White's Cash Store

In the late 1940’s, White’s Cash Store came into existence. My grandparents, Quincy White and Neta Alvis White, purchased the grocery store from Arlie Snider. They moved from their home at the bottom of the hill on Morgan Street and lived in the back room of the store. The store was located on the corner of State Street and Morgan Street. It looked very much like this picture that was on Facebook. I am not certain of the owner of this picture in order to give credit. It may have been from Roger Pennington’s collection.

The fire station was located in the part of the building to the left. In the center was a taxi stand and to the right was the store. Above the store was the Athens Telephone Company. The operator in the late 40’s and early 50’s was Mrs. Mastin. She lived in an apartment there and in the room facing State Street, there was a switchboard which was, by my 5 year old standards, completely magical! 

The store was downstairs and had double doors on the corner of the building. It is my understanding that a bank was previously located there and it was once owned by a Mr. Thornton. The floor of the store was a few inches above street level and was made of well worn and well oiled wood. An advertisement for Sunbeam Bread provided handles for the screen door covering double doors with glass inserts.

As you enter the store, there is a counter along the wall facing the doors with shelving behind it. On the left end of the counter is a glass  cabinet with three shelves. The bottom had boxes of penny candy --- Tootsie Pops, licorice whips, Mary Janes, Tootsie Rolls, Dum-Dum lollipops, and other assorted sweet treats. On the second shelf above the one-cent treats were the nickel candy bars --- Hershey’s, Zero, Payday, Three Musketeer, Snickers  --- to name a few. On the third shelf was an assortment of chewing gum and 10-cent boxes of cough drops and 5-cent packages of tissues. The “candy man” who I later knew as Mr. Sarver kept the candy case well stocked. My sister and I considered the candy case as the most important real estate in the store! 

Beneath the front windows which faced State Street were large built in bins which held fresh produce in the summer and potatoes and onions in the winter. The windows were often covered with large signs facing the outside advertising special “sale” prices. These were made from freezer paper and written on with black markers with tips that were renewed by tearing a paper wrapping. I don’t remember what they were called.

To the right of the center of the counter was a big black cash register. When the handle on the side was pulled, a bell would ring, and the money drawer would open. This was forbidden territory for my sister and I although we were occasionally allowed to pull the handle down, but only with permission. 

Located on one of the shelves on the wall behind the cash register was a box containing books with names written on the spines. These were itemized records of purchases charged by the family whose name was on the book. On payday, customers would come in and pay their bill. Most paid it in full which was rewarded by their choice of one of the layer cakes which occupied the top shelf of the bread rack. Some would only pay a portion with the promise to pay the rest soon. This practice of keeping these books made me question why it was called White’s Cash Store! Along with the box of books, the cigarettes and tobacco products were also kept on the shelves behind the counter. There were two wooden ladder back chairs with woven bottoms behind the counter. 

Beside of the cash register was a basket of eggs that were locally sourced. Folks would trade them for grocery items or sell them to the store. To the right of the egg basket was a big white scale. Under the counter on a shelf were brown paper sacks of various sizes. During the summer, fresh produce was placed in the sacks and weighed and, at Christmas, nuts and candies. This was something that I was allowed to do while standing on one of the chairs.

On the right side of this same shelving unit were the canned goods, laundry detergent, cleaning products and toilet paper. The large wooden telephone was located on the wall at the end of the shelves.  There was a door to the back rooms on the wall to the right of the phone. Beside of that door was an alcove which held a large safe and a window to the back room. I always assumed that this was a configuration left intact from when it was a bank. Floor to ceiling shelving continued around the rest of the store to the front doors. 

In front of the alcove and to the right was a refrigerated case holding meats (luncheon meat, bologna, pimento loaf, and hamburger) and cheeses (cheddar, and what my Grandma called Cooking Cheese) with access doors on the back side. Also, milk, buttermilk and margarine were in this case. There was a meat slicer on a butcher block. Grandma often made sandwiches for the men who worked for the town. 

To the right and in front of the shelves, was a pop machine. It was bright yellow with Royal Crown Cola written on it. Glass bottles of assorted soda were hanging from a slotted rack with cold water circulated around them to keep them cold. When a nickel was inserted into the machine it activated a release mechanism and the soda could be removed by sliding the bottle to a spot where it could be pulled up and out of the machine. I remember when the price was increased to 7 cents and customers would remove the bottle and then pay Grandma the 2 extra cents at the counter. Later a second machine (Coca-Cola) would be installed beside the front door. 

In the center of the store was a pot bellied wood stove which was quickly replaced by an electric heater. Keeping the fire burning was not a chore that my grandparents wanted to do. Beside of the heater was a bread rack with three shelves. On the bottom shelf were loaves of sliced white bread for sandwiches as well as some specialty breads such as whole wheat and salt rising. On the second shelf was an assortment of snack cakes and cookies. Most of the snack cakes and pies were either 5 or 10 cents each. On the top shelf were layer cakes and pound cakes. The “breadmen” from Sunbeam bakery and Betsy Ross Bakery maintained the racks on their weekly visits. 

In front and to the right of the candy case was the ice cream freezer. It was a box like shape with doors on the top. It held brown mules, creamsicles, popsicles, and fudge bars which were 5-cents and ice cream sandwiches which were 10-cents. Grandma Neta used to break the popsicles in two for my sister and me.

In the corner near the telephone was the back door which opened to the “back room”. This is where Grandma and Grandpa lived when they first bought the store. There was a large sink to the left after going up one step immediately inside of the back door. To the right was a hot plate on a shelf. There were curtains dividing the room keeping  two twin beds and a toilet out of sight. There was also a door to the outside. On the wall beside of the hot plate was the door to the “feed room”. When I was in elementary school, I spent many hours in this room playing with my sister and my cousin, Mitzi. There were stacks and stacks of colorful sacks of feed and flour. This was our version of ball pit at MacDonalds where my grandkids played. We spent hours rearranging the sacks to make playhouses and jumping from one to the other. We were warned many times to be careful not to puncture or tear them. There was a door that opened out to the street on the Morgan Street side of the store. Here purchases could be loaded into customer’s vehicles. 

My Grandmother died unexpectedly in the early evening of her birthday in 1955. My world was forever altered on that day. My Uncle and Aunt became the owners of the store and the following year the store was enlarged to include the taxi stand area, a concrete floor replaced the wooden floor, a Juke box and pinball machines were installed and it immediately became a hangout for the high school students before and after school and at lunchtime. To my 11 year old self,  the difference was overwhelming and it was no longer my happy place while I am certain that many teenagers in Athens found it just that!!