Shopping Saturday - Downtown Windsor Kresge Store

The above picture was taken in July 1958 of Ouellette & University Ave. of Downtown Windsor, Ontario. I was looking for a picture of it to go with this blog and found it online at "internationalmetropolis.com"; thanks to Andrew for allowing me to use it here. Check out his blog if your interested in this area or researching about family in the area, it really is a good site. 

     I use to go to the Kresge Downtown all the time when I was a kid and into my teens. As a kid my grandmother Elva (nee Dennie) use to take me there to help with her shopping and or to get me clothes. She always called it "The Dime Store" though. She would say "Let's go to the Dime Store and get you some new pants for school"; and I knew we were headed for Kresge's. Of course when I went there it was a little later then in the picture above. It was in the 70's through mid 80's. So the only real difference was the cars and clothing/hair styles. Back then though downtown was the place to go on a Saturday to shop. The mall in Windsor was smaller at the time and was not the main destination to go shopping yet. It was the secondary place. Kresge's was the Walmart of it's time. They had everything there, toys, clothing, house hold goods, and some food stuff, tools and a dessert counter up front. To the one side, front right was a lunch counter with all the red vinyl top stools spaced out along it. People that worked downtown where always there. When I got older after my parents divorced and I moved in with my father, he got a job at the Book Center downtown. It would have been about half a block down behind where the guy was standing to take this shot. I later worked there on Saturdays going to the bus station on to pickup the Toronto Star bundle of papers when they came in on the Greyhound bus. My friends and I use to always go to Kresge's to shop. My mother's one brother (my Uncle) Mark got his first real job at Kresge's. I remember going in and seeing him there in his white uniform (kitchen staff). 

     My grandmother Elva died on my 26th birthday. The first home I remember with my parents was the apartment above her home on Highland Ave. My parents moved in there to get started out as a young couple. My grandfather Vic use to babysit me and I have fond memories of those early days. Grandma was Quite the character and I will always miss her. However when I think of Saturday Shopping I will always think of her and "Remember When....."