5 and 10

[trof]

If you voted 5, 6, or 7 you are of a certain age.
What did you buy there?
Could you really get stuff for a nickel or a dime?
Boy, are you OLD.
;-)

[ulysses]

1. ?

;-)

[Another Bill C.]

2. I think it should be Kreske's not Kress's

There were seven in our family and we would each get a dollar to do our Christmas shopping at Woolworth's. We managed to get something for everyone in the family for that dollar.

[chiburb]

4. "Kresge's, not Kreske's...

Which of course became KMart...

[trof]

7. We had a Kress's.

"For much of the twentieth century, ‘commercial’ was a dirty word in architecture. Branding a work 'commercial' meant that it had been compromised by the demands of the marketplace, its designer selling out the ideals of art to the exigencies of the bottom line."

So says Richard Longstreth in his foreword to America's 5 & 10 Cent Stores: The Kress Legacy, a book to be copublished by the National Building Museum and Preservation Press / John Wiley & Sons in early 1997. Written by Bernice L. Thomas, the book tells the story of a retailer that challenged this view of commercial architecture. During the first half of the century in particular the S.F. Kress & Co. chain of variety stores created buildings that enhanced Main Street America from New York to Hawaii. Longstreth writes, "Kress stores were conceived not just as efficient containers of merchandis... but also as works of art, civic art that would contribute to the urban landscape."

http://www.nbm.org/blueprints/winter97/page2/page2.htm

Kresge's is now K-Mart. I do remember the Kresge's stores before
the owners changed the company to huge mall-style stores and closed
the old Kresges stores.

The "K" in the name "K-Mart" stands for Kresge.

[blondeatlast]

11. I remember Kress's too.

There was a Kresge's in my grandma and grandpa's town.

[Catshrink]

12. In Seattle, we had Kress's.

And Woolworth's across the street.

[trof]

10. "Evening in Paris"

perfume
c-h-e-a-p at Woolworth's.
Came in a little blue bottle, I think.
Mom could depend on one in her stocking from me each Christmas.
I had very little imagination back then.

[Catshrink]

16. I remember that....

Either my mom or older sisters had that. Blue bottle, too.

[Rowdyboy]

27. Oh, God, Evening in Paris stank

And I thought it was the most elegant gift imagineable. My poor mom!

[trof]

28. My mom smells like a 2 bit hooker

I think she dabbed a little on when she opened it and then...somehow...the bottle mysteriously disappeared.
;-)

[HFishbine]

3. "If you voted 5, 6, or 7 you are of a certain age."

And if I didn't, I'm of an indeterminate age?

[trof]

8. You are of an indeterminable age.

33 1/3?
;-)

[demnan]

5. Kreskey's

Got all sorts of things there. None that I remember much.

What I remember is going to Colonial Beach, Virginia as a kid and seeing a real penny candy store. They had the watermelon slices and everything. My brother and I sure dropped some pocket change in that place.

[blondeatlast]

6. Grant's was in my small town as a kid. My holiday shopping

was done there up until about age 12.

Up until about 1985 0r so, there was a Woolworth's at the mall I worked at and I faithfully patronized the lunch counter. Best damn tuna melt--EVER.

BTW, I'm 44.

Edit: F.W. Woolworth left an enormous foundation behind that funds universities, medical research, NPR, etc.

The days of compassionate capitalism pretty much died with him, I'm afraid.

[oneighty]

9. Got my wife at

Woolworths..Cost me a whole bunch

180!

[trof]

14. "I found a million dollar baby

at the 5 and 10 cent store"
Ah memories.
Did you know people who called it "WoolSworth"?
I could never figure out why.

[blondeatlast]

15. Not everything was 5 or 10, eh 180?

;)

If she made a good tuna melt, it woulda been worth it!

180, you always brighten my day--Thanks!

[oneighty]

17. Record Department!

Woolworths on King Street, beautiful downtown Charleston, S.C.--The Holy City.

Ed

[trof]

19. oh yeah

12 or 13 years old.
Spend a couple of hours after school spinnin' them platters at Woolworth's.

[LincolnMcGrath]

13. Ben Franklin?

Pamida?

[trof]

18. Forgot about Ben Franklin.

Thanks.
I now remember them, but don't think we had one in Birmingham.

[greatauntoftriplets]

20. Hey, I'm not as old as you are, trof!

There was a generic one in my neighborhood that we always called the dime store. Forget the real name.

[trof]

21. Actually, I think that's what I called it.

The dime-store.
Granny always said she "stopped by the 5 and 10".
Also heard it called the 5 and dime.

[Catshrink]

23. My grandmother called it the dime-store

my mom and aunts still refer to places like Big Lots as the dime-store.

[RushIsRot]

22. We had Woolworth, Kress, Grant and...

another dime store called Morgan & Lindsay where I grew up. Maybe M&L was strictly a local phenomenon. I would visit each store after exiting the movie on Saturday and drool over the toys. Never could afford any of them, but I could dream.

[pansypoo53219]

24. but i vote

in primaries and any election that i CAN vote for. except one and i was too late to get an absentee ballot for a PRIMARY.

[trof]

25. Well, I certainly can't argue with that.

?

[dmr]

26. The dime store!

Yup, used to shop at S.S. Kresges - or as most little kids called it: S.S. Kesskeys. (I can't remember anyone not using the S.S. in the name). There seemed to be one in every 'downtown' in the suburbs of Detroit. Mom called it the dry-goods store. I remember most of the stock being stored in flat-bedded wooden and glass boxes.

I loved catching the 9 Mile bus to go 'downtown' with my mom at Christmastime, especially if it was snowing. Everthing was decorated for the holidays. We'd spend the whole day shopping at all the little stores, including Federals, sometimes we'd stop and get our hair done. We'd spend a very long time in S.S. Kreseges and then the highlight was having lunch at their soda fountain! It just wasn't Christmas without going 'downtown'.

Thanks trof for helping to blow out some of the cobwebs because this is a wonderful memory to remember. It put a smile on my face, and one in my heart too.

:) Happy Holidays!

[arwalden]

29. Grants and Woolworths

My grandmother worked as a cook/cashier/waitress behind the lunch counter at Woolworths. It was such a treat to go there on the weekend and get a fresh-made BLT!

-- Allen

[trof]

30. BLT and a chocolate shake.

Oh, man?

[welshTerrier2]

31. the Marx Brothers

from Duck Soup: Groucho was the defense attorney for Chico ...

Rufus T. Firefly(Groucho): Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you: he really is an idiot. I implore you, send him back to his father and brothers, who are waiting for him with open arms in the penitentiary. I suggest that we give him ten years in Leavenworth, or eleven years in Twelveworth.

Chicolini(Chico): I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll take five and ten in Woolworth.

[BrotherBuzz]

32. Why did they smell funny?

Kinda like stale popcorn, mothballs, and that other old lady smell that we could not recognise. Just what was that weird smell?

My interests with the dime store revolved around baseball cards. My problem was to optimize a shiny new quarter. Baseball cards cost five cents a pack but we couldn't buy them all at once because sales taxes took their share. In my day, sales tax was 4% and and it kicked in at 12 cents so we had to make three trips into the store to get our five packs of cards that included that flat piece of stale bubble gum. Mom, why did you toss my cards?

[trof]

34. I remember some kind of oily sawdust looking stuff

they sprinkled on the floor and then swept up.
Or was that grammar school?

[BrotherBuzz]

35. We had those floors, too, but...

the hardware store had the best floor, especially around the paint department. I'd go in and check it out once in a while and also check out the rope and chain that was sold by the foot that was fed through holes in floor from the basement (hey Trof, we were easily amused in those days). Still, I'm not sure if the sawdust contributed to the old lady smell I remember.

[Philostopher]

33. I voted Woolworth('s),

But the five and dime I remember actually was a Ben Franklin. I'm young enough that there were very few things you could buy at Ben Franklin for five or ten cents, but there still were a few -- jawbreakers, very small packets of sewing needles, and replacement toy soldiers (I seem to recall the store Mom used to take us had a big bin of the different posed soldiers, so you could buy extras for a nickel).

I remember a Woolworth, though. Seems like my mother bought a Ronco Pocket Fisherman (as seen on TV!) there once, for my brother-in-law.