A whole different era of grocery shopping

As recently as 60 to 70 years ago, grocery shopping in our Lewiston-Clarkston area was quite a different experience from what it is today. That was before the rise of supermarkets, when there were just neighborhood grocery stores. There was a “mom and pop” store in each neighborhood and each was family-owned and -operated. Store hours were pretty much daytime hours, maybe 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week and closed on Sundays.

The 1941 Lewiston phone directory lists 45 stores in downtown Lewiston and the Orchards, which was not yet in the Lewiston city limits. Fourteen stores were along Main Street from 216 Main to 2517 Main. These included Sapp’s, Table Supply, Pay and Pak It, Stone’s, Safeway, Rich’s, John’s, Vitts, Lewiston Co-op, 24th Street Grocery, Horseman’s, Lewiston Grocery, McNichol’s and Frank’s. Of those fourteen only the 24th Street Grocery is still here, now called Larry’s Foods & Deli, and is much larger than the store I recall when I grew up on 22nd Street in the 1930s and ’40s.

We also traded a block further east at Horseman’s, which later became Mert’s Market. If we had a penny, we Garfield School students would stop at Mert’s or the 24th Street store for candy. A nickel would get you a candy bar or an ice cream cone.

In 1941, the only store in North Lewiston was the Econ-O-Way Market on the main street across from the old 18th Street Bridge. Most of the other stores in 1941 were located on Normal Hill and the owners of most of them either lived in their stores or next door. The names of some of the stores were Art’s Cottage, Sixth Ave. Grocery, Fifth Street, Campus Canteen, Klamper’s, Chapman’s, Loeppky’s, Philips, Gilbertz and Rolph’s. Also, there was the University Grocery, Morrison’s, Smolt’s, Coffey’s, Drive Inn, Rouhan’s, Prine’s, Freed’s, Sargent’s and Worthington’s. Only Larry’s and the Neighborhood Market, which used to be Worthington’s, are still here.

What were those little stores like and why did they disappear? My parents owned and operated Chapman’s Grocery in the 1947-48 years at 307 Eighth Ave. I was 14 and 15 years old, and worked part time with them on Saturdays and in the summer. Part of my job was delivering groceries in our 1935 Chevrolet panel truck. It was fun and we delivered six days a week. Our customers would either call in or come to the store with their lists for us to deliver. Delivering was quite common at that time. Some families left a door unlocked, and we left the groceries in the kitchen and the perishables in the refrigerator. Our store had many credit customers, and many paid monthly. The grocery business at that time was one of credit and delivery as opposed to today’s cash and carry. Those were the days before shopping carts, so the clerks pretty much did all the work.

Today’s big supermarkets have nearly cut out the wholesale distributors of that time because they deal directly with the manufacturers. Our retail goods were from Lewiston’s wholesale grocers — Lewiston Mercantile, Mason Ehrman, Morgan Brothers and Pacific Fruit and Produce. Most of the meat sales consisted of hamburger, round steak, ham, pork chops and weiners (unpacked and skinless). There was not much profit in produce, but we had it for our customers. I remember backing our delivery truck at 1203 Main St. to pick up the produce.

Albertsons and Safeway opened Lewiston’s first supermarkets in 1950 and ’51. Advances in technology helped do away with many neighborhood grocery stores in our valley. Supermarkets can buy in volume, have loss leaders, and sell on low margins. Now when I drive down Third and Fourth streets, I am reminded of my delivery truck days in 1948.

The neighborhood store was part of a time when life moved along at a more leisurely pace, or does hindsight just make it seem that way?

Riggs is a lifelong Lewistonian. He’s an avid Warriors fan, a retired educator, coach and school superintendent and volunteers his time at the Nez Perce County Historical Society. He can be reached at bdriggo@gmail.com.