Convenience Stores. It's been a long time since I heard those two words....but I've been thinking lately about words and their meanings...about convenience stores and how they have changed over the years. When I was a young girl, the convenience store in our neighborhood was Brooks. Down West River Road from our house about 1/2 a mile or so. A good walk for kids looking to spend their allowance on slow pokes, rocket candy and ice cream bars. Brooks was the place where most kids tried their hand at steeling for the first time and most were caught and forgiven if the items stolen were returned. The place where first time cigarette and condom purchases were attempted, as well. A few ruffians would hang out by the ice machine and smoke, watching girls coming and going.
The convenience store was also the place where one went to gladly part with a few more pennies for the convenience of a loaf of bread or gallon of milk at nine o'clock at night. Sometimes referred to as the corner store, they all had personality or something that defined them as part of what was known to be your neighborhood. Our store (sense the ownership?) carried a butcher in the back and we would order the most fabulous hot dogs ever made! The meat would be ground and cased right there in the shop. The excitement and the smell (I know...sounds weird but they would add spices I still can smell) would be the pre-empt to our Friday night dinner. I no longer eat meat but if one of those dogs was in front of me, I would make exception! :) yum.
Usually, I would feel claustrophobic at Brooks, as I was so small when I was a kid - still am rather short at 4'11". I would be face-to-face with merchandise, peoples legs usually dodging the occasional careless smoker as their hands would brush by my head with lit cigarettes between their fingers. A unique ambiance, there was the smell of beer in isle 6 and the smell of chocolate donuts in isle 2 and bleach in isle 4 - all laced with the ever-present smell of tobacco. The lights buzzed and there were always flies trying to get out of the store by way of the solid glass paned windows. A place where the men from the neighborhood would make a quick run to the store last for an hour as they groused about this and that with "the old lady" at home or brag about the winning touch-down Johnny who's-it got at last Friday night's game.
As I became a teenager, I found the convenience of running to the store for last minute things a saving grace. Pads of paper, pens, tampons - usually hidden amongst the pads of paper and pens, and the occasional can of Tab. It was great having this little store in the neighborhood.
Somehow, we have lost the quaintness of having the cashier know your name and that of your folks. No longer a store owned by a family for two or three generations where you could buy a few groceries on trust until pay day. Now it's all about coupons and vitamins and drugs. There really isn't anything personal about our stores today as they are just a place that sucks the money out of our wallets as quickly as possible so that we can be on our way in our busy days.
Do you have a favorite convenience store memory?
