Amherst Drug Mart Opens – Sept. 1971

Drug stores have been a recurring topic on this blog, from Mom and Pop establishments like Whalen Drugs, to small regional chains such as Muir’s. There have also been a few posts devoted to other local favorites, including Kutza’s Pharmacy and National Pharmacy. 

Well, here’s a post about my favorite Drug Store chain: namely, Discount Drug Mart. Why is it my favorite? Probably because it’s Northern Ohio-based, and there’s always been one nearby, wherever I’ve lived. (I probably live about one minute from the one in Vermilion.)

Anyway, fifty years ago this month, the Discount Drug Mart store in Amherst held its Grand Opening (at its original location on the east side of the highway), with a special appearance by Cleveland TV children’s show favorite, Captain Penny (former Elyrian Ron Penfound). The full-page ad below ran in the Journal on September 30, 1971.

It’s a fun ad to look at now, with some interesting products, such as the gone-but-not-forgotten Thomasson’s Potato Chips (made in Elyria); the Broxodent Deluxe Electric Toothbrush (the first electric toothbrush); Polaroid Color Pack 108 Film (there’s some on eBay right now); Boone’s Farm Strawberry Wine; Sealtest Milk; and Geritol.

I’ll bet Captain Penny packed’em in. The WEWS-TV favorite was a busy guy over the years in our area, having appeared at the Grand Opening of Westgate Shopping Center in Lorain in April 1958; the Shoreway Shopping Center in Sheffield Lake in June 1959; and Giant Tiger in Lorain in August 1967.

One thing that we never questioned as kids was why he was called, “Captain” Penny. He was, after all, a train engineer. Fortunately, this series of clips from the WEWS-TV 50th Anniversary special (also featuring Jungle Larry and Mr. Jingeling) includes an explaination as to how Captain Penny got his name.

According to this Wiki entry, the Captain Penny show came to a close on September 4, 1971. So his Drug Mart appearance was probably one of many curtain calls.

I’m sure none of Captain Penny’s fans can ever forget his advice to kids at the closing of each show: “ You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t... fool... Mom.”

Captain Penny visits Shoreway Shopping Center - June 1959

It was June 12, 1959 – 55 years ago today – when good ol' Captain Penny made a personal appearance at Shoreway Shopping Center in my current town of Sheffield Lake.

Thousands of local Baby Boomers (including my siblings and me) looked forward to watching Captain Penny – Ron Penfound in real life – daily on WEWS Channel 5 in Cleveland. According to this entry on the online Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, he hosted his daily show from 1955 until 1971. The various segments of his show, such as Pooch Parade (which featured animals that could be adopted) and visits from Jungle Larry still live on in our collective memories.

Then there was the Captain's great mixture of TV cartoons (such as Roger Ramjet) and old movie shorts (such as the Little Rascals, and the Three Stooges – Larry, Curly and Moe, as the Captain uniquely listed them).

Ron Penfound also did some announcing for the Cleveland Indians in the late 60s and early 70s. Once, we saw him at the Stadium before a game (we were there using our free tickets from the Cleveland Press for getting all A's). Even though he was wearing a sport coat and tie, we recognized him immediately, and were just as thrilled as if we had seen Hawk Harrelson.

It's funny thinking back how these hosts of local children's shows such as Captain Penny, Barnaby, Woodrow the Woodsman, etc. shaped a kid's view of grownups. They were, in effect, babysitters – people that were part of our lives almost daily that addressed us directly from their TV perch.

Captain Penny was probably the most normal. He was kind and gentle, never goofy, and careful to remind us not to imitate the Three Stooges. Memorably, he always signed off with his great closing line: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't... fool... Mom!" It's probably why Mom didn't mind us watching him all the time.

Kids sure don't have any equivalent influences on TV today, that's for sure.

Grand Opening of Westgate – April 1958

Here's a Grand Opening ad that may be of interest to Lorain west siders. It ran in the Lorain Journal on April 22, 1958 to announce the opening of the Lorain-Westgate Shopping Center at W. 21st Street and Leavitt Road (Route 58) – 55 years ago this month.

It's interesting to note that the shopping center's ads originally had that great cowboy theme. It was used in a few other ads for the shopping center but was eventually dropped.

Note the celebrities they had lined up: Captain Penny, KYW DJ Joe Finan, Mr. Banjo from WJW, and Cleveland Indians Minnie Minoso and Dick Tomanek (who was born in Avon Lake). Safari Jack had top billing, but I haven't been able to find out anything about him.

Anyway, many of us have great memories of shopping there over the years. The center was a regular stop for our family on Saturday mornings in the 1960s because of the Hough Bakery outlet there; we also shopped at the grocery stores that were located there.

And of course later the shopping center was home to Jeff & Flash's Monoplies as well as Stars Disco.

Today the center looks nice but is pretty much deserted except for the Family Dollar store which will soon be replaced by a brand new one to be built nearby.

Giant Tiger Grand Opening August 1967

Here's an ad for the grand opening of a store that many of you longtime Lorainites will remember: Giant Tiger, at 20th and Elyria Avenue. The ad ran in the Lorain Journal on August 23, 1967 – 45 years ago – announcing the store's opening the next day.

The ad artwork is a little jangled looking; the words DISCOUNT STORE are jammed in there pretty good. But's a nice illustration of the building.

A small, front page Journal article that same day read, "Mayor Woodrow Mathna and Miss Lorain County, Jan Musarra of Avon, will assist in brief ribbon-cutting ceremonies, which, in turn, will launch a three-day spree of special events, prizes and gifts.

Captain Penny

"Tomorrow at 7 p.m. Captain Penny, Cleveland television personality, will chat with youngsters and provide free autographed photos. Saturday afternoon Cleveland Browns football stars Paul Wiggin and Dick Schafrath will visit with customers.

"There will also be live bands, surprise guest stars; free gifts for everyone with a color television topping the list."

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I don't think we ever shopped at Giant Tiger. There were just too many other stores closer to us (such as Big Town) or on the way to Midway Mall (such as Ontario). It would have been fun to meet Captain Penny at the grand opening, though!

Giant Tiger was sold to Gaylords in 1968. I don't think we shopped there either, although I remember at least one TV commercial for Gaylords that featured Cleveland Indian pitcher Gaylord Perry.

Here is a photo of the former Giant Tiger/Gaylords property on Elyria Avenue today (it's for sale).

Here's an interesting link with some additional information on the former Giant Tiger building on a blog called Dead and Dying retail! If you look along the left side of the blog, there is a listing of Ohio links.