The Corner Store

There once was a time when the Corner Store on Glen Avenue offered fresh cut meats. I believe the owner at the time was a professional meat cutter and kept an abundant meat cooler in the back of the store.

Today this would be regarded as a culinary delight by the residents of Ridgewood and Midland Park. The high quality meats and the closeness of the store would have surley enticed many people from the neighborhood used to paying top dollar for fine meats. In the 1960s and 1970s an energetic meat seller might have been able to make a go of the Corner Store. Though as time went on and his energy faded and he sold the store the idea of local meats couldn't compete with the supermarkets. I can recall four A&Ps in our immediate town which could easily undercut the prices of a corner store. Yes, we had to drive to them and we didn't recognize the meat cutters who prepared are meats but the prices couldn't be beat and we could get everything we needed in a single trip.

I often asked my Mom why she didn't buy more from the Corner Store. The answer was always the same, that the Corner Store was more expensive. Little did I know my parents were scrimping and saving to put three boys through prep school and college. The pennies added up and they did eventually send my brothers to prep school and all three of us to college and graduate school.

I passed the Corner Store last week. They now deliver pizza.