What Happened? What has happened to change the world so? I celebrated my 20th birthday in 1950, shortly after my Dad passed away on his 60th birthday from leukemia. The town of Piedmont, Alabama had grown from a rural crossroads community called "Hollow Stump" in the early 1840's to be named later as "Griffen's Creek" with a registered post office by that name. It was named a short time later by a land purchaser as "Cross Plains" and bore that name and post office until 1888 when it officially became known as Piedmont, meaning "foot of the mountains".
It had grown by 1950 from a couple of families at "Hollow Stump", to a bustling little town of some 4,500. At the time, there was a large Standard-Coosa-Thatcher spinning mill, a busy cotton gin, two movie theaters, some 8 or 10 home owned grocery stores, two hardware stores, three 5 and dime stores, several cafes, 3 drug stores, three physicians, two banks and numerous other businesses, all thriving and living comfortably. Some of the merchants actually became rather wealthy.
DIXIE
You see, the post WW2 years (1946 to 1950) were years of change. The cost of the war ending in 1945 and now the beginning of the Korean war had brought on a boom of manufacturing and increased wages that were unimaginable. Inflation was leaping upwards but people really didn't mind because wages were also climbing. Except for the old boys who were dying in Korea, the country was in a period of good times and expansion of about everything.
But something happened in Piedmont somewhere around 1949, the first large chain grocery store opened in the town. Up until that time, almost everything in town with the exception of the manufacturing firms and one of the theaters, were owned by local families. But here comes a Quik-Chek Grocery, a modern serve-yourself grocery store, of the Winn-Dixie organization from Florida. It remained for a number of years as one by one the family stores dropped out. Until finally there were only two grocery stores left. One enterprising merchant became affiliated with a multiple store provider and became a strong competitor for the then named Winn-Dixie store, which eventually became unprofitable and was sold to an individual. These two stores remain and are very competitive with each other and with large chain stores in neighboring towns.
With improved state and county road systems which also gave shoppers of clothing and other merchandise access to large retail stores in the clothing, hardware and other lines and so those stores began suffering and closing. Large chains and conglomerates continued to increase year by year until most of the family owned businesses disappeared. Of the two banks in town, one changed ownership a couple of times and is now a branch of one of the largest banking corporations in the nation. The other is still home owned but has, itself, expanded into several branches in this county. Most of the towns eateries are fast food chain stores although 2 or 3 small home owned ones remains and one home owned franchise holder of a large chain cafe.
A few months after I turned 20, I was drafted in to the army (April 1951), and saw little of Piedmont for the next two years. But, even though the home owned businesses were disappearing, I didn't give it much thought and was pleased to see the improvement in merchandise selection, competitive prices, and so on, available through the chain stores. Then with the advent of K-Mart, followed by Walmart, I suddenly began to realize that you never knew anyone who owned a business anymore. All only worked for some large company. When one takes the time to stop and think about it, it is absolutely amazing what transformation took place in America in two short decades. From about 1945 to 1965, it just became a different world. Sad, in a way, but simply a phenomena to be expected in a progressive society, a growing population and high technological advances. Consider the population increase:
In 1950, the world population was 2,556,000,053. In just sixty years, 2010, it is estimated that the number will be 6,848,932,929 around 150% increase. During that same period, the United States grew from 151,325,798 to an estimated 309,162,581, over 100% increase. As our population grows, we, of pure necessity, must have food, clothing, housing and supplies to match our growth. The volume increase means a change in production methods and distribution methods. And as affluence increases, we demand more and better of all those things than we once had on an individual basis. Actually the old methods would not be sufficient. You once entered a store and depended upon the proprietor to round you up a can of pork and beans, then cut you 6 pork chops and weigh up a couple of pounds of rice while two other customers stood patiently waiting for their turn. Now a couple of hundred customers can cruise the aisles with their shopping carts to their hearts content.
We hear a lot of people criticize Walmart for driving the little man out of business. And working people for low wages. It does seem bad. But, once again it is the demand of the times. They are only doing what it takes to satisfy millions of consumers. But the founder of that giant company started out much smaller than many similar businesses did who have long since gone down the drain. I personally think they are wonderful. I have always been a stickler when looking for a particular item or brand and their stores are much more likely to have exactly what I want than any other store that I am aware of. And the price is always extremely competitive. A good example of their pricing is something that I learned soon after they appeared in this area. I have had a habit of gargling every night and morning with Listerine, even before it started tasting good. I always bought it at Walmart in the largest size they had, seems like about a liter. But once when I ran out and stopped at a local drug store to buy a bottle, to my dismay, a bottle less than half the size I had been buying was over a dollar more than the much bigger bottle at Walmart. I now try to never run out.
As we grow old, everything in the old days seems dearer than it actually was. I long for many of the old ways and items but let me be very clear, those memories are deceiving. I know if I were placed back in the Army in the early 1950's, I'd be miserably homesick as I was then. I would do without a lot of things that I now relish in. I miss a lot of them, and seriously, it was good times, but we can never go back and I'm not sure we would be as happy as we think, if we did.
Mom And Pop Shops Almost Gone But Not Forgotten
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DIXIE
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