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.
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.