Friday, August 29, 2008

Article #19 Nickel and Dime Stores

Before Dollar Stores, there were Nickel and Dime Stores. At your neighborhood Kresges, Woolworths or Ben Franklins, you really could buy something for a dime, nickel or less. Penny candy from a jar or barrel was a favorite of the kids. Candy bars and gum only cost a nickel.

Full of treasures, it was a real adventure to look around and dream of what you wanted to buy. If only you could earn a little more money doing chores or find more pop bottles to return for deposit money. Maybe you’d buy a yo-yo to impress your friends as you learned an advanced trick like around the world or some jacks and a small ball to keep you entertained for hours with your girl friends. For the boys, there were marbles of all colors and steelies that could knock lots of marbles out of the circle at recess time so the winner could brag he had the most marbles.

You could buy presents for all your family members at a dime store. A pretty barrette for your sister’s hair or a fancy scarf for mom, even a new comb or coin holder for dad. The storeowner knew you and your family personally and you were always welcome at the neighborhood dime store where you could actually touch the objects you wanted to buy. They weren’t behind the counter where only a sales clerk could reach them to show you. 

The merchandise in dime stores was geared for everyone, especially the kids. They loved harmonicas, compasses, and kaleidoscopes. Boys couldn’t get enough toy cap guns, small metal cars, trading cards, dart guns or rubber band airplanes. Even adults enjoyed comic books that sold for ten cents each and featured the adventures of Superman or Robin and Batman. Any party could be livened up with balloons, crayons, coloring books, rubber balls, toy wristwatches, stickers or whistles. Small children enjoyed the tin clicker crickets, and wind-up toys. The whole family could play a game with pick-up sticks just to name a few of the many items that were sold. 

Popular in the 1950s, these stores reflected the consumerism that would overtake America as so many families had just barely survived the Great Depression and been without for too many years. Eventually most local dime stores in small towns went out of business, as franchises were developed like the bigger chain stores of today.

6 comments:

  1. Oh yes, good memories here. And, we had T.G. & Y. later. It stayed around until I married and had kids of my own.

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  2. I loved stores like that it was so true. Also the corner Mom & Pop stores that had jars full of penny candies. For a some change, my sister and I could leave with a whole bag full of candy...Yummy..

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  3. I was a country girl, so daily trips to the dime store were not possible, but I remember them. I especially remember them being a great place for kids to christmas shop.
    I commented just recently that whet we needed in out neighborhood was a good dime store.
    Great article.

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  4. I remember these, Lin. And I loved them. We had one in our small town that was just a treasure trove. Dollar stores don't approximate the fun and the quality and the personal nature of stores back in the day.

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  5. Funny how reading that immediately put me in my childhood Woolworth's in my mind's eye! Thanks for bringing that memory back!

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  6. I loced Wolworth's, Kress; and Montgomery Ward.

    Woolworth's had a counter for sandwiches and soda'a. Actually, my very first job was working the counter at Woolworth's.

    I loved browsing the aisles on my break. And do you remember the canisters they used to put the money in and it would swoop to the general office upstairs on a cable?

    We used to go to Kress to buy candy for the movies. And, the movie only cost 13 cents. Movie and treats for a quarter. Now a quarter will barely make the down payment on a nickle ice cream cone.

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