710 9th Street North (or North 41) I don't have many Kwik/Chek stories my mom was a Publix cashier so you can figure where Homeboy's family loyalty was. I could piece together others stories but if you have a GOOD Kwik Chek story send it my way & I'll post it. I could tell Barry Johnson's water fountain story, Jeanie Rouse's cole slaw making story. I have bits & pieces of stories but we usually drove past it on the way to Publix. I know Publix was like going to Fort Myers but it was a 2 part trip pick up mom & grocery shop too.....
RE comments: I did not know Kwik Chek was formerly on 1st @ Hartleys!
More info from my reference bored, Pearlie Riner (I believe he was the city fire chief at one time also) opened the Trail Supermarket @ 1st & 41 in 1951. In May of 1958 sold it to Kwik Chek & then built the strip mall where Kwik Chek is in the above photo. Don't you just love this unknown little Naples history? Hi 5's to my commentor's & reference bored!
This picture is actually the second location for Kwik Chek.The first one was on the northeast corner of 41 and first ave south.Hartly's Variety Store moved in after Kwik Chek moved up by 7th.Us Lake Park Elemetary hooligans used to stop by after school and shoplift candy,until we were caught.Damn one way mirrors....We were told to never come back in the store.After that my mom could never figure out why I would always sit in the car while she went shopping.This must have been the begining of my life of crime.
ReplyDeleteYep, I have to agree with Anonymous on the Hartley's part of his/her story. The automatic electric doors were on the corner on 1st ave s. and parking was sparse on the side of 1st. And of course you used to be able to park in the parking lane on 41 also. Or as we used to call it the hamburger lane :)~
ReplyDeleteMental picture coming into focus now....
Scott Boxwell
Circle3Ranch
I remember working at Kwik Chek in 1967 for $1.65 an hour and all the beer you could sneak out the back door and hide for retrieval later. Since they were closed on Sunday, one of the perks of working on Saturday was they let you take home the unsold pies and rotisserie chicken.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember a dumpster, but we had a big incinerator in the back that we burned garbage in. It had big steel doors and looked like the gates of Hell when you opened it. One day the late Dennis Sligh and I were on garbage duty and Dennis pulled a little too hard on the door, which jumped off the track and came crashing down, breaking his foot, and giving me a valuable safety lesson for future details.
One of my many duties was to unload 50# bags of fertilizer from a truck and stack them on pallets in front of the store. One day, with the temperature well into the 90's, and considering the nature of the task, I removed my tie and was stacking away when the manager came up and berated me for taking off my tie and reminded me that we had a company image to uphold. I pointed out that since it was hotter than hell, and I was carrying bags of cow shit, the tie seemed unnecessary, if not ridiculous. He disagreed,so I had to put the tie back on and finish the job. When I was done I went back inside to bag groceries in my sweat soaked, fertilizer stained white shirt, but my tie, and the company image, were intact.
Stumpy
My mom was telling me back in 56 they had one water fountain that was for "white" and one said" colored' is that your fountain story?
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