In “Ghosts of Thanksgiving Past” I recall family gatherings of long ago. “The Passing of Red Brick Schoolhouses and a Way of Life” laments the passing of the schoolhouses of my childhood, along with the innocence that was once a hallmark of non-urban America. In “‘Tis the Season for Nostalgia” I recall Christmases past.

I was reminded of those trips into the past by a post at The Federalist by Nathaniel Blake, “What Good Is Cheaper Stuff If It Comes At The Expense Of Community?“. It prompted me to recall other things that meant much to me (in hindsight): the long-vanished locally-owned stores that provided groceries, meat, sundries, haircuts, baked goods, hobby supplies, and more. The owners worked in their stores. They knew you, and you knew them. Many of them were neighbors. Their livelihoods depended not only on providing products and services at reasonable prices — prices that saved you a trip to the big city — but on their friendliness and reputation for honesty.

Of the many stores of that ilk that I remember from early childhood until I went to college, 60 to 75 years ago, only one is still in business. It’s even at the same location, though in a new building, and it doesn’t carry the range of hobby supplies (e.g., model kits and collectible stamps) that it did when I shopped there eons ago.

Here are the sites as they look now (or looked recently), arrayed roughly in the order in which I first saw them (* indicates original building):