A Country Store: The way it looked and the way it was

I have been thinking about Henry’s store, the way it looked, and the way he had arranged things.  The photo above is from about 1929.  At this point, he had built the structure that would essentially remain the store for many years.  It is unknown how long he tried to have a restaurant, but that attempt did not last, and I do not remember that sign.  I was born in 1943, and my main memories extend over the fifties. 

He had created the store to be a practical place of useful retail as well as a location for his many interests and activities.  Henry had a love of auctions.  He purchased objects both antique and unique, and they would end up on the upper shelves of the store for sale. Henry was a man of feeling and interior thoughts.  Henry’s favorite saying was “Believe In Yourself”.

The main entrance was on the north or street side.  There were large windows along that wall, as seen in the photograph, making the inside spaces seem larger than actual.  There was a counter facing the entrance and behind it was a refrigerated section.  The store featured a limited amount of meat and cheese all purchased from Forest.  Bologna, Salami and American cheese and hot dogs were always available.  Henry also filled special orders of chops, lamb and pork.  He separated the chops using his cleaver upon a beautiful, heavy butcher’s block which was behind the counter. 

The candy counter was a glass covered display case on the east side of the store.  The regular items were all there:  Life Savers, Necco Wafers, chocolate bars of all sorts, and, my favorite, Cracker Jacks.  In those days, the prizes inside the Cracker Jacks were actual little toys, metal cars and animals, and I always hoped for a horse.

Ice cream was served in a cone or dish, a real glass dish by-the-way.    The flavors were always chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.  The brand was Sealtest.  There could be small offerings of fruit depending on what Henry could procure in Saugerties that day. Bananas were a favorite of his.  Many in the local community were not really familiar with them and were shy of them at first.   There were two scales, one for deli items and the other for fruit or some other items such as flour and coffee.  Tobacco in the form of cigarettes, cigars and pipe was also kept behind the counter, and Henry was careful not to sell it to kids.  He, himself, did not smoke and did not approve of the habit, but he rarely commented on the practice.  He also did not drink coffee preferring to have Postum [i]as his morning hot drink.  Orders were rung up in a good, old fashioned cash register that kept a total but did not run a tape of individual items.  The sum, however, was first listed and figured on the outside of a paper bag as the order was packed, and this served as a customer’s receipt.

Newspapers were available on Sunday, The Daily News and local Saugerties papers.  There was also a ballot box to vote for Miss Rheingold.[ii]  Every year there would be a new crop of glamorous faces, and I always had my favorite, a girl with black hair.  I did not like my light brown hair and wished to look a bit more like Veronica from the Archie comics.

The upstairs was as tempting as the basement was ominous.  A Malaysian flame sword, a souvenir from the war, decorated the stairwell wall. It was always used on special occasions to slice the celebratory cake.  

There were more swords and interesting looking knives upstairs.  Norman teased me by saying they were all from the war, and if I were to look up close, I would see blood on the blades.   At the top of the steps was Henry’s machine shop.  The machines ran using a series of belts attached to an electric motor.  There was a lathe, planer, table saw, and drill press.  There was also a severe warning published:  “Stay away from the machines!’  A few years back, Ernie had sliced off the top of his index finger.  I had often seen the blunt end of that finger, and it was enough to keep me away from the machines.  Anyway, there was so much more to discover upstairs.

The walls were lined with shelves filled with labeled cigar boxes.  The letters were in Henry’s unique style of capital letters with dashers between each word:  -NAILS-, -SCREWS-, -BOLTS- .  Henry saved everything.  He salvaged all hardware for future use.  He also saved buttons and sorted them by type and color, and there were hair combs and buckles and many other hidden treasures. 

On the south wall there were stacks of shoe boxes.  They were rubber bathing shoes.  Henry had purchased a whole bunch of them at some point with the idea of selling them to ladies who were on their way to one of the many area swimming holes like “The Patch”.  I would try them on hoping for my size, but they were always too large. 

There was a small door that led to a passageway to the eaves.  I had to crouch over and walk on the boards that had been laid between the joists.  Carefully stored along the sides were two large coffee grinders with big flywheels.  There was a model car, wooden and big enough for a child to sit on.  I always mean to inspect it more closely, but I did not dare to actually disturb it.  After all, I was only up there exploring because people had temporarily lost track of me. 

At the very end of the tunnel through the roof space, there was a little alcove with a window.  There were many boxes stored.  They were hidden away, and as I think of it now, they were probably filled with my grandmother, May Van Bramer’s possessions.  Henry had been very upset at his wife’s severe illness and had probably packed her belongings and hidden them away.  My mother told me he had buried all of their correspondence and her jewelry with her.  People do things like that when they are feeling deep grief.

In one little chest, there were letters and a piece of preserved wedding cake.  I would sit back there looking at things and thinking about who knows what –probably horses and my next riding lesson.  I am lucky enough to have one of my grandmother’s letters that I found among Henry’s possessions after his death at age 83.  It seems to be the letter that plans their elopement.  She had been engaged to another, and their marriage was a big surprise to their families.

If your memory includes a vision of the store as it was in the 1950's, please add your remembered details in the comments section.  Thanks.  dj

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[i] ·  Postum is made from wheat bran, wheat, molasses, and maltodextrin from corn. This 10‑calorie beverage was caffeine-free, fat-free, trans-fat-free, sodium-free, and kosher. In addition to the original flavor, there was a coffee-flavored version.

·  Postum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postum

Wikipedia

[ii] Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, "the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House."^{[  From Wikkipedia}