Neighborhood Grocery Stores

Many of us remember the old "neighborhood groceries." It seemed there was one in every neighborhood...sometimes more than one. In my old neck-of-the-woods, we had Murphy's, Bill's Trading Post, Lincoln Grocery, one on Lambert Street that I can't remember the name of, one on Kimball between 7th and 8th, True's Market on Pine, and Petska's on 4th. I would take a quarter to Bill's, get a pop for .12 (a dime and deposit), and a bag of sunflower seeds for .05, and get change back. Sometime's I'd get a nickle's worth of candy in a small brown paper bag....chewy coins, licorice, candy sticks, pixie stix, and other goodies.

Here are some of the small grocery stores from 1961. I'm sure there were more, but this is what my list includes:

Bill's Trading Post, 508 E 6th
Broadwell Grocery, 1124 N. Broadwell
Campbell Lafe Grocery, 253 S. Locust
Ditter Grocery Store, 1512 N. Eddy
Handy Grocery, 420 W. 4th, (the hot spot after school)
Kelly's Market, 1118 N. Eddy
Lincoln Grocery, 811 E. 8th
Louie's Cafe & Grocery, 1405 W. Charles
New Eleventh Street Grocery, 211 W. 11th
North Pine Grocery, 814 N. Pine
Petska's Market, 204 E. 4th
Pure Food Grocery & Market, 1302 W.4th
Rehder's Grocery, 612 N. Washington
Schmidt Grocery & Service Station, 1916 S. Locust
Stop & Go Grocery, 208 S. Vine
True's Market, 382 N. Pine
West Bell Grocery, 1814 W. 4th
West Lawn Grocery, 2115 W. State
Willman Super Market, 365 N. Eddy & 1201 S. Locust

There were also many bakeries in Grand Island at different times in our history. In 1961 there were:

Butter Krust Bakery, 319 S. Locust
Butter Krust-Grand Island Baking Co., 376 N. Walnut
Dreier's Home Bakery, 124 W. 4th
Ernst Bakery, 423 W. 3rd
McCormick's Bakery, 204 N. Broadwell
Rainbo Bread Co., 365 N. Jackson

That's it for my list of 1961. It's been fun going back in time.

Namárië