Wednesday, April 21, 2021

The Small Neighborhood Grocery Stores

Before the modern supermarket gained widespread popularity in the 1950s, the small mom-and-pop neighborhood grocery stores played an important role in the lives of everyday people. These small stores made it possible for shoppers to walk a short distance from their homes to acquire whatever food and goods they needed, all without getting in a car. Some of the businesses even delivered.

Lorain had many of these small stores in the older neighborhoods, often on corner lots. Some of the businesses were part of a larger chain; others simply went by the name of the family that owned and operated them. The family usually lived above or behind the actual store.

(I’ve written about some of these stores, some of which were part of the Food Fair chain.)

Over where my mother grew up on Sixth Street just off Oberlin Avenue during the 1930s and 40s, there were several of these small mom-and-pop stores. 

One of them was just a few short steps away, at Fifth and Brownell. That’s a photo of it as it looks today at the top of this post. It has recently been remodeled and converted into some sort of residence.

Back in the early 1930s, it was an A&P. But by the early 1940s, it was simply Durham’s, run by Brundage Durham.

Mom remembers Durham’s pretty well, although it wasn’t the main store where her mother shopped for her groceries. Grandma seemed to treat it as a convenience store – as a place to send Mom to pick up a bottle of ketchup or something to get her out of the house.

One of the stories Mom likes to tell is how she remembers going there as a young girl, perhaps with a scribbled list provided by her mother, and telling the owner she wanted a can of Chicken Campbells Soup. Of course, Mr. Durham reacted quizzically before correcting her. “You mean, Campbells Chicken Soup.” (I still ask Mom if she’d like Chicken Campbells Noodle Soup for lunch sometimes.)

Grandma was kind of funny. Although Durham’s was only a short distance away, she preferred the grocery run by Clayton Miller over at 1009 Seventh Street, across Oberlin Avenue and next to Lorain High School. She even felt that the Hills Brothers Coffee that Mr. Miller sold was better than the Hills Brothers that, say, Fisher Foods was selling over on Broadway. “The cans are fuller,” was the way she explained it to Mom.

(The store next to Lorain High School no longer exists. It was eventually lost when the school expanded to the south.)

Grandma also shopped at stores run by the Aquilla family. John Aquilla had a meat market at 365 Oberlin Avenue. Here’s a photo of Mom (at far left) in front of it with some of her school friends.

Paul Aquilla had a small grocery store at 560 Washington Avenue, across from the old Lorain High School. I remember seeing the sign for it for many years during my trips to the library.

But getting back to Clayton Miller.

Strangely enough, when my parents built their house on E. Skyline Drive, my mother discovered that his daughter Marilyn and her family lived in the next block from us. I even played with her son. Their last name was Simpson, and they had a big, stylized ’S’ on the front of the house over the garage that remained there for decades after they moved.

22 comments:

  1. Classic Americana life as it used to exist.The kids of today have no concept of a corner store.All they know is Walmart.When I was a kid in the "70s on the east side of Lorain there used to be a corner store in the 800 block of East Erie Ave."Koscos" was the name of the little mom and pop store.Right on the corner of Florida and East Erie.And they had a bar next to it called "Misty Shores".I think you've done an article on them before Dan.Anyway I remember the owner had a newer "69 or "70 Chrysler 2 dr hardtop.I'll always remember that car.It looked super big and was,especially to a little kid.Koscos was the owners last name.By the early "80s both the bar and the little store closed up.I've gone by recently and now the whole building is nothing but a run down,section 8 apartment complex.With junked cars parked everywhere,garbage strewn throughout the parking lot.A modern day slum hole.So much for progress.It should be torn down,as the city likes to demolish everything in site.Or maybe this is the way the modern Lorain likes to be seen.As a slumhole.

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  2. Dan,

    A very nice local history piece. Thank you!

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  3. Blackwood's Market in LaGrange is my memory on this topic. What a memory. Thanks for the reminder.

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  4. Neat entry today. The picture of your mom and her friends is great! Thank you.
    Theresa

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  5. Hey Dan - Great post as always. Brought back many fond memories of my old neighborhood and walks home from school. I grew up on Washington Ave and 16th St. and there were several "corner" stores in the area. Fromans Mkt. on 19th, "Subby's" on 18th, Schuster's on 17th, Ann's on Long Ave., Then on my way home from St. Mary's on 7th and Reid there was one on 10th (can't remember the name), and 9th St. Mkt. All great places to buy baseball cards and Reese cups. Walking home from Subby's with my sister carrying a glass half gallon of milk the bottle slipped out of the red plastic ring handle and broke on the sidewalk. Of course I stepped right on it...I still have the scar on the bottom of my foot 55 years later. Todd

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    1. That's another good neighborhood gone bad.I remember a couple of years ago some guy was murdered in front of his own house and they stuffed his dead body in the trunk of a car.It might've been his own car.But it was around Washington Ave and 17,18,19,20th St.One of those bad areas now.It's not like it used to be when there were all certain ethnic groups living in certain parts of the city.You would have all your Polish people in this part of the city.And over here you would have an Italian neighborhood.A few blocks over would be Hungarians.Etc.Now it's just one street after the next of slum and garbage and HUD Section 8 recipients.Like that old Van Halen song,"Where Have All The Goodtimes Gone".

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  6. Great memories, Dan.
    NOTE TO A CERTAIN "ANONYMOUS"
    Change the record, laddie, please.

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  7. I often feel bad when I write about the ‘good old days,’ and realize that consequently I am drawing attention to how things have mainly changed for the worse in Lorain. However, this is an open forum and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

    I have probably only deleted one comment in more than ten years of blogging, and that was one that was extremely personal (and obscene) in nature and directed at a businessman who had passed away and was unable to defend himself; I didn’t want to create discomfort for the family (or get sued either).

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  8. Not to offend you Alan or anybody else for that matter,but I seem to recall that you do not live in Lorain anymore.You moved away for a better place to live.Out of state.And a better job I would guess because all the good jobs are nil and void in Lorain.And you don't have to see the condition of Lorain on a day to day basis like the people who still live around here do.So excuse us if we criticize how it used to be,because it used to be great.

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  9. Dan - I believe you have mentioned it before, but VOL still has there little corner store after all these years. Aunt Ruth's Corner Store or the "Little Store" as the locals refer to it. It still has the same "feel" as the old days complete with the house attached to the rear of the building. Jim

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  10. I think every one gets it about Lorain then and now and oh yes the evil boomers and so on and so on but as for me if I was interested in knowing what the evil boomers have dun to Lorain I would just drive the streets.I don't know about anyone else but Daniels Blog is about the history that I and others before me have experienced.Anyone who doesn't understand that about this blog oh well its your right to keep beating a dead horse so to speak.

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  11. There is another mom and pop that's still in business from as far back as the "60s.It's called "Stans".And it's at the corner of F street and Delaware Ave on the east side.It is run by the original owners son now.Stan was the father.And nobody likes to talk about crime any more,but back in the "60s or "70s there was an attempted robbery in the store and Stan defended himself and killed the would be robber.I don't know if it was a random holdup or if the robber tried to rob Stan of his weekly earnings that he would deposit in the bank.But it just goes to show that there was crime back then in the good old days.But it's still not as bad as it is now no matter how you slice it.

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  12. ...I specifically remember one on Long Avenue when we lived there, but I'll be darned if I can find it on Google Maps now. I remember it as almost a miniature grocery store.

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  13. Hello Dan,

    My grandmother lived just off of Washington Ave on 9th Street. When I was a kid ,she would sent me to Aquilla's for bread or to pick up a meat order she had placed. I think they had a shop on the north side of LHS....then moved to another location on the south side of LHS. What a nice family they were. When I would go there in the winter...there was always the smell of a soup/stew they were making. I can even smell it now......Oh...those were the days.

    Jeff Rash

    I hope all is well with you

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  14. I was researching the "Stans Grocery" shooting and found some interesting info.Dan,you should do a story on Stans.As I'm sure you could find way more info than I found on my phone,unless you already have done an article.Apparently "Stans" was originally a different mom and pop called "Hobbs Grocery".And it opened up at that same exact location that Stans is at now in 1905.Hobbs Grocery survived the famous Lorain tornado of 1924.Then later on Stan Labis and his wife took it over and renamed it "Stans Grocery" in 1950.Thats 71 years ago.And now his son runs the joint.The shooting took place in 1975.A young lady tried to rob Stan and thought he was easy pickins'.But Stan had a .25 caliber pistol and knew how to shoot.In fact he had 3 other robberies and/or attempted robberies within the 2 years leading up to this shooting.Unfortunately the young lady paid with her life.She was only 19.But that is old enough to make a foolish decision."Stans" is probably the oldest running small time mom and pop in the city.If not the state.Maybe the whole country.1905-2021 if you count the original Hobbs Grocery name.That's 116 years people.Next time you're on the east side of Lorain swing on by Stans and give them a little business.It'll take you back to the way it used to be.

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  15. When I was a teenager in the 1960's living on West Erie Ave. in the block before Lakeview Park, my parents would send me to Fred,s Grocery &Meat Market on the corner of 5th Street and Brownell. I remember that Fred's would put my purchases on credit that got paid at the end of the month!! No need for a plastic credit card (it didn't exist yet)! Or cash. Business then was based on trust. Nowadays trust is just the name on a bank.

    As for Paul Aquilla's, for some foolish reason I always thought that it was where the "tough" guys went instead of the LHS cafeteria or when they were cutting class. So I never darkened Mr. Aquilla's door. What a weenie was I.

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  16. Excellent blog today Dan, love your Mom picture I'm guessing from the 40's. Triggered a lot of memories both good and bad for all your followers.

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  17. One little store maybe no one recalls, is still a business/house on 254 (North Ridge.) Just west of Hawks green house there is an open field. Really a Catholic cemetery w ancient graves and flat stones. From Google map looks like a gun store now. I think it was called Schindlers' My Moms childhood friend Bridgette (O'Keefe} and her husband Thor ran and lived in back. They also sold berries. They had nets over to keep the birds out. I went out w Mrs. Schindler once and she would remove caught birds in the net. Mr. Schindler was always ready w an ice cream sandwich.

    Dan, my Mom grew up at 4th and Wicken's Place. Went to Irving, LHS grad 42B. Your Mom probably to young to remember her, but may be remember O'Keefes who lived nearby were a large family. Rae

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  18. Paul Aquilla's meat market was originally on 7th street between Hamilton and Washington. When LHS bought that whole block and turned it into tennis courts and parking, Aquilla moved to the northwest corner of 6th and Washington Ave. I lived on 7th between Oberlin Ave. and Hamilton Ave.


    Tom Ferguson

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  19. LHS Blazer Man -- Yes, I too recall walking to Fred's Grocery at the corner of Brownell Avenue -- less than a block from my West 5th Street home during the 1950's and 1960's. He was such a kind, patient guy -- but the last time I recall seeing him was when he worked briefly in the guard shack at the entrance to BFGoodrich's Avon Lake production plant. He said sadly, "This isn't what I had in mind!" I do wonder what happened to him. 😩

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  20. MY PARENTS OWED THIS STORE ON 5TH AND BRONELL FROM 1969 WHEN THEY GOT FROM FRED TILL 1982 WHEN WE MOVED TO FLORDIA IT WAS CALLED FRIEDA'S CASH MARKET

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