Whatever happened to …

… Thrills chewing gum?

I believe in Santa Claus. I remember a long time ago that my mother said that if I ever stopped believing, I’d stop getting gifts. So, I believe. These days, my wife is my conduit to him.

For a long time now, I’ve told her about my favourite gum as a kid. It was Thrills gum. There was a Fina station just on the other side of the fence surrounding the school playground and we would crawl under it at recess to go over and buy a pack. I can’t remember the price but I’m sure it wasn’t too much.

Every time we go to a store these days, I’ll scan the gum selections and it’s all the usual products that I’m sure you’d know. Juicy Fruit, Spearmint, Peppermint, … but no Thrills. I’d be admonished by her – “maybe they don’t make it anymore”.

Well, Santa found it. We were out and about and needed a bag of milk and so stopped in at a local small variety store. It was right next to a Macs, now Circle K, and we’ve often wondered how it stayed in business. It’s not accessible; there are 1 or 2 steps to get up and in to this old house that had a variety store on the lower level. She got the milk and that was the end of things. Or so I thought …

Until I opened my stocking on Christmas morning and there was a package of Thrills in there! Unless you’re a connoisseur of gum, it’s probably not something that would immediately be appealling. It’s purple to begin with and it’s slogan is on the outside “It still tastes like soap”.

I think I may have got a few other gifts but nothing as impressive as this!

Sadly, the store that did have it closed on December 31 after 75 years in business. It even made this Las Vegas branded news site. Actually, if you do a Duck search a lot of news places picked up the story first written for the Windsor Star but I just thought that Las Vegas was kind of interesting.

For a New Year, your thoughts?

• Was this the first time you’ve heard of Thrills?
• Did you enjoy it as a child?
• Is it still available for sale where you live?
• Would you chew purple gum?
• You can clearly see that there are 10 pieces of gum in the package? Without looking, how many pieces of gum are in your favourite?
• Do you have a favourite brand of gum?
• Does it really taste like soap to you?
• Is blowing bubbles a requirement for you for chewing gum?
• Do you think anyone in Las Vegas cares about a variety store in Amherstburg?

As always, please share your thoughts about this in the comments below.

This is a regular Sunday morning fun post. You can check them all out here.