Corner Stores and Memories

I just finished reading Cardboard Gods, a book by Josh Wilker.  It is a memoir of Wilker’s youth, interspersed with connections to various baseball cards from 1974 to ’81.  His upbringing was totally different from mine, yet I have similar connections to various baseball cards from that era (my main collecting years).

It was an outstanding book, but Cardboard Gods left me feeling very nostalgic.  I longed for the days of going to the corner store, plopping down my dime and getting that wax pack of a dozen or so baseball cards.  In the simpler times of my youth, that alone was a good afternoon.

I loved that corner store.  It was like a Jewel condensed into a small room, except the owners always knew you and you always ran into someone else you knew.

These feelings of melancholy were floating through my head when I walked into Kostner Korner to purchase a fountain Coke.  On the other side of the counter were packs of 2012 baseball cards.  Suddenly it was 1974 again.

I should have realized this sooner.  Kostner Korner is my neighborhood store.  Aside from the parking lot, it even resembles the corner store of my youth.

I know Barb and her staff by name.  I run into my mail carrier and my neighbors regularly there.  Often I spend more time in conversation than purchasing things.

I have been going to Kostner Korner for about 20 years now.  When I started, it was a White Hen.  I even endured the short-lived switch from Coke to Pepsi in their soda fountain.

I never gave it much thought until now.  Kostner Korner is the closest thing to the mom and pop stores of my youth.  Sometimes I take the several block walk from my house to get a Coke, but really just to go there.  Maybe it was my youth calling me all along and I just now realized it.

Just for old times’ sake, I purchased a pack, which now costs a few dollars.  The wax wrapping is now foil and the cards are glossy imitations of cards gone by.  Yet, for a few minutes, I was that 9 year old hoping for a Bart Johnson or Rick Monday.