They don't make 'em like this anymore....

[jcramsey]

Was looking up the address to what used to be my grandparent's country store and come across an old article from the local paper when they were shutting their doors about 5 years ago.

http://www.mcdowellnews.com/news/little-country-store-closing-its-doors/article_b5461096-d749-516e-a81f-c7b4b5778f0d.html

This place was in institution in our community. My grandpa was 100% old school and loved by everyone that came in. Forgot your gas money? No sweat, start a tab and settle up with him next time you come by. Skipped breakfast at home? Swing by for a pork tenderloin biscuit granny just made...just remember to give a nibble to his little mountain feist Marcy laying under the counter. He'd be sure to give your kids a sucker or piece of candy when they walked in the door...and promptly tell them to straighten it up 5 minutes later if they started actin' a fool. New in the community? That'll get you an invite to their house for Monday night family dinner.

My first job for 8 months or so out of college in 2003 was pumping gas and loading feed 7 days a week at the store. It was hard...pay was minimal and I wasn't too happy using an engineering degree for that. Looking back I wouldn't trade that experience for anything else in the world, and am extremely grateful for it. Quality time with my grandparents and learning some valuable lessons on what it looks like to earn peoples love and respect, not based on what you've got, but who you are.

I miss the baloney sandwiches and bottled cokes too!

 

[anvilrubi]

They sure don't and I miss these local country stores. Every store that used to be any count has now been taken over by rag heads, I hate to say it but now I just stick to the local speedway.

 

[jcramsey]

Not a great one, but the only pic I have on my computer from when my grandma had it listed with a realtor a few years back. Original building built in the 50s on the right, and my grandpa added the metal building for a feed room. I remember digging through the all the old bottlecaps they buried outside when my grandpa and dad first bought the place in the 90's. We had fun playing in the oil change pit that used to be just off to the left of the screen too.

 

[rodney eppes]

The "Site" is not working for me, but i understand what your saying, & Lived it.
After I quite delivering the afternoon paper, on my bike, I started working at the Local Esso. No groceries, but did have a drink box, cigarettes, headache powders, & other assorted things. Mostly sold gas, oil, tires, service, & talk! Most folks kept a tab there, & settled up on Payday. Probably 1/2 the patrons, got their checks cashed there, less the tab! I worked for $1 per hour!

 

[shawn]

I fixed the link.

 

[jcramsey]

I fixed the link.

Sweet, thanks!

 

[mommucked]

I have fond memories of many country stores around Wake,Franklin,Johnston co. and more. the firs@ Kildaire farm rd. and 1010 where the owner let me and my brother have all the 5 cent candy we could grab w one hand whenever dad stopped there to get his beer and sodas for us while heading to the fishing hole, I think I was 5, my brother 3. Eating warm ham biscuits beside a hot potbelly stove on a frosty morning in a shack of a store in n/e Franklin co. Ice cold bottled sodas and nabs on a hot summer day.Most of these stores are/were gathering places where regulars told tales/jokes and gossiped about the local events. I still stop at them in my travels when I find one.

 

[Wes]

Now days it's all about how fast you can get in and get out. I remember as a kid all the old fellas hanging around on a few benches that were inside. We'd stop in to grab a drink and it might be 30 minutes to an hour before you left. I learned all sorts of stuff listening to the old timers. Some things mother wouldn't approve of I'm certain.

 

[jeepinmatt]

I blame the fall of the old timey store on credit cards and pay-at-the-pump.

 

[jcramsey]

Now days it's all about how fast you can get in and get out. I remember as a kid all the old fellas hanging around on a few benches that were inside. We'd stop in to grab a drink and it might be 30 minutes to an hour before you left. I learned all sorts of stuff listening to the old timers. Some things mother wouldn't approve of I'm certain.

No doubt! Some of the old guys would literally hang out there all day.

I blame the fall of the old timey store on credit cards and pay-at-the-pump.

You're probably right. Like Wes said...get in and get out fast as you can. Although, the rolling number pumps at his station were ridiculously fast compared to most of the electronic pumps today. You coulda filled your tank, went in grabbed a Little Debbie, paid for it and been back in your car in about the same amount of time as it would have taken to fill up down at the Love's mega gas station.

I think it says a lot about my grandparent's that even though you could get just about everything they sold cheaper somewhere else, folks chose to use them. At one point my grandpa sold the store to another fella who thought it was going to be his cash cow. Bought a big motor home and was always gone to the races. He quickly went belly up and sold it back to my grandpa a few years later. It just wasn't the same place without him and my grandma there. They didn't make a fortune on it...probably lost money in the end, but they made it last through some hard times because it was what they loved.

 

[Tom@Hilltop_Machine]

I blame the fall of the old timey store on credit cards and pay-at-the-pump.

Plus they just didnt keep up with the changing times. I traveled a lot up and down I-40 back in the 80's. It was a lot nicer to stop into a "Fast Fare" convenient store to get gas and use a clean bathroom and grab a fountain drink, then to go to a dimly lit mom & pop's place with bathrooms outside at the back of the building that were old and smelled like pee. The snacks and drinks were dated also.

 

[jcramsey]

It was a lot nicer to stop into a "Fast Fare" convenient store to get gas and use a clean bathroom and grab a fountain drink, then to go to a dimly lit mom & pop's place with bathrooms outside at the back of the building that were old and smelled like pee...

You mean you don't like to worry about black widow spiders when you're dropping a deuce? Where's your sense of adventure?

Seriously though, you literally nailed what it was like to take a leak there.

 

[Blaze]

I blame the fall of the old timey store on credit cards and pay-at-the-pump.

I blame it more on traffic than that. Well, maybe pay at the pump too, but I know before traffic got so bad here I would occasionally run in the store to grab a drink and talk with the guy behind the counter. Now that my commute has more than doubled, I just want to get home and relax I'm so fried from being pissed about traffic.

I do remember when I was younger going to the old Catsburg store in Durham with my dad. Buying baseball cards and the old glass bottles of soda. Place was so run down they had the coolers chained to the wall to keep them from all sliding to the middle of the store!

 

[ramjo]

Most folks kept a tab there, & settled up on Payday.

To bad paw paw ran credit for folks that wouldn't settle up, right @jcramsey?


I guess I'll just have to just redo it and turn it into nice garage with some living quarters in it

Edit: On a side note, just finished this drink that had been on the shelf for about 3 years...not bad.

 

[jcramsey]

To bad paw paw ran credit for folks that wouldn't settle up, right @jcramsey?


I guess I'll just have to just redo it and turn it into nice garage with some living quarters in it

Yea...unfortunately his goodness was often take advantage of by some people's selfishness....even some supposedly "good friends". Haven't thought about that in a while....now I wanna go


Would make a sweet bunkhouse for people at the Flats events. Fix your busted pile out in the feed room at night and sleep in the store. I bet granny would even make 'em a pot of pintos and a cake of cornbread.