A Store of Store Stories
I’ve mentioned before in my blog the stores of Gabriel’s and Gabriel Brothers. I saw television advertisements saying that they remodeled and renamed their stores. We locals have always shortened the name and lovingly called the store Gabe’s. That is now their new name, emblazoned across their bright blue remodeled store fronts.
Thoughts of that story jogged memories of my daughter Amanda and she reminded me of other Gabe’s stories. My mother-in-law, Retha Morrison was shopping with our family. We had a minivan and ferrying three adults and three children was not a problem. It was a cold winter day. Retha was wearing slacks and black, just above the ankle winter boots. She found a dress that she liked and tried it on. When she came out of the dressing room and asked, “Well, what do you think?” I immediately responded, “You have chicken legs.”
The pale skin of her thin ankles and full calved legs were intensified as they stuck out from beneath the dark colored dress and rose above the black boots. They did indeed look like chicken legs. When Retha looked in the mirror, she had to agree.
Shopping with kids can be exacerbating. This day at Gabe’s was no different. The kids were hiding in the racks of clothing, doing a slow game of hide and seek. It was the parents’ job to keep track of them so they didn’t get lost or weren’t abducted. A rack of stiff darkly dyed jeans was a perfect place for my son Andrew to disappear. It wasn’t long until he reappeared holding out his fist. He said, “Look what I found.”
Opening his hand he showed his treasure. He’d found about $1.50 in quarters. They’d been in one of the pockets of a pair of jeans. Their darkened color told us that the coins had been in the pants while they were being dyed. Needless to say, it caused his two sisters to join him in an unsuccessful treasure hunt.
Gabe’s new stores are a far cry from the store’s humble beginning in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. It was a true “mom and pop” business. The original store waas created by the joining of two houses by a coverd walkway for their display area. Floor space was limited and bargain hunting became a true hunting expedition.