As kids we all had the corner store. Okay, I guess that is a generalization and isn't completely true. I'm sure there are some that didn't have that growing up. But setting aside all the possibilities I can say that I had the corner store when I was a kid. It was owned by a lady known to us as Mary. A kind and generous lady that was friend to everyone. I would go to that little store and buy penny candy, bread, milk and the like. Mary even sold us kids Dads' cigarettes and beer. Put those items in a brown paper sack with orders to take that stuff straight home and don't let anyone see you ! I always did ! Mary was like Mom in a way. She really cared about you but don't cross her. Yesterday I saw a picture where that store had been torn down ! It was more than a store, it was her house as well. Yes, like in the movies the store was attached to the house. Step out of the kitchen and you are in the store. It sure was a sad sight to see that excavator with the debris bucket on it sitting next to an empty lot.
I can't say how long that store was there. It was there in 1953 I'm sure of that. Knowing that it is gone made a hundred memories come flooding back. Like film shorts in my mind they began to replay. I can see that canister of pretzels rods on the end of the counter, 2 cents each. I see all that candy in the display case, Mary Janes, gum balls, sugar babies, Hershey bars, sugar daddies, wax lips, Zagnuts, Sky bars, candy cigarettes, jaw breakers, pixie sticks, root beer barrels and horehounds, just to name a few. The bread was on a rack by the door, the cooler in the back of the store. Open a little door under that cooler and that is where the beer was kept. To the right of the cooler was a door leading to the basement where a large cooler was keeping the refrigerated products cool. A big walk in thing I was only down there on one occasion. Joe, that was Mary's husband, spent a lot of time down there. He would come up the stairs wearing a large brown overcoat, even in summer. A little bit scary to a kid. You didn't want to go down there. But now I see all that is gone. The building torn down.
I suppose it is progress. That is what I thought when I first saw that picture. Of course I was immediately struck by a sense of nostalgia. A lot of memories were contained in that little building. I'm certain it isn't just me. I'll tell my sister and brother about that the next time we talk. Mary's was a landmark, a part of the landscape. One of those places that you could say, " you know where Mary's is " and the person would say, yes. Sitting on the corner of Soak Hide and the Three Mile Harbor road it was a fixture. I hear they plan on building a new store. I'm certain it will be nice, very modern and all that. I understand you can't hold onto to those old buildings forever. That home/store was surely inefficient and deemed a little unsightly to these new generations. And so, it has been erased ! That is the word that comes to mind for me. The store and Mary's home have been erased from the landscape. Neither one will be erased from my memory though. How long will the memory of that store last in the minds of people today ? Well, a generation is considered to be about twenty years. The last generation has seen that building. It has been photographed and archived that piece of history. It survived long enough to return to being " just a building . " For surely the family that owns it, and I think it is the same family, has arrived at that conclusion. Now, it is just a memory.
It occurred to me that the store did lose its' sentimental attachment. That is why it was torn down, it became once again, just a building. Old homes, old buildings do have a life of their own. They hold the memories of those that lived or worked there. The life was gone from Mary's store, a relic of the past to be swept aside. Erased from the landscape. There will be something new built on that horizon. Will it survive long enough to become, just another building ? I'd say it depends upon how long it stays loved. Mary's had a great run.
I can't say how long that store was there. It was there in 1953 I'm sure of that. Knowing that it is gone made a hundred memories come flooding back. Like film shorts in my mind they began to replay. I can see that canister of pretzels rods on the end of the counter, 2 cents each. I see all that candy in the display case, Mary Janes, gum balls, sugar babies, Hershey bars, sugar daddies, wax lips, Zagnuts, Sky bars, candy cigarettes, jaw breakers, pixie sticks, root beer barrels and horehounds, just to name a few. The bread was on a rack by the door, the cooler in the back of the store. Open a little door under that cooler and that is where the beer was kept. To the right of the cooler was a door leading to the basement where a large cooler was keeping the refrigerated products cool. A big walk in thing I was only down there on one occasion. Joe, that was Mary's husband, spent a lot of time down there. He would come up the stairs wearing a large brown overcoat, even in summer. A little bit scary to a kid. You didn't want to go down there. But now I see all that is gone. The building torn down.
I suppose it is progress. That is what I thought when I first saw that picture. Of course I was immediately struck by a sense of nostalgia. A lot of memories were contained in that little building. I'm certain it isn't just me. I'll tell my sister and brother about that the next time we talk. Mary's was a landmark, a part of the landscape. One of those places that you could say, " you know where Mary's is " and the person would say, yes. Sitting on the corner of Soak Hide and the Three Mile Harbor road it was a fixture. I hear they plan on building a new store. I'm certain it will be nice, very modern and all that. I understand you can't hold onto to those old buildings forever. That home/store was surely inefficient and deemed a little unsightly to these new generations. And so, it has been erased ! That is the word that comes to mind for me. The store and Mary's home have been erased from the landscape. Neither one will be erased from my memory though. How long will the memory of that store last in the minds of people today ? Well, a generation is considered to be about twenty years. The last generation has seen that building. It has been photographed and archived that piece of history. It survived long enough to return to being " just a building . " For surely the family that owns it, and I think it is the same family, has arrived at that conclusion. Now, it is just a memory.
It occurred to me that the store did lose its' sentimental attachment. That is why it was torn down, it became once again, just a building. Old homes, old buildings do have a life of their own. They hold the memories of those that lived or worked there. The life was gone from Mary's store, a relic of the past to be swept aside. Erased from the landscape. There will be something new built on that horizon. Will it survive long enough to become, just another building ? I'd say it depends upon how long it stays loved. Mary's had a great run.
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