Day 82
Woolworth’s … does it strike up memories for you? Does it stir your soul?
It does mine.
How can a department/drug store conjur up such emotions in me? Just the thought of a Woolworth’s has me waxing nostalgic and I’m not that old!
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about and think I’m referring to Walgreens … well, it was kind of like a Walgreens … but a million times better and and a million times different. And I’m sorry you never got to experience such a place.
When I grew up we had a mall that was “the” place to go … and when I got to be of the age when my mom would let me wander solo (probably 4th or 5th grade) I would invariably end up in Woolworth’s. I could get lost in that place for HOURS (and probably did!). And I’ll have you know I purchased many a-fine Christmas gift from that store! Nothing says love better than a $4 amber colored cut glass candy dish!
It was the best of the best of the “five and dime/variety” type stores. They had toys and costmetics, they had fish and those little painted turtles that people got salmonella from, they had mice and hamsters! It was GREAT! They had a ladies lingerie aisle that could rival anything I’d seen … and I guess I hadn’t seen many lingerie departments in my life at 10 years of age – but I was in awe of the styles and sizes … bras and bralets, half slips, full slips, socks, undershirts and panties. (Egad … the sizes of those panties hanging on those racks!) They had hair dyes and bubble bath and mustache combs and all sorts of odd balms and lotions and potions and oils for this, that and any sort of ache and ailment … and you’d never, ever see these anywhere else than at Woolworth’s. They had white gloves and baskets and vases and shoes. They had plastic flowers – that part of the store always smelled dusty – and sewing notions and tools and oil for your car.
They had everything – including a … LUNCH COUNTER!
Payday! Jackpot! OMG … circle the wagons cuz this is where I want to spend the night!
Turquoise booths … I’m talking real, genuine naugahyde … with stainless steel trim. Round, padded counter cushions that spun around and that constant smell – no matter where you were in the store (even by the dusty plastic blue roses) – of a mixture of grease and burgers. HEAVEN!
When I was older, and I’m talking junior high (what we called it then), we’d go and actually EAT at Woolworth’s … my girlfriends and I. We’d pitch in our allowances and order fries and cokes and sit for as long as they’d let us and eat and giggle our cares away. GREAT fun!
When I moved to Denver in the late 70’s there was a Woolworth’s downtown … a mammoth store (with a basement that was almost too creepy to go down into. I think I only did once, by myself, vowing to go back down there with at least one other person – but, sadly, never did.) I’d walk 7 blocks, in my mauve suede Candies heels (that I’m sure only hookers wore) to get a piece of the BEST, greasiest pizza on the planet from the Woolworth’s lunch counter. I’d carry it back to my desk in a waxed paper sleeve and by the time I was ready to eat it the paper and the bag I was carrying it in were completely saturated in the grease. Yum!
In any case – the treasure trove that was Woolworth’s closed when my kids were little … too little to remember the smells and what a real old “variety store” was like. Too bad. It was quite the place! And rats … now I want some fries and greasy pizza!