When we lived on the farm just outside Womelsdorf, PA, there were two grocery stores where we could conveniently shop.

One of them was on the main street, called High Street, and while it was definitely the larger of the two stores, it didn’t offer its own parking lot, so you had to find a parking space on the street. I don’t recall what it was called anymore, but it was the place that my grandparents always used to shop, and I’d go along with my grandfather when he went into town because I could always count on him to let me linger by the candy counter and pick out whatever I wanted.

This was a real candy counter behind glass with bulk candy that you pointed to what you wanted, and the person behind the counter would dutifully fill a little bag with whatever goodies you pointed to and then add up the total. You also had to say how many of each type of candy you wanted. I remember one time when I was happily pointing to this and that types of candy, and then in an attempt to show off my five-year-old vocabulary, instead of saying that I wanted three pieces of a certain candy, I said I wanted a few, thinking that “few” meant three, just as “couple” meant two. To my dismay, the woman only put two pieces of that candy in the bag. I was fuming about that for some time afterwards. Nobody seemed to have the heart to tell me that “few” did not mean three.

The other place was Ansbach’s, and it was hidden in an alley, or at least I no longer know exactly where it was but it was definitely not on any of the main Womelsdorf streets, but if offered its own parking lot for customers. That’s where my mother used to shop and I’d go along with her, I really didn’t have much of a choice, did I? No lingering by the candy counter with her in charge. Actually Anspach’s didn’t have a candy counter, but they did have some candy, just not nearly as much, and no bulk candy, just the kind that came already wrapped, not that it mattered.

Anyway both of those places were basically grocery stores, rather cramped for space, and not offering much more for sale than the essential groceries.

Somewhere along the line, I’m not sure just when, the supermarket Food Fair opened in the city of Lebanon which was about a 20 minute drive away. Perhaps it had been open the whole time, I don’t know, but I don’t recall going there until I was in the first grade. (The picture below is not the Lebanon Food Fair, but it’s the closest I could find to the way the Lebanon Food Fair looked.)

I was fascinated by the doors that opened and closed automatically just by stepping on the rubber mat that led into them. We didn’t have anything like that in Womelsdorf. I think we only went to the Food Fair on weekends as a family, if I recall correctly.

Of course, the Food Fair was a supermarket and it had wide aisles and was much larger than the grocery stores. I assume it had much better prices too, but I wouldn’t have been aware of that.

The one thing I remember about Food Fair is that is where we were first introduced to Golden Delicious apples, which although not new, were new to us. For some time thereafter that’s practically the only kind of apple we would buy.

After we moved to Richland we would do all our grocery shopping at the two grocery stores there, Werners and Krugers. If we went to the Food Fair, I don’t recall. Perhaps we did, and I just don’t remember as the novelty would have worn off, but I suspect that as my mother had opened her beauty shop, our family felt the need to do as much shopping locally as possible.

I lost track of Food Fair. I believe it went away at some point, but I don’t remember when. All things must pass.