By Cherie Salerno
Somewhere in time, I recall the dime store days. The first store I went to as a child stands out as a Dime Store, located on Armitage near Kedzie, Chicago. I can't recall the name or if I ever knew it! I only remember it had many great treasures like little toys and candies. I always went there with my mom, Hennie (I called her Mum-Ma back then), and as I grew older, I'd walk there alone. My Mom gave me an allowance of .10 to .25 each week. I always spent it at the dime store. Sometimes, I saved it and had more to spend. Believe it or not, that amount bought many things back then, a few of which I still have today! Those beloved "things" are my pipe cleaner animals, which hang on my Christmas tree each year. They are weathered, but I love them the same. I lived about two blocks from the Dime Store in a 3rd-floor apartment, just my mom and me. (Father gone since I was six. He was a real goof and a drunk and gambler). My address from birth was in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood area, around Albany and Cortland. I lived there until I was about 10. Then we moved around the corner, in the same building, to the 2nd floor, which was a little smaller of an apartment. That old Dime Store still lives vividly in my memories, with its creaking wood floors and the bare wood spots where the varnish had worn off from age.
(Kind of like people!)
