Almost every neighborhood in New Bedford had a general store on the corner

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

While there were larger supermarkets like Almacs, A&P and Fernandes, the neighborhood stores were just so our parents could send us kids out on our bikes to get a loaf of bread, a liter of milk or some other staple that ran out between supermarket trips.

We bought penny candy at the neighborhood stores. If you ran an errand to the general store, you would usually get ten cents worth of penny candy to carry home in a little brown paper bag.

You could also buy trading cards in the neighborhood stores. Sports cards, especially baseball cards, were popular back then. We would save the good ones and attach the not so good ones with clothespins to the spokes of our bicycle tires to make a noise when we rode.

The various stores also had the latest wrestling and youth magazines, which we were keen to get. There was no internet back then, so we bought magazines to follow our heroes.

I grew up on the north side of town. I remember the stores near where I lived, like Brooklawn Variety on Acushnet Avenue, Al’s Variety on Church Street, and Robert’s Market on Ashley Boulevard.

There were others whose names I have now forgotten.

You probably had some favorite neighborhood stores as a kid and have fond memories of them. Tell us where they were and what made them special by joining in on our Facebook page or using our app’s in-app chat.