I also remember those meters. My first recollection is shopping for material with my mother. She would spend what seemed like hours looking at fabric. I would spend my time with my brother sitting on bolts and playing hide and seek under and around all the fabric. She mostly shopped at Montgomery Wards, but she also shopped at Penneys, Ben Franklins and Woolworths. She was an excellent seemstress. I wish I would have taken a liking to sewing myself way back when.