Recently I wrote a piece about the demise of the old-fashioned hardware store. Well, another retail business genre that’s dipping below the horizon is the local book and office supply store. Shot from the saddle by the young bloods in town, Staples and Office Max.
In my hometown, Greenfield, OH, we had Gossett’s Bookstore. Gossett’s began selling paper, pins, thumb tacks, gifts, books, accounting supplies, typewriters, adding machines, ditto machines, postage scales, staples, paperclips, pencils, pens, crayons, tempera paint and artist supplies, all-occasion cards, Sunday School supplies, school supplies and workbooks, and much more since before Saint Peter strolled in one day and ordered some very large blank journals.
Seriously, every person who ever walked the streets of Greenfield, beginning in 1841, could relate some pleasant memory of doing business at Gossett’s. If a chemist were to enter his lab and synthesize the aromas of all the items I’ve listed above and then mix that blend with the essential oils of aged oak flooring, rubber floor treads, white wheat paste, and memo-fluid, he might have something that resembled the wonderful aroma that was Gossett’s.
Gossett’s was where you went to get birthday party supplies, Valentine cards, candy Easter eggs, 4th of July bunting and flags, crêpe paper for turning farm wagons into homecoming floats, decorations for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They even had a secret drawer where they hid “gag” gifts. Plus, and for me this is a major plus, it’s where you went to get those things needed to scare the bejesus out of your neighbors at Halloween.
To my young mind, nobody on this earth had a better supply of Halloween masks than Gossett’s. Everything from the simplest Lone Ranger style mask with the cheap elastic band that held it over your eyes to the, way too expensive for me, state of the art mega ghoulish molded rubber mask. We had an older kid in the neighborhood who had a rubber Frankenstein mask and every time he put that thing on, even if at Christmas, it would scare me. Probably says something about me being a wuss!
Sometime in late September Gossett’s would put their selection of Halloween decorations, costumes, and mask on display. Several times each week I’d stop in there to stare at all the possibilities if one only had the money. About the only mask I could ever afford were the cheap paper face masks. But every visit stoked the fire. Every stop at Gossett’s added, in a Bolero-esque fashion, to the anticipation of what was to come at the end of October, Trick or Treat Night!
Everyone, I’m sure, has their favorite memories from childhood, and I have many. But, one of my favorites will always be, going to Gossett’s BOO(k) Store!
Follow up: Susan Caplinger Thompson sent me this b&w photo of Gossett’s showing some of their Halloween mask collection. The lady in the photo is Wilma Gossett Everhart who, along with her brother Thad, ran the store for decades.
I just loved going there to get my school supplies, seeing my aunt and Maxine and Mable Compton who worked there. I revived my first Bible from there, and yes the smell is unforgettable. Such fond memories. W
All my Nancy Drew books came from Gossets and I still cherish each adventure.
Ahhhh…Gossett’s… It brings back such memories of excitment. Our family routine: We would go to the school…walk up the the glass windows and see who our teacher was and who was in our class. We would head to Gossett’s to get all the supplies that we needed and then some. I loved the sound of the creaky floors as we walked through the store, and of course the smell…great memories.
I lived for going to Gossett’s every August. Gossett’s is where we bought all of our school supplies, from the crayons and paste that almost every kid in my kindergarten class ate on a daily basis, to the calligraphy set my mother purchased for Ms. (Daniels) Rivas’ art class. Of course, August wasn’t the only time I would visit the great store. I would find any excuse to walk or ride my bike downtown just so I could go in to look at and touch everything. I remember it seemed like they had every pen,pencil, marker and piece of paper that was ever manufactured. My favorite memory would have to be getting to buy a box of chalk ,just like the teachers used, a chalkboard eraser and a holder for the chalk that worked kinda like a mechanical pencil. I miss stores like that. Those are the stores you didn’t just go in and get what you need and rush out. You took your time and examined and touched and smelled. It was a true shopping experience…
Yes the smell! I loved school and was so happy when the school supplies showed up in the fall. I remember they had a list of each grade level supplies and they were put together all in one place. It was also where you went to buy Bibles and other church supplies. I think they had the VBS supplies, does anyone remember that?
Gossett’s sold VBS supplies and when the went out of business the Hallmark store purchased their religious inventory and created such a department in their store.
I loved the smell of the store. They always had everything you needed for school. I would look at the books wanting everyone I saw. Bought several I still with my lunch money.
The neatest thing about Gossett’s was the help they would give you and that you could buy onesy and twosys and not have to buy a whole pack of something!
You described that smell perfectly! I loved going in Gossett’s as a child.