The Mom and Pops

[W. Gray]

When I was a little guy, we lived in a town of then 36,000 people. Our house was in a residential area 1.5 miles from the downtown business district.

The only supermarkets were those that were right in the business district. Some folks had cars but we did not. Luckily there was bus service with a stop a block away. Five cents would get us to the business district. We got most of our groceries at the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P).

However, strung out in all the residential areas were very small mom and pop grocery stores. These were actually remnants of the General Store as they also sold a minimal amount of hardware and "coal oil" for lamps. They might have averaged along the size of PJs on K-99. Their prices were much higher than the supermarkets in town but they were convenient.

The little stores were sprinkled everywhere in the residential areas. We had three within a four block radius of our house. They were right in the residential areas and several operated out of a house. One man had a free standing building behind his house. If you lived in the area and could not pay cash, they would sell on credit based on your name only. My at home Mom was always sending me by bicycle to one of those stores for the odds and ends she needed.

As the business houses started migrating from the downtown business district to the suburbs so did the super markets and eventually the little mom and pops died out.

[whizkid238]

The Mom and Pops I remember is as in Longton  -----Rothgeb  my cousins grandparnets