Back when we were growing up,  we always referred to the local grocery store as “The Locker Plant”. It never had a sign on it that said, “The Locker Plant”, but that’s what all of us “locals” always called it. I never knew why it was called this. When we needed to do grocery shopping, our mother said she was going to “The Locker Plant”, or simply just “The Locker”. In addition to groceries, there was a huge refrigeration room that was kept at 0 degrees or so. People could rent drawers in it to keep their meat and frozen vegetables in them. Most of the time when I would go with my mother to “The Locker Plant”, she would go into the big refrigerator room and unlock our drawer with a key and gather up meat and/or vegetables for the weekly meals. This was in the days before very many people had freezers at home. The freezers that came with refrigerators in those days were just about big enough to hold 2 ice cube trays and a few other small things. I was always afraid to go in the large refrigerator room with her because it was very cold and white vapors would be in it just like an eerie Hollywood movie. Since I suffer from a fear of enclosed spaces, I was always afraid we’d get locked inside it and freeze to death. In order to exit though the giant insulated door, you pushed a steel rod that had something like a steel doorknob at the end of it. I was always in fear that pushing the stem wouldn’t open the big door. It never occurred to me to just wait outside the door until my mother came out, IF EVER! While wondering through the whole store, I could always hear the ubiquitous sound of the meat saw operated by Paul (forgot his last name) in the meat department. The saw looked and sounded just like a band saw.

 

Now as to why it was called “The Locker Plant”. I have a theory about this. The locked drawers or “lockers” would explain the “Locker”, but I still can’t figure out where the “Plant” came from… Aha! I did a little research and found that among the synonyms for “Plant” are “deposit” or “lodge”. Therefore, since it had meat “lockers” (which opened with a key) and you rented a locker to “deposit” or “lodge” your meat in, this is very likely where the name “Plant” came from. Hence the name “Locker Plant”!  Well, that theory seems pretty plausible to me.

 

While recently going through some Berlin Call newspapers on microfilm, I found that the "Locker Plant" was established in 1950. In later years, around the 1970’s or so, “The Locker Plant” became “Sparkle”. I think sometime around the late 1980’s, it became “County Pride”. In spite of all the name changes, we all still called it “The Locker Plant” until the time that it sadly went out of business a few years ago. L

 

As a kid, I used to really look forward to going to the “Locker”, except the times when my mother had to go into our “locker” to get our frozen meat.

 

“The Locker Plant” was originally owned by Bill and Helen Warner. They were there all through my childhood. After a number of years, they sold it to their son Bill, who managed it for a few years, then sold it to Kurt, who first started out there as a bag boy. He started out baggin’ ‘em, then taggin’ ‘em. This is a good example of the American dream of starting out at the bottom and eventually owning the company.

 

At the check out counter, there was a large dark brown cash register with white buttons and a lot of colored buttons on it. We had to separate the “edibles” from the non-edibles due to something concerning “tax”. Of course, in those days, there wasn’t anything like electronic scanning to determine the price of each item. Helen would “ring up” each item with the amount on the little white “price tag” stuck on it. I could hear her pressing the buttons on the cash register with lightening speed. Every time she would enter a price, she would hit a long flat button and the price would pop up in the window with a “mixing” sound then a small bell would ring. On the counter were a number of “goodies” that appealed to the eyes of a young kid like me. Among the delectable delights, was a clear plastic bubble gum machine with a blue base that had BIG gumballs in it with several different colors. You put a penny in it, slid the handle to the right, and out came a big gumball. I was always excited when a blue one came out, since that was my favorite flavor. The top of it had a red metal cap on it. One time when Helen and my mother were busy with other things, I clandestinely pulled off the top figuring I could dip my hand into it, grab a handful of gumballs, and maybe have the time to get all blue ones! After removing the lid, I found that the top was solid plastic with only 4 small holes in it to refill it. Hmmm, could it be that they designed it this way to thwart attempts of kids like me from stealing gumballs? Of course it did. There was also a clear plastic jar with a red metal lid on it full of big pretzel sticks for a penny apiece. They always had burned tips that I always ate first because they tasted so good. In addition, The "Locker Plant" was the only place I could find the balsa airplane gliders we all played with as kids. They had a 5, 10, and 25-cent model to choose from. I always got the 10-cent one because it was bigger and flew longer. I could write a whole story about our experiences with these balsa planes. Hey, maybe I will in the near future! I’m always looking for new things to write about regarding our childhood.

 

In those days, you brought in your empty pop bottles and received 2 cents deposit return for each one. Sometimes, when unaccompanied by a parent, we would go in back of the store building to a big stack of empty pop bottles in wooden cases and grab a few to take in and get the 2 cents deposit return for each one! This was one way to get money for pop and candy, which was the standard diet for me as I was growing up. As a matter of fact, it STILL is, in spite of our mother always warning us that eating too much candy and drinking too much pop would “make all our teeth fall out”! At age 58, I still have all my original teeth. However, they ARE all filled with fillings due to all the cavities I have. Two days ago, I had another dentist appointment to get yet another filling. My dentist always has to give me a “double dose” of Novocain due to my VERY LOW pain tolerance. I told her I’ll be glad when someday after my teeth “all fall out” as a result of eating too much candy and drinking pop, I’ll have dentures so I can leave them there for “fillings” and come back later to pick them up! Then I can continue to eat all the candy and drink all the pop I want and not worry about the dentist’s drill!

 

Addendum! While doing additional research after I wrote this story, I looked up “Locker Plant” on Google and found a web site with the following definition!: “Refrigerated locker plant means any place, premises or establishment in which separate and individual compartments for the frozen food storage and preservation of food for human consumption are offered to the public upon a rental or other basis providing compensation to the person offering such services”. By Cracky, my theory was indeed correct!

 

Addendum TO THE ADDENDUM! I always read all the new nonfiction books that arrive at the library. Among the exceptions to this are "women's" books and so-called "self-help" books that all say the same things and reflect the present erroneous "New Age" philosophy that's all the rage now, and some other subjects that don't interest me. Among the many books that did interest me and one I recently read was titled, "Captain Lightening". This was written by a guy who is my age who related amusing experiences of his childhood in the 1950's. Just think, you get the same stuff from me totally free without having to buy a book! You lucky stiffs!!!!

 

Well, I hope you enjoyed these totally free of charge “memorable maniacal musings” about some of my wonderful memories of “The Locker Plant”. They’re even better now, since after 50+ years, I’ve finally discovered why it was called “The Locker Plant!”