Monday, January 25, 2010

Sometimes I think it's about going back to our roots.....

I know the first thing you think of when you read to title is huh??? Or, this could be kinda hokey....Not at all. This week I found out that a store in Holland (where the teens LOVE to shop!) had closed quite abruptly! Kind of a shock to everyone and more so to the kids...it was one of the better places for them to go to "outfit themselves" and we ALL know how important that is when you are a teen.

Anyway.....I started thinking about it yesterday while I was on the treadmill (again...I do ALOT of great thinking on that thing!) and started reflecting back. When I was a teen and we didn't have all the fancy malls like we do now (we did have the Woodland Mall in GR but it was such a drive to get there....we rarely went). For us it was downtown Holland. The reason (stick with me here) it struck me so nostalgically is because I kept remembering more and more about what we did downtown when I was a kid.

I remember JCPenney being on the corner of River and 8th I think...2 stories. Kids/ youth stuff was up the stairs. I remember FREQUENTLY going to the Model Drug store / Apothecary store for the fun goodies they had....lip gloss, Mrs. Grossman's stickers, 5&dime candies, all that kinda stuff. We often hit Woolworth for the same stuff....
I remember also shopping at Steketees department store for the more trendy lines that we longed for....always a little more expensive so we didn't get them often but... I remember going into DuMez brothers (my Grandma VanLente's FAVORITE place to go!) where we could get some really cute stuff! I remember one time buying a pair of pants for Easter there....I was sooooooooo excited! Then we would grab lunch often at the Windmill restaurant (which by the way is still there!), we would often go get books at The Readers World (LOVED going in here to get the next sequel to my Sweet Valley High series! - Loved Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield!!!) there was also a bakery on River ave close to Readers World where we would pick up pig in a blankets....and then there was one of my favorite clothing stores there called "Threadz"....

As years went on we were allowed to be dropped off downtown to walk around by ourselves for a few hours on Saturdays (have a hard time doing that nowdays), we would go get pops at BK and the we often would go into the Depot for our dream of owning Guess and Gasoline jeans - Or Hutchinsons for our Calvin Kleins. Loved Hutchinsons to cuz they had the BEST display of HELLO KITTY stuff!!! and once we got into High School we would go into AR Daanes and admire those Nautica jackets!....I think EVERYONE admired those!



Anyway....just thought it was neat that I kept remembering more and more..... maybe just maybe things always lead back to your roots! OR maybe you have to create your own "roots" so to speak. I think everyone should have places that they can remember like that!
I wanna look and see if there are any pics I can pull up for you and post....they ahd some COOL places down there! Thanks for reading along!



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1 comment:

  1. Those were the good ole days for sure. Happy memories with us and Grandma V.L.

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