This post is brand new, inspired by a photo I saw of a Woolworth's lunch counter. That got the memories going. We had the honor of having at least three (at least that I can think of) "five-and-ten", or five and dime stores in South Philly, and many in other parts of the city. There was G.C. Murphy down at 20th & Oregon, and F.W. Woolworth and S.S. Kresge's at Broad & Snyder. Those last two stores were in an area known for shopping back in the day until thefastfood restaurants amd the vagrants came panhandling to make our hard-earned money their easy-gotten change. That's if you're willing to give it to them. But back when these stores were there, none of that was going on.
Back then, the term "five'and-ten" was part of the American lexicon. You'd either have to be visiting from overseas or else lost in space if you didn't know what those stores were. If you ask a young person today about them, you're sure to get a reply of "five-and-what?". They'd have no clue.
While they were still among us, you could find just about any type of low-xostitem here. My grandmother would often visit to pick up skeins of wool to crochet blankets. I can't ever her not making one, starting another almost immediately finishing one. Many people in the neighborhood would be recipients of her kindness. As I wrote earlier about TV repairmen, you could often save a service call by bringing your TV tubes there to test and buy new ones to replace the bad. You could buy records, goldfish, Halloween candy, Christmas decorations, or just about anything you wanted or needed at these stores.
And then there were the lunch counters. Anyone who was around during that era ate at the dime store lunch counter, even if for only a hot dog and a soda or a lemonade from that ever-flowing dispenser. Kids would consider it a treat when mom brought them out shopping and stopped there to get a bite. At times, you would get a surprise there. While we were working the One Meridian Plaza job after the fire, we were eating lunch in the trailer when one guy Doug who was sent here from Ohio was eating chicken wings from Woolworth's lunch counter. I mentioned the incendiary smell of them when Doug said "They're not so hot, go ahead and try a couple." My description of the aroma matched where I'd imagine they'd be on the Scoville heat scale, only beaten in my experience in a hospital cafeteria while working a number of years later. Yep, those lunch counters were iconic, whether it's in your memories or in history as in the protest at a Woolworth's in Greensboro, SC. If you try hard enough, your nose just might just remember that smell.
Where did those five-and-tens go? Like with anything, time and economics have their way and institutions become memories. The value of money being what it is, I imagine that they gave way to what are known as dollar stores today. But where the earlier stores were kept nice and tidy, I've rarely been in a dollar store that was well-kept. Between the customers who pick up items in one place and just toss them anywhere to some employees who have no pride in their jobs, they are often a mess. But it also depends on the store, with some managers and employees having more care than others. The messy ones would have misters Woolworth, Kresge, McCrory, Murphy, and others turning in their mausoleums.
There are still some of these stores in the U.S., but you're going to be driving awhile if you want to visit one. I found this site from 2015, and I would think they're still alive.
https://www.wideopencountry.com/five-and-dime-stores/
AND YOU MAY REMEMBER...
...In the days before everyone had cars, your mom taking you with her for walks to the stores. She'd make it worth the trip by buying you something until you became old enough to say "I don't want to go." You were old enough to say it, nut mom had her say until yo hit your teens and she'd let you go off with your friends.
...Some store managers who were barely out of their teens and were made assistant managers at some stores. Murphy's had a young man who liked to strut around and show his "authority", often hassling my friends and I, following us around the store and telling us to get what we need and get out.
...S.S Kresge stores having a baby. It's name was... anybody, anybody... KMart. It still survives somewhat today, merged with Sears. Both are abot to become memories themselves.
Famous fin trivia for when Pete Rose signed with the Phillies, the then-Mrs. Rose asked, "Do they have a KMart there?"
...Alternative stores like Blair's and Jerry's corner. Were they actually stores, or places with different merchants operating different businesses from within? I've only been to each a few times, so I don't remember them well.
...Renel's near 23rd & Oregon Avenue. Not a five-and-ten, but memorable for hearing the balls rolling over your head at the upstairs Oregon Lanes as you shopped.
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