When 6 o'clock was always supper time and stores closed

Let’s get back into routine with a little bit of Do You Remember. Many times one memory leads right into another memory.

Do you remember when folks would make comments like, “They roll up the sidewalk in Webb City at six o’clock. I remember as a kid trying to imagine them actually rolling up those concrete sidewalks.

In those days, family dinner time was very important. By closing the stores at six o’clock, owners and employees could make it home for dinner. If you were cooking dinner, you made sure you had everything you needed before that magic six o’clock, because you couldn’t find a store open to purchase supplies.

The same advice was needed in filling up your gas tank, especially on a Saturday night. Everything was closed on Sunday, no gas available. Well, not everything was closed on Sunday afternoon because many a family walked from the church to the drug store to get an ice cream treat. It was quite a sight to see families walking in their church clothes. Little girls wore Mary Jane shoes, gloves and hats. Mom had her gloves and hat. Men and boys wore suits. Church was a special event and everyone dressed respectfully.

This was before convenience stores were located on every corner. There were mom and pop grocery stores just about on every corner, but they tried to stick to the closing at six o’clock to have their own family dinner. Mom and pops faced a trial when the first big grocery stores came to town. There was more of a selection and sometimes cheaper prices. The fact that the small family stores let folks charge until payday was an advantage, plus a bonus of a bag of candy when the bill was paid in full.

Ironically, in later years, convenience stores could charge more than the super markets because you didn’t have to walk through the big store to pick up one or two items. Time marches on!

Remember when you would pull into a service station, and someone came out to help you. There was a service attendant who would ask you if you wanted regular or ethyl and how much you wanted. They would fill the gas tank, wash your windshield, fill your tires with air and if you needed a quart of oil, they would do that also. You sat in your car, and all the monotonous car chores were done for you. They even sold candy bars and potato chips. And you could even visit with the owner while you waited. The greatest part was that you only had to pay a few cents for a gallon of gas. Teenagers could scrounge up 25 cents and put enough gas in the car to drive around all evening.

If change couldn’t be found, a trip to the alleys would bring up a couple of soda pop bottles that could be cashed in for the deposit. One grocery man was so patient. He would give the kids the deposit and then tell the boys to carry the pop bottles to the back where they had just lifted them.

Do you remember the spotted gum ball in the gum ball machine? If you put in a penny and got the spotted ball it was worth a nickel. Did you buy more penny candy or did you go for a whole candy bar? You could get a large Hershey chocolate bar for only a nickel. Hostess chocolate cupcakes, Twinkies or those pretty pink and white snowball cakes were only 12 cents. Don’t you think the small grocery stores had the greatest owners who would be so patient with children as they chose their candy. Ann Patrick comes to my mind. She never seemed to be annoyed. She would smile and take down jar after jar to have the child say they wanted a different one. My husband says Chaney at Chaney’s market was the same way. He was so nice to all the kids.

At Bradbury Bishop Drug, Harry Bishop kept the small Coca Cola glasses on hand to offer 5-cent Cokes. Even through the ’60s and into the ’70s, he still offered those 5-cent Cokes that held about two gulps of soda to wet your whistle. His mechanical horse, Sandy, stayed a dime no matter what.

Do you remember growing up in a small town? Wasn’t it great?