Sunday, August 10, 2008

Reading Obits Brings Back Memories

Yesterday I was reading the obituaries. Some people might think that's an odd thing to do, but those of us who are "into genealogy" know it's not. As I was reading, I found the obituary of a woman who had been a buyer for Shainberg's and Kent's. It had been years since I had thought of those stores because neither exists any more and hasn't for years. To be honest, I don't really remember a whole lot about either of them, but I do remember that when I was a child and maybe even into my early teen years those stores were some that my family sometimes shopped when we went to Tupelo. I believe that they were clothing stores. I kind of believe that Shainberg's was the smaller version of Kent's and that they had a store downtown which may have closed after the Kent's opened in what we used to refer to as the "new mall." It's the mall that now houses the coliseum in Tupelo, and I think it's official name was something like the Uptown or Downtown Mall. It was actually across the railroad tracks from downtown. As I began to think about Shainberg's and Kent's, my mind began going through some of the stores that used to be in Tupelo and in Amory that no longer exist. I'm running short of time right now, but I plan to follow up with this post later! If anyone has better memories of Shainberg's and Kent's, please comment. This blog now supports openID so if you have an account at WordPress or LiveJournal, you can use that (in addition to Blogger IDs).

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yea, I can comment now!

Yes, I read the obits. I get the local paper on Sunday only, so I usually read them with a bagel!

The New York Times is delivered daily. Those can sometimes be very lengthy, and one person might have several obits, submitted by friends, family co-workers, etc.

(my interest in the obituaries is like yours, genealogical, not morbid!)

Tex said...

I'm with you! I think reading obituaries ranks right up there with liking cemeteries for creating "suspicion" in our non-genie friends. :-) But the memories really are wonderful and the triggers contained in both are a real adventure in free-association about our history.

Thomas MacEntee said...

Lori

Remembering old stores is something my family does when we get together - we bemoan the fact that our younger generations don't understand what a haberdasher or a dress shop was. It would be great if you would create a meme asking people to note the stores of years gone by!

Lori Thornton said...

Thanks for all the comments. I decided to take Thomas up on the meme so check out the next post! I'll get back to my follow-up post soon.

Koolkat said...

I was wondering if anyone remembers how cool Granville Street in downtown Vancouver BC was before it was turned into a mall.

Well I do and it was great! Growing up as a kid in a family restaurant was beneficial. I had the best school lunches. Trading wasn't a problem for me cause I truly wanted that PB&J that the other kids had. They all loved the corned beef!

There was the Vogue Theatre when it was a movie theatre and there was Pizza Patio, Arnold's Pawn Shop (before they were being robbed all the time) Harry The Hatter, Rae's Jewellers, Vogue Men's Wear, Kripps Pharmacy, Mr. Mike's, Krak-A-Joke and many more but there was the best darn Corned Beef & Pastrami sandwiches at Rubin's Delicatessen.
It was opened in 1959 on August 11th. My first birthday. My Dad worked many late hours to keep a good home for his family. My Grandmother Mrs. Rubin made the best Cheesecake know to man (well at least in Vancouver).
I feel blessed that I grew up the way I did and am sad that those times were so safe for children and can't be now.
If only the world didn't have to change so much!