Thursday, July 19, 2007

the corner store

If you were lucky enough to live close to a cool corner store, you gained lots of status when I was a kid. For some friends, it wasn't appealing enough to just visit with them- but if they happened to have a great corner store near-by, I was all over it!! I find that concept hilarious but it's so true.

A trip to the "corner store" was such a magical adventure- especially if your grandparents just stopped by and filled your pocket up with lots of spare change.

The one near my grandmother's was a favourite! We'd walk through and listen to the wooden floors creak beneath us as we would make our presence known at the candy counter! "Two bags please," I would say in a polite but firm little voice. I was all business. I'd hand one to my sister and together, we'd compete on how quickly we could fill our bags up with penny candy! I'd run to the cash register and hand her my fifty cents. This got us an overflowing brown paper bag full of the good stuff! We'd even trade once we got down to the bottom and our bellies weren't feeling so selfish.

We'd wave goodbye to the owner and then my sister would stop quickly in her tracks!
"We forgot the kielbasa, dummy!" We'd both run back to the deli counter and order an arm's length of the famous "Beach Road Kielbasa" for our grandparents. The owner would laugh at us as she handed back the taped package and we'd be on our way.

2 comments:

WowoJeans said...

You have captured this one well!! I tell my boys about the trips to the corner store and looking through the glass counter of penny candy and they look at me like I have two heads.... a world gone by, unless you can stumble upon one of the good ole joints... I like Ann and Bob's by my mother's!

Anonymous said...

oh god this one had me howling ! Do you remember the sawdust on the floor by the deli ? The smell of sawdust and butcher.
God, we're getting old !