Then

This was the Bay City General Store "back in the olden days" as I used to say as a kid. Now it seems strange when I hear kids today say that. You should see them take a look at a rotary dial telephone........they go huh? How does that work? I love it when they buy a "little bottle Coke" from the old 7-Up cooler. In order to keep with nostalgia, Coca-Cola didn't make the bottle caps twist off. They have to be opened with a bottle opener -- kids today do not know what that is and they look at me like I've fallen from another planet. Then you start talking about taking pop bottles back to the store to get money for the picture show and they just shake their heads and mutter something about "back in the olden days" and walk out texting on their blackberries. And us folks from the olden days wonder why blackberries aren't just for cobblers anymore?
We've tried to keep many facets of the old Bay City General Store alive -- same old gravity flow gas pump, same old worn oak counters, same old yardstick used to measure many yards of calico, same pot belly stove that warmed many a fingers and toes back in the olden days, the old grocery store shelves have stood the test of time and many of the friends and neighbors who shopped at the store back in the olden days have also stood the test of time and still shop in the Bay City General Store of now.