Old "Mom and Pop" Grocery Stores

I remember that one, too, although I'd forgotten the name.

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2012 01:13PM by Goomba17.

"When I was a kid in 1940's, early 50's we shopped at Mr. Neal's little Grocery Store which was on the West side of Hampton Rd. about a half block or so North of Lida Hooe Elem. School, it was next to the old Southland Ice Plant which later became Underwoods BBQ and also a funeral home was in there also......Mr. Neal keep a written list of our purchases and my Grandfather would pay the bill weekly......Bill Strouse"

The Neal's had a number of stores around Dallas back in the day. When I attended Long Junior High School in the late fifties, one of the Neal's, a young man probably in his twenties, ran a small store just down the street from my house on Lindell Street in the lower Greenville-Bryan area. I would stop in there for a soda pop after I finished my Dallas Times Herald route, and the route manager would meet with us boys (there were no paper girls) out front of that store.

Later, after returning to Oak Cliff and living in the Cockrell Hill area, the Neals lived near to us, in fact, next door to my brother on Preston Circle. That would likely have been a son of the Mr. Neal you knew on Hampton and the father of the young man who ran the store I frequented in East Dallas. They were still running the store on Hampton (iirc) among others at that time, in the early sixties. I dated one of the Neal girls, who also attended Kimball. Now I cannot remember her name!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2012 08:05AM by old man from dallas.

Steve, I am curious as to why you would refer to an area that was a definite part of Oak Cliff as being ("Mom always shopped at the Tom Thumb at the A. Harris Center, then, the "new" one at Camp Wisdom & Polk. Seems like this area was.... ) the edge of south Dallas at the time."

David

There was Elmer's, on Westmoreland and Kiest, useful for the Kimball crowd (circa 1983). They used Sprite syrup in the ICEE machine years before anyone else. Very Nice. There was also one on Brandon at either Pierce or Superior. I bought a sweet pinball machine (Bally Seawitch) from them when I was refurbing the house across the street (circa 1986 or so)

I grew up in one of those old mom and pop stores. My dad owned Davis grocery on the corner of pierce and brandon in oak cliff. He built the store and ran it for 35 years. What a great old store it was. I would love to go back and sack groceries on saturday one more time. Don Davis

Oh it was definitely Oak Cliff, I was just referring to the fact that there wasn't much development from about Wheatland Rd. to the south.

Ok. Just wanted to make sure that folks did not make the egregiuos yet common mistake of calling Oak Cliff "South Dallas." South Dallas is NE of the river. Everything to the SW (except West Dallas and Eagle Ford) is Oak Cliff.

One of the girls was Jan. i had a crush on her in the 2nd grade at lida hoe. We lived on Catherine. I knew mr neal. He was a nice man

Old man, you mentioned a funeral home north of Lida Hooe. It was Poole Funeral Home and built, I think, in the remains of the old Southland Ice plant that caught fire while I was in the 5th grade at Lida Hooe. I was a flunky there when I was 15yo and after 6wks soured on handling dead folks. Before that,however, a friend and I would crawl into the old collapsed ice plant and look around "requisitioning" many items. Originally, Poole's was up on Jefferson near Edgefield. Joe Poole was a nice guy. Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2012 07:55PM by jgoodman.

Old Man, I did not know Mr. Neal's son had a grocery store, we use to go to Mr. Neal's home (he was a friend of my Grandfather) which was on Sunset St. about a block or two West of Hampton Rd.......I know he had the little store in the 1930's, 40's and into the 1950's, maybe the 60's, do not know for sure........jgoodman, As I have probably told you before, I also played in that old Southland Ice Plant when I was a kiddo at Lida Hooe, was a very cool place to play.......as you said it was replaced by the Funeral Home and Underwoods BBQ in the late 50's or so.......Bill Strouse

In the 1950s, the little grocery on Hampton north of Lida Hooe was operated by two Neal brothers.
The taller, thin brother ran the meat market in the rear; the shorter, heavier brother ran the cash register up front.
Both were of late middle age at that time. I still remember their old ceiling fan shaped like an aeroplane.
I also played in the ruins of the ice plant next door, before the funeral home was built there.
The adjacent corner (SW corner of Hampton and Wentworth) was a vacant lot at the time.
Don't forget Ed Ormond's grocery on Hampton, south east of Lida Hooe school.
The larger "supermarket" around there was called Hodges, near Jim Town.

Does anybody here recall a little grocery on Bishop just south of Davis? It faced east and I remember it had creaky hardwood floors. This is late 40s when we lived on N. Madison. There was a small movie theater (they were all small back then) across the street and a little further south. The guy that ran the grocery store was a real curmudgeon....always arguing loudly about something. That's where mom liked to shop. I never understood why. Maybe the guy that ran the place had a mood disorder. Jim

The Neil bros store was bought by OB and Pauline Sims. I worked there in 1960-1961 when I was in High School at Kimball. They were great bosses - enjoyed working there. In 1961 they bought an existing larger store on Pierce St. and moved their operation there, closing the Hampton store. The old ice house next door had been converted into Pool Funeral Home when I worked at the grocery.

Wayne

jgoodman Wrote:
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> Does anybody here recall a little grocery on
> Bishop just south of Davis? It faced east and I
> remember it had creaky hardwood floors. This is
> late 40s when we lived on N. Madison. There was a
> small movie theater (they were all small back
> then) across the street and a little further
> south. The guy that ran the grocery store was a
> real curmudgeon....always arguing loudly about
> something. That's where mom liked to shop. I never
> understood why. Maybe the guy that ran the place
> had a mood disorder. Jim

It was called the Alert Market when my husband and I bought our house on Woodlawn in 1985. It lasted a couple more years before it went away like so many others.

altozwei: Where was Woodlawn? Did it run east-west ? Do you remember the the name of the theater on Bishop? I remember seeing Harvey there in 1950...the movie about the ghost rabbit starring Jimmy Stewart. Jim

One which I haven't seen mentioned before was Rambo's grocery on Saner Ave. I had the fun of sacking groceries there in 1947. Then the Oak Farms milk delivery driver offered me the fun of hustling milk bottles as he made his rounds to the various stops in Oak Cliff and the outlying areas. It was actually a very good Saturday job for a high schooler and he paid me more. Last time I was in Dallas I scouted the old neighborhood and the building housing Rambo's was still standing in a rather run down area That was about 8 years ago so it has most likely disappeared by now.

jgoodman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> altozwei: Where was Woodlawn? Did it run east-west
> ? Do you remember the the name of the theater on
> Bishop? I remember seeing Harvey there in
> 1950...the movie about the ghost rabbit starring
> Jimmy Stewart. Jim


Jim, I'm sorry I missed this earlier - Woodlawn runs north-south from Greenbriar down to Davis. At Davis, it becomes Adams and continues down to Delaware, where it deadends. I don't recall a theatre on Bishop. That likely predates me and is something that my mother either never mentioned or I've forgotten. My mother grew up in this neighborhood and often mentioned businesses in what is now called "Bishop Arts". I'm quite sure she and my dad would have patronized a movie theatre on Bishop, though, as they lived there in the Forey apartments for a number of years after they were married.

altozwei, here is the movie theatre you are likely referring to:

[www.facebook.com]

matthew stephenson Wrote:
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> altozwei, here is the movie theatre you are likely
> referring to:
>
> [www.facebook.com]
> 660&set=o.188408787859114&type=1&relevant_count=1&
> ref=nf


Thanks. I tried to look but the link didn't work for me.