner, Mr. Garris, was to be away for two weeks for National Guard Reserve training. For his absence, I was hired at $1.00 per day for those two 6-day weeks. Each day, Mom would pack me a lunch (I worked 9 - 5)
and send me on my way. I think I was mostly hired to sweep up and be company for Mrs. Garris. She taught me how to ring up cash sales on the old register. I felt sooooo important ringing up sales of penny candy for my school friends! At the end of the job I received $12.00, with which I bought my first Kodak Brownie Starmite camera-- with flash! Dad took me uptown to get it. I loaded the roll of film in it right in the drugstore and then I asked Dad to take me to Edgewood Superette. There, I took my first snapshot. It was of Mr. and Mrs. Garris smiling at the counter. They gave Dad a glowing report of my work and I thanked them profusely for making my very own camera possible. Those were the days!

Tony:

I was born in Miami, OK but I don't remember Moonwink Grocery, where was it located? I am more familiar with the neighborhood grocery stores in the southeast part of town. Thanks for helping me relive my past :)

Bald Guy:

Welcome to the site, Tony! I'll bet we remember many of the same places.

Moonwink was located at the corner of NW J St. and what is now BJ Tunnell Blvd. That street had a different name in the 60's, but I don't remember what it was.

Did you go to Wilson School? My mom taught second grade there. :-)

My dad was the Mark who owned Moonwink. Thanks for sharing your memories. Dad passed away about 3 years ago. He was a great guy.

Bald Guy:

Robert, it's a pleasure hearing from you. Your dad's store (and your dad himself!) are two of my most cherished memories.

Larry Freeman:

I remember Moonwink I went there as a kid. I am now thinking of opening a mom & pop grocery in wichita,Ks. and I want to call it Moonwink. Can you give me more info and maybe a picture of the neon sign of the Moon winking on top of the store?
Thanks
Larry

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on November 13, 2006 12:48 AM.

The previous post in this blog was The Mattel Thingmaker.

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