Apr. 09, 2002 - 20:26 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Home Delivery ?

Heather took me along to the supermarket today so that I could help load the grub in the trunk of the car and unload it into a cart at home. As usual I had my notebook and a pen on my person and there usually is a place by the door I can sit -- if not there is always room in our car.

Watching the people come in get a grocery cart while others, checked out, head for the door and their cars. Always gives me room to stretch my imagination, putting names on people and doing all kinds of guessing. I did that today too, but my mind kept circling around the same track I have been on before, but maybe from a different direction.

When I was a younger boy there were Piggly Wigglys around the neighborhoods and likewise a few independant stores, I remember IGA, Red and White, etc. Most of the better stores had delivery service too, but not for the general public like my folks. The prices of their groceries were higher than my folks could afford. Thus the two legged mule operation.

Groceries were usually bought in near by stores and carried home in paper bags in arm on foot. Prior careful calculations involving weight, size, quantities and priorities as well as distance to carry said booty was SOP.

When I was little automobiles were few and far between in working class neighborhoods and were generally shined up for weekend visits, picnics and such. The first vehicle I ever saw was in front of the Piggly Wiggly in our neighborhood. It was a Mack truck with solid rubber wheels and a chain drive.

People who worked in our town rode public transit. In those days streetcar tracks extended into most neighborhoods in town, with streetcars on a regular schedule. In rush hours trailers were pulled behind the streetcars to handle the rush hour crowds. When my Dad finally got our car and began driving it to work the only parking he could find was at a garage about three blocks from his job for an unholy revenue. Parking downtown was the pits as more cars came into use, and got worse as time went by.

Articles bought downtown where the department stores were could be carried home on the street car or be delivered by a package delivery service jointly owned by the big stores. There were two big grocery markets down town which were right on carlines which carried super good stuff. The groceries purchased could be carried home on a street car.

I had such great fun watching someone with both arms full of big sacks of groceries clamber up the steps of the street car, searching in purse or if a man, his pockets, for the fare. Then trying to make it to a seat before the car jerk-started and caused the whole load of cargo to spread out on the floor. But then at a later time the foo was on the other shute. It wasn't long before I had the correct fare ready, even if I had to carry it in my teeth.

Then enough autos began to be used that parking near the neighborhood grocery stores got tight too. About that time bigger stores came into being, here in Denver it was Safeway and the problem remained.

I don't have a logbook in my head. So when was it ? The late forties here in Denver maybe ? Cherry Creek Mall became a reality almost like a miracle, all those places to shop with just acres and acres of parking spaces. Being after the War most everyone had cars now and went to the places where there was plenty of parking.

Before very long there were shopping malls everywhere throughout the Metro area. I remember making two trips across town for three items while trying to find a place that had what I wanted.

Then the big department stores down town still having made no provision for parking found themselves like Edith from All In The Family, they had stifled themselves.

What's the next move in the game, class ? You're right, the biggies moved out to the malls and downtown became their headquarters.

Now we seem to be in the process of implosion. Biggies moving out of the malls, malls being bulldozed, some businesses merged and some defunct. New bigger malls are being built in the outlying districts near the well to do - which will last for a while maybe. Makes me think of the time just before the Great (? big but why Great ?) Depression when there was a filling station on each corner that was not occupied by a drug store or notions store.

Strangely the first mall in the metro area "Cherry Creek," has managed to keep up and attract such business as Neiman Marcus, Lord and Taylor, and Saks. That mall keeps growing as does the area across First Avenue called Cherry Creek North which has quite a few upscale shops there including my beloved Tattered Cover.

I sat there in the store today with pen in hand wondering if it is just because of my age that I can see the tide rise and fall, the ebb and flow of life and commerce ? Or am I just a deluded old dude remembering the days of Home Delivery ? . . . . . . . . . .

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