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Small Town Ben Franklin Store - 60 years ago

Small Town Ben Franklin Store - 60 years ago

Old 07-30-2012, 05:06 AM
  #21  
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We had a small town drug store where I grew up. It had the pharmacy in the back of the store and the over-the-counter through the store. It also had booths for people to sit in for a soda or coffee and stools along the bar. I even worked as a "soda jerk" there the summer after my graduation. Long time ago!!!
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Old 07-30-2012, 05:17 AM
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I remeber a store that had a rectangular tray table with the center missing. It was full of small toys like yoyos and jacks. There was the meanest lady that stood in the center and made sure no kid stole anything. As if we would with her watching our every move. She didn't like kids much.
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Old 07-30-2012, 05:52 AM
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There was a Ben Franklin store in Illinois where my materal grandparents lived. They carried a great assortment of things to interest me. I bought my first embroidery pieces there. The most vivid memory was about 1951 or 52 we were in Illinois for Christmas I was spending the night with my cousin Vicki at her house.They had a 10 foot Christmas tree that had an electric train around the bottom. The tree sat on top of a tunnel and was covered with both antique and hand made ornaments. About midnight the tree came crashing down. At midnight thirty we were in the car going to the Ben Franklin to meet the owners who let us in to buy new ornaments for the tree. We all got home including the owners of Ben Franklin and proceeded to re-do the tree. Fortunately Santa was late that night and we got the tree finished before he came. This story comes out every year when my cousins and their children put up the tree. Sad to say the Ben Franklin and my cousin Vicki are no longer with us, but the memories survive.
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Old 07-30-2012, 06:03 AM
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We have a Ben Franklin in a town south of us, and an Alco nearby. I remember the Duckwall's and used to go into them with a wide eyed little girl look !LOL
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Old 07-30-2012, 06:20 AM
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I do recall shopping with my Mother at a Ben Franklin store in the county seat when I was a child; it closed after the introduction of WalMart. However, now I shop at a local Ben Franklin store and inside is so many things, including a nice fabric department; a large floral department; custom framing, etc. I recently moved to Kingsport, TN. and am so happy to find this store---hopefully it will be around for long time...seems to be a busy place
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Old 07-30-2012, 06:36 AM
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Ben Franklin and Kress were our favorite shopping places when growing up. what few pennies we had to buy gifts with at Christmas that's where we go shop.
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Old 07-30-2012, 06:43 AM
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We had a GC Murphy's downtown - everything was downtown back then! I can remember taking the bus with my mother (she never drove until we moved to the country when I was 7) down to Murphy's and buying fabric and patterns. It had an escalator and it was the first time I ever rode one. The fabric department was in the basement and it sure looked huge to a small child! They also had that little measuring box on the cutting tables that the clerks just ran the edge of the fabric through to measure and then pushed a button on top to put a cut in it. They then ripped the fabric. Those were the days! (at least 39 years ago!!)
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Old 07-30-2012, 07:03 AM
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No general stores but I do remember the old "dime stores" ... Ben Franklin, Woolworths, TG&Y, Kresge's etc ... my grandma often took me to Ben Franklin, it was a wonder land of stuff when you were a kid ! Remember getting a dollar to spend and it was so hard to decide what to spend it on. Mom and I would have lunch downtown at Woolworths, I remember sitting at the soda counter, having a cherry coke and a hamburger or grilled cheese. I was the oldest and the only girl, and it was a special treat to have our "girls day" out. I remember looking at patterns and picking out fabrics at some of those stores, and we often shopped for fabric at the "big" Penney's downtown.

Last edited by TexasGurl; 07-30-2012 at 07:13 AM.
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Old 07-30-2012, 07:04 AM
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When I married and moved to DH's little hometown, the Ben Franklin was the place to go. With the T.V. Hardware and the Southern States Co-op, Zeller's Jewelry, hotel, little restaurant, grocery, sandwich shop, barber shop, State Liq. Store, Teen Town, Parrack's Clothing and the Post Office the downtown street was great. All gone, now. And, yes, there was a kind of General Store, The Bargain House with grocery items on one side and merchandise on the other. How I miss it!

Where I grew up we still had tiny neighborhood stores tucked into a room, a downstairs or little building. A one-room grocery with a few staples was four "doors" away from my home. Milk, bread, potatoes, onions, a candy counter. I remember begin allowed to select a candy bar before I learned to read and carefully selecting Milky Way. I didn't want to get a Forever Yours by mistake. Like most kids, I did not like dark chocolate. I also might be sent, all by myself to buy a quart of milk--in returnable glass with the cream on top. M-m-m-m was that milk delicious!

Last edited by Greenheron; 07-30-2012 at 07:07 AM. Reason: typo
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Old 07-30-2012, 07:53 AM
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I grew up in Spokane, WA and we had the dime store there - Woolworth's, Newberry's and Kress. When we moved to Everett, WA when I was 12 they had the same ones. I don't remember if there was a Ben Franklin or not but there is a Ben Franklin in Monroe, WA that I check out when I get over there. They are mostly a craft store now rather than a dime store (they had everything--kitchen, bath, clothes, etc.). The dime stores were my major shopping store as a kid! Got my first purse at Woolworth's in Northtown, Spokane, WA--before they enclosed the mall and all stores were stand-alone. In jr. high and high school I mostly shopped Penney's for sewing items in their basement on Colby Ave. in Everett, WA.
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