Hills Mother's Day Ad – 1964

Here's wishing all mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day!

Above is an ad with that theme for the late, great Hills Dept. Store, located on Route 57 in South Lorain, that ran in the Journal back on April 30, 1964. It's a cute ad, with the three generations of mothers depicted. They're fairly stereotypical (the middle-aged mom is greying, the senior citizen mom has completely white hair). I wonder what a similar ad circa 2024 would look like?

Anyway, Hills Dept. Store continues to trigger strong feelings of nostalgic for many local Baby Boomers. There was the interesting drive out to that part of town, whether you took E. 28th Street, E. 36th Street (with its accompanying ditch) or Route 254; the sights across from Hills in Oakwood Park (the train, the 'other' Easter Basket, the Armory); and the Hills store itself with the blinking, chasing lights on its storefront.

Inside there was a big toy department for kids to roam in, and the possibility of Mom buying us a treat (a Frozen Coke, or popcorn) when it was time to leave.

I seem to recall that in the 1960s, we would go there on Saturday afternoon, since that was Mom's designated shopping day. Dad was insulated from these trips, since he was always busy with the lawn or taking care of the cars. Mom would shuttle us all over the place, including to Downtown Lorain, the Nickles Bakery outlet store, Deluca Bakery, etc.

It's funny that I never really liked being dragged along shopping all that much as a kid, but now I look back at it all with fondness.

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Years after Dad died, when Mom started to slow down a lot, it was my turn to shuttle Mom around town on Saturday afternoon. After lunch (often at Chris' Restaurant, where she would say hi to her favorite waitress), we would go to Dollar General, where she would enjoy chit-chatting with the manager; sometimes, we'd stop at Big Lots, sometimes at Kmart, her favorite store. Our trip always ended with her weekly grocery shopping at Apples on Meister Road, where she would visit with her friend who worked behind the lunchmeat counter. It was cute and nice to see that Mom still had a social life in her 80s and into her 90s.

I treasure the memories of those Saturdays spent with her.