Finding our links in History - One Genealogist's thoughts, tidbits, and inspirations - All very much randomly posed.
One person's life does not stand-alone but interacts with family, neighbors, community, and history. Our Trees become Tangled just by living. --
T.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Thrifty Drug Stores & the 5 cent Scoop
Thrifty Drug Stores: where they had the best ice cream for just 5cents/scoop.
A summertime delight was just a dime and a bicycle ride away.
I remember going to Thrifty's after church every Sunday for a scoop of ice cream! I think they cost more than a dime by that time though. Was it also a grocery store? All I remember was the ice cream counter. :)
I started at Thrifty's in 1988 and it was $.35 a scoop and $.65 for a double scoop. Of course minimum wage in Ca was $3.25. Thrifty's was a drug store that sold many household goods with primary focus on OTC medications and health and beauty. Beer, wine and spirits were a large part of sales but the only food not for weekly sales was snack types like nuts, crackers and chips. The company was slow to embrace technology. Everything was priced by hand and the Sweda registers could be run with a crank handle when the power went out. I sure miss those days.
In 1980 I was 18 and took part in opening a new Thrifty Drug store, numbered 617, located just north of Los Angeles, located in Thousand Oaks, Ca. The Ice-cream we served was the best, at that time it was .15$ cents per scoop. As a young stock boy, I would be either stocking shelves, operating a register, or serving up ice- cream. I always enjoyed scooping ice-cream and conversing with the customers. some of my foundest memories are working in the store. Interest rates for home purchases were well over 10%, so getting a great scoop of ice-cream served via a round scooper for next to nothing was a real treat. A half gallon of the packaged Thrifty ice-cream cost between 1.99$ and 2.59$ and we sold lots of it. At some point thr stores all seemed to turn into Rite-Aids. Too bad about the loss of the ice- cream counter, but every now and then you can still find Double Chocolate Malted Crunch.....
I remember going to Thrifty's after church every Sunday for a scoop of ice cream! I think they cost more than a dime by that time though. Was it also a grocery store? All I remember was the ice cream counter. :)
ReplyDeleteI started at Thrifty's in 1988 and it was $.35 a scoop and $.65 for a double scoop. Of course minimum wage in Ca was $3.25. Thrifty's was a drug store that sold many household goods with primary focus on OTC medications and health and beauty. Beer, wine and spirits were a large part of sales but the only food not for weekly sales was snack types like nuts, crackers and chips. The company was slow to embrace technology. Everything was priced by hand and the Sweda registers could be run with a crank handle when the power went out. I sure miss those days.
ReplyDeleteAnd the scoops were good sized -- no skimpy dallops. Thanks for the memories.
ReplyDeleteIn 1980 I was 18 and took part in opening a new Thrifty Drug store, numbered 617, located just north of Los Angeles, located in Thousand Oaks, Ca. The Ice-cream we served was the best, at that time it was .15$ cents per scoop. As a young stock boy, I would be either stocking shelves, operating a register, or serving up ice- cream. I always enjoyed scooping ice-cream and conversing with the customers. some of my foundest memories are working in the store. Interest rates for home purchases were well over 10%, so getting a great scoop of ice-cream served via a round scooper for next to nothing was a real treat.
ReplyDeleteA half gallon of the packaged Thrifty ice-cream cost between 1.99$ and 2.59$ and we sold lots of it. At some point thr stores all seemed to turn into Rite-Aids. Too bad about the loss of the ice- cream counter, but every now and then you can still find Double Chocolate Malted Crunch.....