Shopping in the downtown area is mostly conducive to foot traffic. Most people these days select the malls, online shopping or are just too busy zipping through traffic to be aware of all the fine shops you can find downtown. We visited the needlecraft store and watched them spin skeins of home dyed yarns. Then stepped into the hobby store to admire the elaborate train system traveling every square inch of the miniature world the proprietor had created. We were treated to house specials, coffees and tees of every variety. Baby specialty shops and even an exclusive “Made in New Hampshire” shop were some of the treasures we found.
The store front windows were delightfully dressed for the holiday and we enjoyed pausing at each to examine the intricate detail in each. Winter scenes or Santa with his elves hard at work all cleverly contrived dioramas. At the next window we stopped short, our mouths dropping open. Displayed in the window were products I have not seen in years. In fact some of them were products my parents used, or even my grandparents. Is this place one of those “we’ll help you sell your stuff on eBay places” I wondered? I lifted my eyes to the sign above the door. Oh my, it’s an old fashioned, never ever found these days, honest to goodness, Five and Dime.
I shifted my gaze from the window display and peered into the shop. It ran deep and narrow with shelves lining the walls and shelving along the floor creating a network maze of long forgotten necessities of the past. Thimbles, scissors, door mats, pots and pans, contact paper, egg timers and the most beautiful cookie jar you can imagine. It was certainly a relic from the 1950’s. The well preserved ceramic surface sill shined. It beckoned my five-year-old self to lift the lid and reach inside.
I wondered what the asking price might be, though what I would do with a cookie jar these days in the health conscious world I did not know. I wandered up and down the isles looking for a clerk. Way to the back I found two wizen individuals barely 5 feet tall. Each, sporting a head of snow white hair, and wearing clothing in keeping with the time period of the shop.
As I approached them I passed the cash register and again, stopped short. It was then that I knew the doorway I stepped through was a portal into another time. I stood admiring the beauty of this machine. The gold and guild work barely worn from the surface, unlike the keys that showed much use. I wondered if I would need cash? I didn’t see a card reader and keypad so typical in today’s transactions of debit and credit cards. Not even a credit card form was to be seen on the counter. Then again, even if they had the carbon copy variety of thirty years ago, would I want to chance such a thing in today’s world of identity theft?
In the end, since I’m not a cash carrying individual, I chatted with the ancient ones, and asked politely if I may take a photo of their cash register. If I often feel as if I’m being left behind in the technology world, this indeed was a good example of how not keeping up with the times can become a liability. The old folks could probably supplement their income nicely if they could access the Internet. Still on a smaller scale, I would now own a great cookie jar had I carried cash. For a brief moment I straddled two periods of time, yet the distance was too great for either of us to fully reach across. The lesson I came away with shouted volumes in my ear, that the effort need to keep up in this fast paced world is not an option.
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