I was raised in the 1950s and '60s. So, I remember the older Acme stores very well. In my hometown of Akron, Ohio is where Acme originated. I didn't know the history of the chain back then but I knew the stores. I went with my parents grocery shopping at Acme every week.

Back then there was a small strip mall in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio called the State Road Shopping Center. It was a two block long string of stores and shops and at it's far end was Acme, right next to Montgomery Ward.

Every Friday night, after dinner, my folks and I would pile into the old '58 Packard sedan and head to State Road Shopping Center. Back then you didn't run to the store everyday for stuff like people do now. You had days of the week for these trips. Grocery shopping for us was Friday evenings.

Once at the plaza, dad and I would head over to Montgomery Ward to look over the tools and guns. He would always stop at the candy counter where we bought candies by the pound in the little paper bags. While we were at Wards, mom was at Acme doing the weekly grocery shopping. Back then we didn't have super stores. Acme sold groceries and that was about it.

Mom got what we needed from the store using her shopping list that she had written out all week. Then, going through the checkout, she would get those little tax stamp tickets that were actually worthless. But she would also get the S&H Green Stamps that were worth their weight in gold...or merchandise.

Back then there were no computers or digital this and that to clutter our lives. The cash registers were simply press the buttons and the paper sales slip came out. There were employees that actually bagged our purchases and they were mostly always young men. And the groceries went into paper bags, not plastic. Also the shopping carts seemed a lot heavier. But that may have been because I was a lot lighter.

In the parking lots then, there were no handicap spots because handicap people were expected to walk like everyone else, not matter how far that was. That's one thing today that IS an improvement.

Back then it was a very different time. And Acme was a very different store than it is today. The stores were smaller because there was no where near the volume of merchandise that we have today. There was not 700 different flavors of cereal. There were no Ding Dongs, King Dongs, etc. The only Ding Dong was the woman in front at the checkout who had to count every penny in her pocketbook. Yes we had weirdos back then too.

Acme stores have come a long way just like everything else. And looking back, I really don't know if that's an improvement. The stores then were smaller and the merchandise was less. But the the stores were friendlier and seemed a lot warmer, and I don't mean in degrees. But the times they are a changin'. And not for the better. So, I will just remember Acme stores as I do everything else...with fond memories.