Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Austin: thrift stores, pollution)

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by Primo

Phar-Mor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I remember those stores and within 2 years they were gone, I remember the location at Crossroads (Old Handy Andy), and at 410 across from North Star Mall (Its in the shopping center behind the Chik Fil A.

Remember also Drug Emporium? I loved those stores.

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by Dwangle

Has anybody talked about Mom and Pop shoe stores? Those stores really are gone but not forgotten. I remember Daura's Shoe's in the Dellview shopping center. I went to grade school with Laura Daura (honest!). They lived just down the street. I remember they sold Buster Brown and Polly Parrot shoes. I went to High school with Susan Maddox. Her dad owned Maddox Matresses on Fred Road. They would always advertise in the year book.

My grandparents used to own a grocery store on the west side.

[BudB]

Originally Posted by Willsatx

My grandparents used to own a grocery store on the west side.

They were among a very big population of family owned small businesses that were once upon a time the back bone of our then vital middle class. Now all their trade is done by mega-corporations for better or worse and whether it's a Walmart, Tiger-Mart or whatever somhow it has not truly made things better, in my opinion. What became of your grand parent's store?

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by BudB

They were among a very big population of family owned small businesses that were once upon a time the back bone of our then vital middle class. Now all their trade is done by mega-corporations for better or worse and whether it's a Walmart, Tiger-Mart or whatever somhow it has not truly made things better, in my opinion. What became of your grand parent's store?

They owned a store on Brazos call Courts Food Market, they operated it from 1947 to 1995. The building is still standing and it now is a pizza place called Giovanni's pizza.

[BudB]

Thank you for briefly sharing your grandparent's store history. Running a family market was a difficult way of life as it required lots of long hours and hard work. And sooner or later they got robbed so it was also dangerous in a way. We can assume that your grandparents were wholly dedicated to their family and provided a good and stable way of life for their children for nearly 50 years. Ironically this is still going on a bit as some modern immigrants have taken over corner market businesses in a lot of places so that their children can have a better life.

[rexkwandosatx]

Originally Posted by OzzyRules

Pharmor! Thanks for remembering that. Yes, it wasn't there for long. But I remember it always being pretty busy. So, I was sort of confused when they closed down after not being open for long.

I vaguely remember PharMor...but does anyone remember Drug Emporium? I remember going to the one off of NW Military...and i used to by my begginers-colognes there in middle school and high school... lots of Brut and Old English

[smuboy86]

Loved the Drug Emporium on Austin Highway at Harry Wurzbach in the Sunset Square shopping center. There was a Bealls next door to it that became the new Austin Highway HEB. The Drug Emporium though is an IRS service center!

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by BudB

Thank you for briefly sharing your grandparent's store history. Running a family market was a difficult way of life as it required lots of long hours and hard work. And sooner or later they got robbed so it was also dangerous in a way. We can assume that your grandparents were wholly dedicated to their family and provided a good and stable way of life for their children for nearly 50 years. Ironically this is still going on a bit as some modern immigrants have taken over corner market businesses in a lot of places so that their children can have a better life.

Yeah no problem I could probably make a long post about the history of their store, but yeah being in business nearly 50 years is tough. Not many businesses can say they outlived HEB in their neighborhood, there was an HEB about 2 blocks away that opened in the 60's and it was gone by the mid 80's. But yes the times have changed quite a bit.

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by rexkwandosatx

I vaguely remember PharMor...but does anyone remember Drug Emporium? I remember going to the one off of NW Military...and i used to by my begginers-colognes there in middle school and high school... lots of Brut and Old English

Yeah I went to Drug Emporium also, remember buying many Spurs and Dallas Cowboys tickets there.

[georgepwebster]

Originally Posted by Macgrad89

Back on the board and thawing out after a COLD week in Tennessee. Got down to 3 degrees above zero here on Thursday morning...

Off the top of my head I can remember Sommers Drug Stores at:

Bitters/Nacogdoches (MacArthur Plaza Shopping Center; between Winn's and H-E-B)

Wurzbach/I-10 (next to H-E-B)

Jefferson Village (Wilson/Donaldson)

The store near MacArthur opened around 1973-1974 and did not have a lunch counter.

While thinking this one over, I remembered SupeRx Drugs. There was one at Thousand Oaks/Nacogdoches, next to the old Handy-Andy which is now Midnight Rodeo. Interestingly, SupeRx was owned at one time by Kroger. This SupeRx closed in the mid-to-late 80s.

Across the street and down Perrin-Beitel at the corner with Naco-Perrin was Skillern's Drugs in the Perrin Plaza Shopping Center. Skillern's was out of Dallas (owned at one time by Zales Inc. of jewelry fame) and I think was bought from Zales by Revco. There was also a Skillern's in the Northern Hills Shopping Center. The Skillern's at Perrin Plaza closed while the one at Northern Hills became a Revco and closed in the early 90s.

Did we ever figure out how many Magnamarts there were in SA? I can think of two and possibly three - San Pedro just north of 410 and South Flores. There may have been one at I-35/Eisenhauer. These became Eagle stores but didn't stay open for long.

Macgrad89

Sommer's Drugs at North New Braunfels at Brees in Sunset Ridge. I stopped buying DC comics when the price was raised to 12¢. Little did I know the the Golden Age of Comics had ended. Switched to Mad Magazines, and Famous Monsters. I know someone who's neighbors with members of the family that owned Sommer's. I'll pass along the query about the menu. Chocolate malts are always better if you smell a little ozone when they're mixed.