GRANDPA'S STORE

GRANDPA'S STORE

Uhls Grocery was run by my grandpa, Thomas Uhls, Sr. but it was grandma, Mabel Uhls, who owned it, so I was told. It was bought with her inheritance. The store was located on the corner of Odle and Cleveland Streets. The outside was dark red shingled and it had the usual metal advertising (Coca Cola, 7-Up, Bunny Bread) displayed on the sides of the store, mostly the east side.

By today's standards everything used inside for display was antique. I remember a glass display case that held candy bars, a Coca Cola cooler that held bottles that you had to slide to the end to remove them, a thread holder, a wrapping paper holder for plain paper, a cash register, a chips holder, a cooler for vegetables that probably didn't really cool but it was made like one, a scale for weighing meat in the back room, and a meat slicer. He had an office back there but I never explored it.

When the Uhls siblings were teens they were required to work in the store. They were allowed to drink the sodas and there weren't just Cokes. There was also grape and orange, I think. There may have been root beer and an off-brand. My uncle Donald would come to the store when Geraldine, who we called Gerky, was working. He loved to tease her so he would pretend to spit in her soda. She was afraid to drink it after that but she would laugh about it and that's what he was going for -- the laugh. While she was laughing she would pretend to be mad. The chips were named Tom's. I always thought he chose that brand since his name was Tom, short for Thomas. But Chesty made the best chips. They were like what is now Ruffles.

At times the store was a hangout for old men, family and friends of the siblings. In those days it wasn't unusual to have an old man ask me if I wanted him to cut my ear off. I would just say "No" and walk on. It wasn't scary to me in that day and time because teasing like that was common.

I was told that Grandpa used to have gas pumps behind the store and that Dad's twin sister, Edna, knocked one down with her car by accident, so Grandpa had them both removed. I think the accident started a fire. Edna may have already been an alcoholic at that time even though she saw what it did to her older sister, Ruth. It was either that or she was a very poor driver.

The store wasn't air conditioned so it wasn't unusual to find worms or weevils in things like rice, cereal, flour, sugar and chocolate. It was uncontrollable without a cooling system. You knew to check everything when you got home.

The meat was the best ever. We mostly ate hamburger, roast and chicken. I don't think I ever ate a steak until I was an adult. Grandpa would go early in the morning and pick out the rack that he wanted. Presumably he would have it partially cut up so he could fit it in his car because he didn't have a truck. Then he would cut the rest up as needed with each order.

As a store owner, Grandpa got a lot of freebies. They used to enclose more freebies in detergent, oats and cereal boxes than they do today. There were pieces of a dish set you received each time you purchased certain items. With 9 kids, Grandpa and Grandpa used quite a bit of groceries, especially with 5 growing boys, so grandma had most sets of freebie dishes. Quaker oats gave away a lot of dishes and they were nice. Duz gave away drinking glasses, clear with a light blue tint. Cereal boxes usually gave away toys. I remember climbing on something to get to the top of the refrigerator so I could get the scuba diver toy before Linda did.

Grandpa drove a big, long car during the years I remember and he drove super slow. One day Uncle James was riding with him and James suddenly opened the door and said "I'm in a hurry. I think I'll just walk." 

Mamma and Pappa were more or less hermits. Grandpa drove to the store and home and that was about it, except for getting meat. Mamma rarely went anywhere. She complained of car sickness but I think it was more than that. She was content to stay home. She didn't trust the world.