Post by David Sechrest on Jun 24, 2006 12:55:31 GMT -5
The Standard Grocery I remember the most was located at 930 Washington Street. Up until a couple of years ago, the building was a Hostess outlet store.
I quit working at Zaharako's where I made 65 cents and hour, and started working at Standard sometime in 1968. Boy, did I ever get a pay raise! I can't remember how much I hired in at, but at the time, I sure thought it was alot more than what I made at Zaharako's.
I don't think the term "grocery store" even applies today. They sell so many things OTHER than groceries, hoping to provide that ever changing, "one stop shop" place to buy things. Standard Grocery sold groceries, and not much else. The produce aisle was at the south side of the building. Cashiers and shopping carts were located at the front of the store. As always (and the same as most stores today), the meat counter was located directly in back of the store.
I was a bag boy, collected shopping carts in the parking lot, and stocked the shelves. All of us stock boys carried a price gun with us. We rolled the boxes of products out of the back on two wheel dolly's, opened the boxes, and stamped the price of the item on the top of the cans or the box items. We were responsible for straightening the products on the shelves, checking expiration dates, and rotating stock (moving the old to the front).
I can't remember the exact hours of operation. I think Standard opened at 9am every morning and closed at 10pm. Standard was open 7 days a week by the time I went to work there.
It's funny how primitive the checkout seems by today's standards. With UPC labels and UPC readers, most of the time today's cashiers grab and scan and "bag" groceries.
Standard Grocery had 3 or 4 checkout lanes. Most all were always open. Cashiers had to check the price stamped on the product and manually input that price using the cash register keys. Then, the products travelled on down the conveyor and us bag boys bagged them.
If prices changed on items, we had to "clean" off the old stamped on price with some alcohol and a rag and restamp the item.
One of my least favorite job responsibilites was having to go and get the shopping carts from the parking lot.
Especially if it was raining...
Today, they have those remote control units that push the carts. All the operator need to is gather them up and guide them in to the store. I'm sure if that feature would have been around in 1968, it would have been welcomed very highly! We had to do it manually!
When I worked at Standard, Charlie Simpson was the store manager. John Ruble was assistant manager. I can't remember who was in charge of the meat department.
Sometime not too long after I began working at the Standard on Washington Street, they opened up another location in Eastbrook Plaza. Charlie went there to manage it.
There was a guy named Dallas that worked at Standard at the time I worked there. I saw Dallas a couple of years ago, working at another store, but I can't remember which. Apparently, he's still in the business.
Besides selling groceries, Standard sold beer and wine. The beer and wine was located directly across from the produce and within good eyesight of the manager's office (Charlie's office sat up, elevated to where he could oversee things). We all had to keep a watchful eye on the beer and wine aisle, as theft was very commonplace. By the way, Standard also sold money orders at the manager's window.
I worked at Standard from the time I quit Zaharako's until I went off to college. It was a great place to work. Since I didn't have a car, I walked to work. We lived on the corner of 16th and Lafayette, so it really wasn't that bad of a walk.
The Standard Grocery store on Washington Street did a very good business, and was profitable for many years. There was one other grocery store located downtown as well: the old A & P just a few blocks down from Standard.
John Ruble later quit Standard and managed the A & P on Washington Street. I saw John several years ago. He had his own store in Jonesville.
I think I recall reading somewhere that the Standard Store moved from where the A&P was to the 930 Washington Street address, but I may just be dreaming. Does anyone remember Standard being at a location other than 930 Washington?
I'm sure that shifting shopping demographics played a large role in the demise of the Standard store on Washington, and I don't know what year it closed up. I know it remained open for many years at the Eastbrook location. And, if my memory serves me correct, the last grocery to leave the downtown area was the A&P.
More to come!
I quit working at Zaharako's where I made 65 cents and hour, and started working at Standard sometime in 1968. Boy, did I ever get a pay raise! I can't remember how much I hired in at, but at the time, I sure thought it was alot more than what I made at Zaharako's.
I don't think the term "grocery store" even applies today. They sell so many things OTHER than groceries, hoping to provide that ever changing, "one stop shop" place to buy things. Standard Grocery sold groceries, and not much else. The produce aisle was at the south side of the building. Cashiers and shopping carts were located at the front of the store. As always (and the same as most stores today), the meat counter was located directly in back of the store.
I was a bag boy, collected shopping carts in the parking lot, and stocked the shelves. All of us stock boys carried a price gun with us. We rolled the boxes of products out of the back on two wheel dolly's, opened the boxes, and stamped the price of the item on the top of the cans or the box items. We were responsible for straightening the products on the shelves, checking expiration dates, and rotating stock (moving the old to the front).
I can't remember the exact hours of operation. I think Standard opened at 9am every morning and closed at 10pm. Standard was open 7 days a week by the time I went to work there.
It's funny how primitive the checkout seems by today's standards. With UPC labels and UPC readers, most of the time today's cashiers grab and scan and "bag" groceries.
Standard Grocery had 3 or 4 checkout lanes. Most all were always open. Cashiers had to check the price stamped on the product and manually input that price using the cash register keys. Then, the products travelled on down the conveyor and us bag boys bagged them.
If prices changed on items, we had to "clean" off the old stamped on price with some alcohol and a rag and restamp the item.
One of my least favorite job responsibilites was having to go and get the shopping carts from the parking lot.
Especially if it was raining...
Today, they have those remote control units that push the carts. All the operator need to is gather them up and guide them in to the store. I'm sure if that feature would have been around in 1968, it would have been welcomed very highly! We had to do it manually!
When I worked at Standard, Charlie Simpson was the store manager. John Ruble was assistant manager. I can't remember who was in charge of the meat department.
Sometime not too long after I began working at the Standard on Washington Street, they opened up another location in Eastbrook Plaza. Charlie went there to manage it.
There was a guy named Dallas that worked at Standard at the time I worked there. I saw Dallas a couple of years ago, working at another store, but I can't remember which. Apparently, he's still in the business.
Besides selling groceries, Standard sold beer and wine. The beer and wine was located directly across from the produce and within good eyesight of the manager's office (Charlie's office sat up, elevated to where he could oversee things). We all had to keep a watchful eye on the beer and wine aisle, as theft was very commonplace. By the way, Standard also sold money orders at the manager's window.
I worked at Standard from the time I quit Zaharako's until I went off to college. It was a great place to work. Since I didn't have a car, I walked to work. We lived on the corner of 16th and Lafayette, so it really wasn't that bad of a walk.
The Standard Grocery store on Washington Street did a very good business, and was profitable for many years. There was one other grocery store located downtown as well: the old A & P just a few blocks down from Standard.
John Ruble later quit Standard and managed the A & P on Washington Street. I saw John several years ago. He had his own store in Jonesville.
I think I recall reading somewhere that the Standard Store moved from where the A&P was to the 930 Washington Street address, but I may just be dreaming. Does anyone remember Standard being at a location other than 930 Washington?
I'm sure that shifting shopping demographics played a large role in the demise of the Standard store on Washington, and I don't know what year it closed up. I know it remained open for many years at the Eastbrook location. And, if my memory serves me correct, the last grocery to leave the downtown area was the A&P.
More to come!
