I’ve been wanting to blog about the old Safeway closing it’s doors for awhile now. These words have been on my mind and knowing myself and how I process things, they just won’t leave until I write them down. I took the photo with my phone so I’d have a visual of how it looked. I think we all have memories of places that live in our hearts , but how often do we stop and remember or speak of them? Here is my bittersweet good-bye to an old store:
An old Safeway store closes its doors. A new fresh & modern Safeway emerges and, “wow, it’s awesome”! It’s what our area has needed. Sometimes even a good change can be uncomfortable though. The old store wasn’t just any Safeway, it was “my Safeway”. I grew up going there week to week!
I drive by the big, old empty shell now and if I look that way, I can feel my heart drop a little. I know it’s just a grocery store and by looking at this photo; it’s not a very good looking one. It was time. It’s just that the old store was one of the many icons in my life.
I just can’t help think about how things used to be. If I close my eyes and remember….I see myself as a little girl with my mom walking down the aisles. I believe that my mom bought my first candy bar there, which means my chocolate love began behind those walls. Ah, my mom, I can see her in the store with her dark hair and loving big brown eyes. It was always a fun adventure to go shopping with her.
I remember when I got my first apartment and shopped in that store with my roommates. I have to smile now as I remember how we tried to buy all of our favorite foods, but with very little money. I think we lived on macaroni and cheese for months, so much that I can’t touch it today!
I began taking my own boys to that store when they were just babies. That’s probably where I bought their first candy bar. (I see a candy bar pattern here). It’s part of their past too. It fascinates me as I look at all of the simple, everyday memories that happened in a grocery store.
Can you remember any stores from your childhood that are no longer in your life? Do the memories make you smile now, too? I drive into our “downtown” area that was once the hub of shopping. As I stop and think about it, I can still see & hear the hustle and bustle of all of the friends and families shopping. Now the stores are closed and vacant buildings or offices sit in their place. We now shop in our little mall or on line! I know that change is part of growing older, but sometimes my mind likes to reminisce of how things once were.
I am ready to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. I went into the new fancy Safeway. The aisles are wide; there is a bakery, a floral department and a Starbucks! It’s what I have been waiting for. It’s like the “big city” stores. My grandkids will grow up with their own memories of the new Safeway. It will be one of the icons in their own lives.
Life is an adventure in so many ways. It’s nice to see that things change….yet things stay the same.
This is a sweet and honoring way of saying good-bye to an old way of life.
Thank you Gail. That’s a good way to put it…..”saying good bye to an old way of life”. Very true.
“I have memoriesas well of the old Safeway. Mom purchased a Tennessee Ernie Ford record album there for me. A friend of mine worked in the bakery there. I went to the store with her often. Sometimes I would go inside and at other times I liked to sit in the car and watch people walking into the store while Mom ran inside. When I visit Eureka, I’ve always liked visiting the old Safeway. So many other old stores remain in my heart, like Dalys and Bistrins…Learners… My sister sent me a piece of jewelry from Dalys in one of their beautiful boxes. I still have it. Thank you for sharing precious memories … and sentiments. Thank you sister Debi! Love this blog!
Thank you Sharon. It feels good to read your memories too. Kinda strange a closing store can bring our memories up again. They are good ones.
Thinking on the old safeway store causes my heart to drop alittle also for my fondest memories were centered around that old store, not as a child but in my twenties and thirties, most every day mama would come by and pick me up and I’d go with her to the safeway store and then we’d go to the freshfreeze and she would always get me a pineapple malt to strengthen me in my health and put some weight on my bones she’d always say. that was our special time together to talk and just share and spend time together, I so looked forward to that every day cause that was our time me and mama’s, so making memories with those you love and value and who love you are so important cause when there gone we will always have those special memories to cherish and hold on to in our heart.yeah every time I am in Eureka the old safeway is the first place I go to capture once again my special memories with mama:)cause thats where most of them are. thanks Debi for sharing this article of the old safeways closing.