As my husband David and I ride around we see places where maybe a building foundation is all that remains of where a family grocery store once stood. We always feel a little sad that they are gone.
As we pass by, David talks about the little store in Bluffton, where he lived as a child. He has good memories of the storekeepers who he says were always so nice to him. I always tell him I'm not surprised. Who wouldn't be nice to the sweet, shy, little boy with the curly dark hair.
He tells me stories about how he could walk to the store anytime, and they would fix him a big sandwich and a soda, or whatever he wanted.
David's dad was a railroad man and gone a lot so he left word with the store to just put whatever his son wanted on his bill, and he would pay when he got home. Davids school was close enough that he could walk down there and get something for lunch, or after school. David knew he could have anything, but he was always mindful of not running his dad's bill up.
A lot of you reading this I'm sure know more, and have more good memories, about this couple in the picture than I do. Charley and Jewel Holland were pillars in the community of Reform Missouri. They owned the grocery store there. But I only remember being in the store a few times with my Aunt Abbie Akers. I lived all my growing up years at the end of NN south of Fulton.
Aunt Abbie thought so much of them and referred to them as community angels. Before Aunt Abbie died, she spoke to me of some of her memories and asked me if I could put something about them sometime in a story. I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner.
She talked about how the store was a place where everyone was welcome and felt at home. All the kids in the area loved the Hollands and they loved the kids as well. She laughed and said they claimed the whole bunch, even when they were onery.
The boys would always play tricks on them because they knew it was ok to do so. On Halloween one year they pulled a big wagon up on the porch at the store. The next day Charley gathered them up and said, "boys I know you had fun putting the wagon up here, now you need to help me get it down." They all had a laugh, and it was done.
She told me one time when her son, my cousin Dickie, went to the store and asked Charley for a pack of cigarettes. Charley said, well "Dickie, I didn't know you smoked.", Dickie replied, "I don't yet, but soon as I get my car fixed, I'm going to try it." Everyone laughed over that trying to figure out what fixing his car had to do with smoking. I don't believe Cousin Dickie has ever started smoking.
Aunt Abbie said Reform was a wonderful place to live, and a lot of it was because of the Hollands spearheading the operations of someone in need. If anyone had a problem the whole community was there to help, it was like one big family.
An example she stated was when her husband, Uncle Ed, had his stroke, the men showed up to cut wood and the women all came with food. Not much different, I thought, than what you and Uncle Ed do for everyone.
I wrote a story a few years ago about the Dixie Store and Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Sparks that ran that store. I remember it well as a little girl. I still recall where everything sat.
I believe all the stores looked mostly the same back then. They all had the wood or coal, burning stoves where mostly the men in the community would set around and visit while the ladies shopped.
David and I share the same good memories of 'our' stores. The soda case where you slid a bottle out, the icehouse where our folks bought big blocks of ice to take home to our icebox. Etc...
The Dixie store still stands but is no longer in use. The store in Bluffton was taken down several years ago, and just a part of the foundation and many memories remain. Red top store is gone, Picture Store has been gone many years, and several others in this area. Most little communities had a little store...
There are still several little stores around. I can't name them all, for I'm afraid I would forget to mention some. However, here in our community we have the Hams Prairie Store. And I'm sure everyone is familiar with Cranes Store in Williamsburg Cranes advertise they have Boots, bullets, britches, and bologna. Daddy used to sell his ginseng roots there and mom always went along to get her a bologna and cheese sandwich. And everyone knows about the Calwood Store. Ron Lutz, our friend and KFAL Radio announcer for many years, always called Calwood "The crossroads of the world".
So, when you are out and riding and see one of these little country stores, I hope you will stop and say howdy and pick you up a snack. Let's help to keep some of those convenient little stores alive. We will miss them if they are gone.
Dorothy Kleindienst