Recently, when passing on the way to Greensburg, PA, what used to be an office supply store, then a medical equipment company, and now an abandoned business, I thought of a stationery store in my hometown of York, PA. From there I began to muse on the other businesses in the immediate environment where I grew up.
We moved to 349 Lindbergh Avenue in 1963. Besides being within walking distance to church and school (The Immaculate Conception of Saint Mary, the inspiration behind the title of my memoir, Immaculate Misconceptions: Tales of Catholic School), we frequented a few businesses close by.
The first I want to mention is the aforementioned office supply store, George’s Stationery Store, at the corner of George Street and College Avenue. I recall being in there numerous times, though I don’t think I bought very much there; my recollection is that everything was more expensive than our meager family budget could afford. (I used to raid the school district’s administration building’s trash cans to grab discarded but reusable file folders and paper. Currently I am recycling InBev paper snatched up from the closed Rolling Rock Brewery in Latrobe, printing with the header on the back. Waste not, want not, as they say.)
At the front of the store they had office furniture, with chairs and desks. Toward the back, you’d take a left turn where the pens and pencils were on display. I recall being there and not really buying anything—although one year one of the nuns dictated that we all procure fountain pens for all of our in-class writing needs, and the likely source for these was George’s. Because of the proximity of convent, church, and store, one has to wonder if some sort of kickback system wasn’t in place.
MUSOFYR 