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Mom & Pop

 

 

The corner store

groceries and meat

butcher behind the counter

working away cutting steaks

the owner up at the checkout

only 3 registers

wife on #2

the kids stocking shelves

carrying out groceries

they lived upstairs

and were always there

worked everyday except Sunday

the whole family working together

friendly and kind and industrious

the corner Red & White

with green stamps and brown paper sacks

and very personal service

they were part of the family

we knew all of them by first name

and shared the news and the gossip

dad charged the groceries

paid up on payday

the corner store hung on

as long as it could

until the big box stores

put them out of business

and so the corner store

the hub of the community

the neighborhood center

slowly died and finally closed

unable to keep up

aisles empty

windows blacked out

the building empty and abandoned

a sense of loss when you drive by

the corner store gone

replaced only with regret

people no longer know their grocer

and sadly

no longer know their neighbors.

 

 

◄ Over My Head

A Baby's Not A Baby ►

Comments

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Don Matthews

Sun 26th May 2019 01:00

Ah dk, MC, Dorothy, you have opened a sad spot with me. I go past old closed 'corner stores' still standing here and feel sad. I remember the local grocer around the corner in my youth - she would let me dip into the tin biscuit box for a free one. Called past recently. Gone. Demolished. Now a car garage. At least the butcher still gives free fritz to the kiddies.......

<Deleted User> (21487)

Sat 25th May 2019 15:24

This poem paints a picture of the way things were, and for the sake of
quality of life, should be again.
Preferring village life to town life I deeply regret the passing of village shops, most are sadly gone now, but when they were available, they made village life viable.
Our present village is nearer to a town so, no shop - no village center - no contact with local people. How 'cold' is that?

It's a "progress" that we could do without.

Dorothy

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M.C. Newberry

Sat 25th May 2019 15:01

An insightful vignette of what has been lost to "progress" when the
small local business is abandoned by its customers who transfer
their money and loyalty to the big stores. I like to think
that the family concerned went on to enjoy happy and fruitful lives
away from the demands and short-sightedness to which they
fell victim. Here in the UK the popular TV series by its prolific
author Roy Clarke - "Open All Hours" - is set in just that sort of local shop/store....a
small business offering a little bit of everything that a customer might actually need on a day to day basis. The title
of the series says it all !

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