Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Back In The Day (Old Country Store)

Looked like Fort Knox to me.


I think the smell was some kind of oil used on all the hardware.

Clark Brothers is still there...... some of the good ole still there.

When we went to the Southside Cafe, they would let me go behind the counter to select my own bottle of pop from the cooler. They would be hanging in slots and sometimes I had to do quite a bit of rearranging if it had been loaded with two brands sharing a slot.

anybody from the Midwest here should remember being able to buy gas ,beer and a .22 or shot gun...... rite off the shelf at "Holiday gas stations" guns were just sittin on the shelf in the middle of a asile.........man them times were the chit!

who remembers gambling at the coke machine. we would all put in a $5 and play far away. the coke bottle with the farthest away city got the pot.

The Holiday station in nearby Petoskey, MI closed down a little over a year ago. Even up to the time they shut down they still had some fishing goodies as well as a modest selection of ammo. No guns for sale though.

Yeah, we've lost a helluva lot of freedom over the past couple generations. My grandfather used to tell of buying dynamite at the local farm supply for blowing stumps and he didn't even have to show ID or sign for it.

[/quote] Yeah, we've lost a helluva lot of freedom over the past couple generations. My grandfather used to tell of buying dynamite at the local farm supply for blowing stumps and he didn't even have to show ID or sign for it. [/quote]


I'm thinking some change is for the better.

I have a couple of boxes of Holiday shotgun shells. Used to stop there quite a bit. Always fun looking around.

Not very damned often and the instances described above {buying guns and dynamite} aren't among them. I'm even old enough to remember when you could buy guns from a store or mail order catalog with no paperwork involved. Those were the good old days ! What's that old saying about those who would exchange freedom for security deserve neither ?

A great thread. But still a little depressing looking back at the way things were then and seeing the way things are now.

I have a couple of boxes of Holiday shotgun shells. Used to stop there quite a bit. Always fun looking around.

I have an old fishing lure[I think rapalla]still in the box that was sent to my grandfather from eight-O-Clock brand coffee as some sort of giveaway/promotion when he owned an old type corner grocery store back in the 40's and 50's & 60's.

raef i've still got an imitation scout knife that has blade, can opener, fork and spoon. my mom sent in kool aid packs to get the knife.

Stush,

Unfortunately, it's been closed for a long time now. She got robbed by some punks and severely beaten. The store closed shortly after that. Also long gone are Calari's, which was the gas pump/roadside store on Sabula Lake just down from Mrs. Cornelius's, and Morelli's over in Penfield. We used to go to Morelli's for whatever we forgot to bring to camp with us. He still had the high shelves, with the ladder on tracks to slide along the wall and get to the dry goods up above. You may also remember Bailey's ice cream stand in Dubois by the side entrance to the mall. Sadly, it's gone too. Whenever we went to camp in the summer, that was always a special treat to go to Bailey's for a twist cone.

I might be wrong, but I think I remember an Army/Navy store
in Oil City/Franklin, PA many years ago.

Happy Birthday!

crane's in williamsburg mo. it was still like a 1920's general store up to 10 yrs ago. it's a little more modern these days. still have $1 flat meat sammachs

We used to shoot rats at the city dump. We would tape a flashlight to the barrels of our .22s and blast away. Cops caught us once and hauled us in. I had tossed my Remington pump away as we were running from the cops. Later, at the station they called our parents who came and bailed us out.

As we were walking out the cop said, "Hey kid you forgot this" and tossed me the .22 which I still have to this day.

Speaking of Army/Navy stores we had an Army Surplus store back when I was growing up. Man I loved that place. Shelves of bayonets (dad wouldn't let me have one for some reason). real military clothing, military rifles still half coated with grease, all kinds of good stuff. My buddies and I all had real stuff to play army with-helmet liners, cartridge belts, shovels with khaki holders that clipped on the belts, you name it.
Last time I was in one it was all cheap imitation stuff and tactical gear. Lots of cheap knives. Kinda sad.
I finally got dad to give me an M3 trench knive he picked up somewhere. Sadly, I decided to sharpen it with a grinder which ticked dad off somethin fierce.
A little side story about old stores. Years ago there was a shoe store in the top floor of a building downtown. Had to walk up a flight of stairs to get to it. As you entered the store there was a big poster of a guy aiming at some elk. I always liked that poster.
Anyway, the store closed and some time later that poster appeared in my uncle's garage. He pinned notes to it. When he passed I got the poster (the uncle who was executor of the will said "take the dumb thing."
I brought it home and did some investigating on the net. It is the work of Philip Goodwin (one "l"), a famous illustrator from the early 20th century. It measures probably four feet by five feet. I made a nice walnut frame for it and it rests in our rec room. I haven't found one that large and have no idea of what it's worth, but it's mine.