Remember when you were a kid and nickels were scarce as hen’s teeth, while dimes never came your way? What could you buy for a penny? I’m relying on some of my elderwriters for this information, as I was born a decade late to learn it first-hand.
Most grocery stores had a glass case that held dozens of varieties of penny candy. On top of the counter were the tried-and-true favorites--the bubble gum that we called “double-bubble” and the all-day-suckers in several forms: the traditional fruit-flavored one, the chocolate-flavored taffy on a stick that we called a baseball bat, and one as large as a small apple and chocolate-coated.
Then there were the stick candies. Licorice did not suit my taste, but lemon or peppermint were equally acceptable. There was also one white stick with an orchid stripe on the sides. Somehow they laced it with small streaks of peanut butter.
Another good one had brown sugar in it; ittasted like caramel and was coated with toasted coconut. We called that one a chicken bone.
Back in the 1930s, many of the nickel candy bars had smaller counterparts in the penny stuff–Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Baby Ruth, Peanut Rounder, Butterfinger. There was also a marshmallow confection coated with chocolate called a Featherbed. Very tasty, but it had one drawback–it didn’t last very long.
The sodapop-filled paraffins appealed to some. You drank the few drops of pop, then chewed the bottle like gum. One was shaped like a pistol: after drinking the pop, you played cops-and-robbers until you broke it; then you chewed it. A little dirt gave it flavor.
There were large yellow caramels called banana bikes. They also came in chocolate and strawberry flavors but banana was the best. Smaller caramels came in packages of seven: chocolate, butterscotch, or vanilla filled with peanut butter.
There were even some two-for-a-penny candies. These sat on top of the counter in large glass jars. The taffy chews, the peppermint drops, the chocolate kisses were individually wrapped, but the sour balls, the gumdrops, the coconut huts, the chocolate-coated nougats were all bulk. This meant the merchant would reach into the jar and pick these up daintily, with just the tips of his thumb and forefinger.
By the 1940s, my childhood decade, when we visited Boyd’s Store, the variety of soft drinks on offer for a nickel was extensive. Coca-Cola, Seven-Up and Dr. Pepper were favored by adults, but they came in little 6-oz. bottles. With larger 10 and 12 oz. containers, RC Cola, Root Beer, and the Nehi fruit flavors seemed like a better deal to me.
If you wanted a bit more of a snack, a nickel pack of Tom’s peanuts could be emptied into the bottle of pop. Most candy bars were nickel, as were small sacks of Fritos and potato chips.
What are your childhood memories about trips to the store? Send them to me by email: jlincecum@me.com. I’d love to hear from you.
Jerry Lincecum is a retired English professor who now teaches classes for older adults who want to write their life stories. He would be happy to receive your reminiscences on any subject.