| 9/22/2007 9:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | |
| Bob Brittingham, 89, laughs while reminiscing about his days as
manager of a downtown Madison five & dime store. Now, he spends a lot of time in his woodworking shop behind his house on Michigan Road. Getting him to talk makes it clear that....
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Stories from the
five & dime
are priceless
Pat Whitney
Courier Staff Writer
Remember the smell of hot roasted peanuts and chocolates that used to draw you into the local five & dime, keeping you hostage until you'd bought at least a quarter pound?
Those were the days when Morris' and G.C. Murphy's on Main Street attracted shoppers to seemingly endless aisles of candy, clothing and odds and ends, long before shopping centers and superstores redirected shoppers to the burbs.
Bob Brittingham remembers it well.
About the same time that Sam Walton was getting his feet wet in the "five & dime" business, spawning the world's largest retailer, Brittingham was opening up Morris' 5 & 10 to Main Street shoppers, writing his own success story - on a much smaller scale.
Brittingham turned down a college scholarship and started his career, too gregarious to take time out for college and the frolic that might accompany it. Instead, at 20, he took a job with Morris five & dime in New Castle, then joined the Air Force. He served in the military for three years, returning to New Castle where he was eventually promoted to manage his own store.
"The general manager offered me a choice of six places to go," said Brittingham, a native of Princeton, Ind. "I chose Madison because I had grown up in southern Indiana and I liked Madison."
Brittingham, his wife Vera and son Alan, now a retired engineer who lives in North Vernon, set out for the river city whose commerce and residential areas were still centered in downtown.
When the Brittinghams moved to the top of Michigan Road hill in 1948, the street was a scene out of Courier and Ives, very rural, with only a sprinkling of homes.
"Our home was on the corner of a huge farm," he said. "There was little else around. There certainly weren't the housing developments that were to come."
One room of their home was once used to collect tolls for the Old Michigan Toll Road. The road was used for driving stock down to the river. The stock huddled on land where their next-door-neighbors now live.
Long before marketing was a degree program, Brittingham was already in the business of attracting customers to his store.
"The big change came when they freed the bridge," he said, noting that until then there was a toll to cross.
After the toll was removed, Kentucky residents starting coming across the bridge more frequently.
"I hired employees from all around Indiana and Kentucky - places like Milton, Carrollton and Bedford," he said. "It was good customer relations to hire them. People would cross the river and shop at the store because they knew someone working there."
G.C. Murphy's eventually bought the store and made Brittingham manager for the Midwest-centered department store chain, buying out all the Morris five & dime stores.
"We moved every item in the store, crossing the street to the four-store building adjacent to Madison Bank and Trust," he said.
G.C. Murphy's took up three floors with the fourth used for a storeroom. Brittingham managed all 48 departments, hiring 80 girls to work selling everything from sewing machines to greeting cards. And, of course, candy. According to Brittingham, he doubled business almost overnight.
"I used to tell my girls that if a farmer came in, to give him a sample of candy," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "I don't think one ever left the store without buying a pound or two."
Peanut clusters and chocolate drops were favorites in those days. So was fudge bought in giant slabs and cut into individual chunks.
"At one point, we even considered selling cars," he added with a smirk. "We also sold furniture. One Easter, back when ladies wore hats, I sold 24 in one day."
The Brittinghams enjoyed boating with several Madison families during those days. The retail guru was also a member of the Retail Merchants Association, Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce and Masonic Lodge as civic-minded individuals did in those days.
"I even water-skied all the way from Madison to Louisville one time without going down," he said.
Brittingham retired 35 years ago, giving him more time to enjoy his Canadian vacation home and fishing. He built four log cabins along Big Creek, east of Dupont, on land he owns and constructed a 145-foot cable swinging footbridge over Big Creek.
The Brittinghams have since passed on their vacation home to the next generation. They have one grandson, one granddaughter, two great-grandsons and a great-granddaughter.
Today, the 89-year-old spry gentleman with nimble fingers and a dance in his step still refuses to let dust settle beneath his feet. Instead, there is a pile of sawdust and woodshavings.
"I spend a lot of my time in my workshop, doing woodworking," he said. "I probably give away more than I sell."
He builds everything from cedar chests and gun cabinets to plant stands and slatted patio furniture, made from five different woods. What he sells, he simply puts out by the road.
Outside the structure directly behind his home, a sign reads "Bob's Piddle Whittle Shop." The walls of the adjacent three-car garage where he keeps wood for his projects, stores items he builds, his tools and fishing rods are all organized in neat rows as if merchandise on store shelves.
Dozens of Louis L'Amour western novels - books he escapes into regularly - line a shelf.
"I do what I please these days," he said. "I told the doctor I give my pacemaker a good workout. But keeping busy is what has kept me in good health."
Vera, his wife of 67 years, who prefers to work inside the house, takes comfort that her husband is only steps away.
Today, Brittingham's stores that brought people to Main Street are but a memory, many of the employees he hired gone. A lot has changed since the days of the 5 & 10 cent stores. Cost is one.
"I used to sell a set of door hinges for 24 cents apiece," he said. "I just bought one for $2.95."
The people have changed too.
"When I first came to Madison, John Knoebel took me up and down all the streets, introducing me to everyone in town," he said. "I knew all their first names. But now I don't know many anymore," he added, pointing to a sea of houses built to the west and north of his Michigan Road house.
"I was always glad I chose Madison," said Brittingham, who owns more than a little of its history.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, September 24, 2007
Article comment by:
Linda Orlett
What a great story. I remember going into G.C. Murphy's on Saturday mornings. It was the best place to get those little packs of angora for the young man's ring you were supporting at the time. Thank you for those memories.
Posted: Sunday, September 23, 2007
Article comment by:
rOBERT BEVERLY
When I was a small boy my father took me into the G.C. Murphy store every Saturday. I remember most of all the fantastic aromas of all the candys.The floor down was a pet shop I believe. a small toy was allways purchased for my sister and I.
Posted: Sunday, September 23, 2007
Article comment by:
Pat Scroggins
What delightful memories the article about Mr. Brittingham and the old G.C. Murphy store brought back. The thought of those hot roasted peanuts and mouthwatering gooey chocolate fudge evoke equally sweet memories of special treats for good behavior while Mom shopped for boring things like socks and handkerchiefs. I love the big shopping malls, and the Super Wal-Mart, but the view up and down Main Street was certainly more attractive than the acres of concrete parking lots we see today. As an 8-year old, I was fascinated by J.C. Penney's newfangled system of pulleys that sent little metal cannisters zipping back and forth to a central cashier. Now we "mature" folks are learning the ins and outs of self-service checkout lanes. I wonder what things the next generation will talk about when they say "do you remember". Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I look forward to other similar stories.
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