Thursday, May 12, 2011

My Home Town Part 2

I have had such a wonderful response to the first post on My Home Town, I will continue with it. Small towns in the 50's and 60's were much different than today. They were still thriving communities. People didn't think of driving down the road to shop unless they couldn't find it at home. There were three grocery stores and four clothing stores in our little town. The clothing stores had the latest styles. One of the clothing stores that I refer to was also a shoe repair store. The owner mended a broken strap on a sandal, resoled boots and patched the toes. We lived in a fix it up time and made things last. We couldn't afford to go buy new things all of the time anyway. Mr. Anderson also sold men's work clothes and western shirts and Levies.


One store catered to the lady of the house and sold the very latest in fashion. I could shop there when they had a sale but our family had 5 children and even when I had a job, I knew that I could buy more outfits for my money at the Globe.


The Globe and Weibert's had something for everyone in the family. They also carried things besides clothing as luggage, towels, jewelry, etc. I loved to shop at the Globe. The Globe was famous for it's semi- annual sales. Each season, everything was marked half off. I mean everything. Nothing was shipped in or brought in from the back to get rid of, they literally cleaned everything out to get ready for the new season.


On these days, crowds came from all over the area and stood in line on the sidewalks until the doors were open. It was like Wal-Mart on Red Friday. We knew where everything was though and headed for that area. It was a mass wave of people, and I loved being a part of it. After I had children, they had to stay with their dad, or be lost in the crowd. We stocked up on jeans, shirts, shoes and dresses, I don't know if they ever put the men's suits on sale, because The Rancher never wore them. After you selected something, Hang on to it. If you laid anything down someone might grab it up. I know one lady who lost the shoes she wore in as she took them off to try on another pair. The people who owned the Globe were wonderful people and had a great staff. My friends mother worked there and I am sure she didn't enjoy those days as much as we did.


Today, If you want to buy clothing in my home town, you would need to go to the thrift store. Oh, there is a place to buy children's clothing and some men's work wear can be bought at one of the oil supply stores, but the others are gone. I miss them and the things that they represented. They served our family and the community. It was in a time to remember.


3 comments:

Unknown said...

I remember those stores they were going strong when I came here in the 70's . I miss those days !

Anonymous said...

Your so right Marilyn when Loy and I moved to Buffalo in 1967 we were in our early 20's and there was 3 grocery stores and 3 or 4 places to buy clothes, there was one store that you could anything from clothes, shoes to fabric to yarn just about anything you wanted it was Cleveland's. I also remember the sale at the Globe your right people went to that sale from all around. I think it was a nice part of our history that we all miss.

Andi said...

Great story! How funny that she lost her shoes...But I guess it was the perfect excuse to buy new ones!