Nearly Every New Bedford Neighborhood Had a Corner Variety Store

Neighborhood markets and corner variety stores, later known as convenience stores, were a staple in most neighborhoods in New Bedford when I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s.

Larger supermarkets such as Almacs, A&P and Fernandes were there, but the neighborhood stores existed for our parents to send us kids off on our bikes to fetch a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, or some other staple that ran low between supermarket visits.

The neighborhood stores were where we bought penny candy. Running an errand to the variety store usually earned you a dime's worth of penny candy that you carried home in a small brown paper bag.

Get our free mobile app

The neighborhood stores were also a place to buy trading cards. Sports cards, especially baseball cards, were popular then. We'd save the good ones and hook the not-so-good ones to the spokes of our bike tires with clothespins to create a sound as we rode.

The variety of stores also sold the latest wrestling and teen magazines we craved. We didn't have the internet back then, so we bought magazines to follow our heroes.

I grew up in the North End of the city. I remember the stores near where I lived, such as Brooklawn Variety on Acushnet Avenue, Al's Variety on Church Street, and Robert's Market on Ashley Boulevard.

There were others, the names of which escape me now.

You probably had some favorite neighborhood stores of your own as a child and have fond memories of them. Tell us where and what made them special by chiming in on our Facebook page or using App Chat on our app.