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The Corner Store

I will never forget the corner stores of my youth. Starlight, was my favorite. Honorable mentions would include: Bulat's, Fred's and Stop 'N' Shop. Every store had what I wanted. I wanted candy. Koho's, mojo's, sponge toffee, pixie sticks, licorice pipes, cigars, babies, jaw breakers, black balls and chocolate bars. There are too many to mention, so I'll shout out my fav's. 

Chocolate bars.

Sweet Marie was my favorite chocolate bar or candy bar, if you're American. I don't see her anymore. She must have divorced Oh Henry, took Baby Ruth and move to America. That marriage was off the shelf. Literally. Another chocolate bar I liked was EAT-MORE. My friends thought I was nuts.  But it was good. That mixture of nuts, chocolate and molasses was delightful. Okay, truth be told, I ate them for one reason; to fold up the wrapper, so it read "Eat Me" Kids will be kids.
The color of candy.
Back when I was kid the color of the candy never offended candy or people. Today things are a little different. Heck, I'm afraid to call soda, pop. Wouldn't want offend my American friends. 

A licorice was a beautiful, yummy and colorful thing. There was black, red and even green licorice. They stop making black babies. I get it, they didn't want to offend black people or babies. Same thing happened to black cat gum. Apparently offending felines is a thing too. I don't know when eating candy made you a racist. Racist are racist don't blame the candy man or the Candy-man. 

There are various shapes and sizes of licorice and various possible racial offences. For instance, Big red licorice lips. I don't know, could they be deemed Botox offensive? How about green thumb licorice. Gardener offensive? What about red foot licorice. Is that making fun of grandpa Pete's gout? I liked licorice pipes and cigars when I was a kid. I never heard anyone say "You should be ashamed of yourself. Here, eat some toasted coconut to level the playing field."
The art of smoking.
I grew up watching Popeye and yes I pretended to smoke those cigarette sticks. Why? No parental supervision and it was candy. Little sticks on miniature chalk with a red dot on the end to mimic the heater. Unlike my mom I didn't smoke a pack a day.  I could only afford the habit once in a while. Still, I wanted to be cool. How you held a Popeye cigarette stick was very important. Not holding it properly would raise some red flags.  If you smoked it macho like your dad, holding it with your thumb and index finger, you were cool. No questions asked. Hip. But if you smoked it like your mother, palm up with it dangling between your middle finger and index finger, not so hip. Thankfully, I watched my dad smoke and learned quickly how to be cool. My dad was supper cool.  I was cool too. Thinking back, if I was given a choice between Popeye cigarettes or a can of spinach, I think you know which one I'd pick. In hindsight, the spinach wouldn't have hurt my teeth as much. I have to confess that I still have a sweet tooth and because I have a sweet tooth, I also have a sweet dentist.  The price I have paid is not so sweet and barely nothing to smile about and I have barely a smile left to smile about. Some of my teeth are my own, others, well lets just say, you could call me the Candy-king. I have enough crowns to prove it. 
Hey! What's in the bag? 
Starlight had the best surprise penny candy bags. We couldn't wait to bust open those little white bags of goodness. We never knew what we were going to get. Like a box of chocolate, only better. The corner store had everything a kid needed. We even learned how to Yo-Yo at the corner store. Every summer travelling salesmen would come from around the world, just to show us how to walk the dog. My dog needed to go to disobedience school. He wouldn't walk. He just kind of spun around until my finger turned red. Being good at the Yo-Yo always had strings attached. I eventual untied them. The times we spent sitting on a curb in front of that store, opening hockey cards packs, drinking RC Cola and eating Pink Elephant popcorn will be forever etched in my mind.  

I'm sure I have more things to add but this is the list for now. Stay tuned.

I hope this brings up some memories from your youth.  Maybe you'll remember things I have forgotten. I would love to hear about your favorite corner store. Until next time, I'll leave you with a final thought.

Candy like life can be sweet, savor it and don't forget to brush your teeth

Denny D
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