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Photograph courtesy of Nancy Newlin
Long Before Longs: By the 1940s, Lincoln Avenue was home to many drug stores, including Lincoln Drugs.
Remember When
Variety shops once thrived on Avenue
By Cookie Curci-Wright
In 1879, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first five-and-dime in Utica, New York. The young entrepreneur was only 27 years old and few people expected his fledgling chain of stores to succeed.
But in the first decade there were 20 more shops, and by the turn of the century more than 100 stores had been established nationwide. By the time World War II had come along, 500 Woolworth stores had taken root across the U.S.
It was F.W. Woolworth's idea to supply just about everything a customer could need on a given day; everything from tools to ladies' silk stockings, sewing thread to penny candy. A respite at Woolworth's innovative lunch counter was among the unique advantages of shopping at a Woolworth store. The dime store became the rage in convenient, modern-day shopping.
By post-WWII, Lincoln Avenue was hosting a number of these variety shops. Independently owned or part of a chain syndicate, stores such as Franklin's 5&10, Sprouse-Reitz, Mitlon's the Party House and Bergmann's were familiar sights along the Avenue.
It is estimated that Americans spent nearly $300 million on children's Western paraphernalia during the 1950s: items like Davy Crockett's coonskin cap, Roy Rogers and Hop-Along Cassidy vests, fancy holsters, spurs, cowboy hats and neckerchiefs, Long Ranger masks, Indian feathers, bows and arrows, and toy guns. All of these things, without exception, could be found at our local variety shops.
Around 1948, the influx of post-war families to Willow Glen created a need for the variety store. Neighborhood kids loved bringing their 25-cent allowance to the five-and-dime. It usually took about an hour to decide how to spend a buffalo-head nickel and two Mercury-head dimes. A quarter went a long way in those days; chewing gum and chocolate bars cost a nickel; a kite cost a dime; and 15 cents bought me two rubber balls, three packs of baseball cards or three boxes of candy cigarettes.
My old gang of kids loved browsing through the merchandise: slinkys, balls and jacks, marbles, plastic bubble pipes, rubber snakes and spiders, sling shots, yo-yos and kaleidoscopes were all scattered loosely in big bins. It was hands-on shopping in those days, and kids were allowed to feel, touch and scrutinize every toy. It was the 1940s and hermetically sealed packaging wasn't around yet to impede our touch.
Come Christmas time, Bergmann's was the favorite shop along the Avenue. Its holiday windows evoked the most excitement among the neighborhood kids and their families. Bergmann's upstairs floor was filled with toys and games that included everything from Madam Alexander dolls, Lionel train sets, Red Ryder beebee guns and Steif teddy bears--enough to fulfill any kid's wish list. Bergmann's, like the F.W. Woolworth stores, offered shoppers the opportunity to sit and refresh themselves at a well-stocked lunch counter. Part of the fun of shopping at Bergmann's was slurping an effervescent strawberry float or munching on a burger and fries at the snack bar.
Further down Lincoln Avenue, near the Garden Theater, was the Sprouse-Reitz 5&10. This store was popular with teens and it sold everything from Saber jigsaws ($9) to cotton fabric (25 and 50 cents a yard). Local teens shopped here to buy the latest in 1950 fashion fads: white vinyl jackets, fluorescent shoestrings, glitter nail polish, decal tattoos, white lipstick, ankle bracelets, scarves, pop-beads and the ever-popular autograph hound.
By the 1960s, the urban sprawl began. To accommodate expanding towns and cities, the shopping mall was born. The old-fashioned five-and-dime began to decline, a decline it would never recover from. Superstores offered shoppers more services, parking facilities and cheaper prices. More cars and new roadways brought buyers to a wider shopping area--the five-and-dime and seen its day.
Last year, Woolworth closed its doors for good. Today, the five-and-ten-cent store, as we once knew it, is gone, relegated to a new classification, that of nostalgic memory.
Today, community drug stores like Rite-Aid and Walgreens are the nearest things we shoppers have to the local 5&10s of yesterday: stores where seniors on fixed incomes can still afford to shop; where kids can take their small change and buy a trinket or two; where homemakers on a budget can find a bargain; and where everybody can afford to shop without having to pull out the old charge card.
No, these shops are not the high-end specialty stores like those that decorate the Avenue, but like these shops, they serve a genuine need in our community. I guess that's why I was so elated to hear the news that a Longs Drugstore is set to occupy the building vacated by Washington Mutual bank. The new Lincoln Avenue Longs will fill a major void created by the closing of Willow Glen drug stores like Lawrence's Drugs, Lincoln Avenue Drugs, W.G. Pharmacy and Family Pharmacy--stores that not only filled our prescriptions but offered customers a variety of cosmetic and personal merchandise at thrifty prices. Like everything else in Willow Glen, its shops should reflect its economic blending. Here's hoping other stores like Longs will follow.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
