Whatever happened to …

… eating lunch at the Woolworth’s lunch counter?

Thanks to Ramona Meharg for tagging me with the image below.

Sometimes, when I write these Sunday morning posts, I become very aware of the audience reading it. I’m the first to admit that many of these memories come from small town Ontario. There are a couple of readers that I know of, like Albert and Mike, from one of the biggest cities in the world who must just shake their heads at some of the topics!

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Thanks, Ramona Meharg.

While some of my topics might be obscure, this topic has to resonate with anyone whoever had a Woolworth’s experience. And for our big city readers, hats off to the Woolworth Building.

For me, we didn’t have a store in our community but once or twice a year, my mother would take us for a train ride to Goderich where they did indeed have one. And, we’d drop in for a special treat – a lunch out. For the most part, they’re gone but there’s still one.

Now, we did have a couple of restaurants with this sort of dining experience – the Mae Mee Restaurant and the Kum-In Restaurant but they just had the dining experience. You couldn’t shop for stuff in the same store!

It’s interesting how memories come back – in the Goderich case, I remember being impressed that the food was cooked right in front of you so you could see your dinner taking shape. It was always served on a ceramic plate and there was a napkin holder where you chose your own napkins. You ate with real cutlery, none of this plastic stuff we have today. And, the treat of treats, the milkshake came in a glass container with real whipped cream on top.

I moved to Essex County years ago and there wasn’t a Woolworth’s store in Amherstburg. But we do have Maria’s if you’re looking for traditional school. I don’t recall going to one in Windsor – our shopping trips were typically to the west end or to Devonshire Mall. The Hudson Bay Company did have a restaurant in it. I’m sure that David Garlick will give me the local details if he happens to read this post!

Interestingly and coincidentally, I went out for lunch with some friends just this past week to a place that billed itself as a 50’s diner. The design was old school even if the food (and the prices) weren’t. Of course, it wasn’t the same as the original F.W.Woolworth – it just sold food.

For a Sunday, your thoughts…

• Did you ever have a Woolworth’s store in your community?
• If you didn’t have a Woolworth’s store, did you have a 5&10 cent store?
• Have you ever had lunch at a Woolworth’s store? Do you remember anything unique about it?
• If you could pull something from the menu from days gone by and have it served today, what would it be?
• While Woolworth went away, they were replaced by similar stores. What was Woolworth replaced by in your community?
• In actual fact, Woolworth does appear to still be in business today. Do you know where?

As always, I enjoy reading your memories of these things. Please share in the comments below.

This post originated on the blog:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com

If you read it anywhere else, it’s not the original.

All of the original Sunday “Whatever happened to …” posts appear here.

And, if you have an idea for a topic, tag me like Ramona did or add it to the Padlet available here.