There is an e-mail going around showing this menu from Woolworth's from 1957. It got me remembering how I loved this store. We didn't have a Woolworth's 5&10 in Willow Grove where I grew up, but we did have a G.C. Murphy's which was similar. We used to go there as much as we were allowed to walk the mile there, starting when we were about twelve years old. I even had my first little job there when I was fourteen. I remember getting "working papers" in order to allow me to get a job. Do they still have this process for kids? I worked after school at the baby counter, selling little baby clothes and other items. Murphy's. Soft pretzels, Tangee lipstick, Evening in Paris cologne, boys.
The big Woolworth's that I loved was in center city Philadelphia. It had two floors and the best one was on the ground floor with the lunch counter. I attended medical secretarial school in Philadelphia after I graduated from high school and rode the train from Willow Grove everyday. Whenever I could, I would go to Woolworth's. What wonderful, inexpensive stuff you could get at Woolworth's.
Woolworth's is gone. Murphy's is gone. They are replaced by Walmart and KMart and dollar stores. But they just aren't the same. Even today I look for an old 5&10, preferably with a lunch counter, in a small town. There are a few around. If you know of any, please let me know.
7 comments:
Sadly there sure don't seem to many left...We had one called Quigley's when I was a girl...
My area is so rural that there were never any Woolworth's around here. The closest one that I know of was in Memphis, Tennessee and I don't know if it's still in business or not.
My hometown, 5 miles down the road from where I live now, has a drug store that still has a lunch counter. They fry real hamburgers from handmade patties, make real milkshakes and still serve breakfast every day, made from scratch. I haven't eaten there in ages. Makes me want to go soon, lol. ;o)
Have a great week, Kristina.
Love and hugs,
Diane
Oh the Saturdays we spent hanging around in front of Murphy's. Watching for the guys from Abington - Bozo, Ray, Jay Geiger. Do you remember the ice cream sandwiches on waffles that they used to sell? The makeup counter with the Tangee and Elvis lipsticks, blue bottles of Evening in Paris.
Those were the days.
Fun post! I think that now kids only have to a special form or permission to work so many hours if they are under 16. I may be wrong...but I'm pretty sure it's something like that. thanks for visiting my blog earlier. I like your header and pictures with the transferware...on my way now to go read those posts of yours.
Happy St. Patricks Day!
I remember Woolworth's very well. As a little girl in Omaha, I would go shopping Downtown with my mother and aunt and/or grandma. We'd go to their lunch counter and I always ordered a chocolate malt and french fries. What a blast from the past this menu is!
So neat to see that old menu, did it ever get the old memory wheels turning. My mom saved a menu from our local Shoney's Big Boy with similar pricing. We used to have a Ben Franklin's 5 & 10 in Nitro, WV where I grew up and a Murphy's Mart in Dunbar where I live now, you just don't find stores like those today!
I remember the Woolworths 5 & 10 in Winston Salem, North Carolina! When we did get to go to town (twice a year the week before school started and Easter) we always went to Woolworths for lunch, I always got a hotdog and dill pickle chips on the side. Great memories. Thanks for sharing.
Happy Easter, Vicky
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