Shopping memories

Lola Ensminger, center, shops with
daughter Lucy (Mallett), right, and her
daughter, Joanna in the 1940s-50s.
Easton owned Easton's Studio on
East Broadway and sold shoppers
pictures.

It's time for back-to-school shopping, which reminds us of what it was like when we got ready to end the summer as children.
Besides placing orders for mail delivery from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog, back-to-school shopping always involved a trip to Muskogee, which was always exciting because the downtown had so many shops. There was Sears where the Learning Ladder is today on Broadway. But it extended all the way to Okmulgee with its automotive section.
Down the street was the J.C. Penney Store in what is now GK Furniture. The mezzanine was always interesting to me - not a full floor. I always wondered what the point was. The elevator had a full-time operator, as did all elevators in town.
There was also Hunt's, Calhoun's and several other large department stores. I don't remember going to Kress's or TG&Y much, but that could have been because we lived in Wagoner and had our own five and dime - Haney's Ben Franklin.
Not to be missed was shopping at the Big J Store on what is now the vacant lot across from Pisano's Pizza. And Kahn's, just east of City Hall. I still remember the smell and the creak of the wood floors and the tables stacked with merchandise. Price, not display, is what brought their customers in. I don't think they had mannequins. Of course, we were a farm family and liked western clothes, so Bully Good at Main and Okmulgee was another of our favorites.
I don't recall having a long school supply list. If there was, it involved a box of crayons, No. 2 lead pencils and a package of wide-ruled paper and three-ring binder. There was no requirement for boxes of Kleenex, germicidal wipes or special markers. A cigar box served as a pencil box.
We didn't realize how simple - and great - times were then, but we knew shopping in Muskogee was a great adventure!