Roger Heineken Grocery Stories

GROCERY STORIES Roger Heineken

“Hi…Mr. Davis. This is Bill Rogers. Today is your oral history day.”

“Yes, Bill. I’ve been looking forward to it.”

“I’m glad we were able to meet before this pandemic social distancing thing. It helped me prepare. I’d like to go ahead and conduct our interview by phone.”

“I’m ready, if you are.”

“As I explained, I’ll be recording this interview to assure the accuracy of the final transcript. The History Center archives needs this kind of information on the local food business. I appreciate your time to help us collect your insights.”

“I’ve done a lot of reminiscing and making notes, Bill. I’m ready.”

“Okay. I’ve got the recorder on. Let’s begin. Tell me your full name and life story.”

“Charles Landis Davis. Friends call me Charlie. I was born at home on Congress in 1928. I was the youngest of three brothers. This October I’ll be 94. I’m part Welsh, English and German.

The Depression was hard on my family. My dad was a painter and wallpaper hanger. People were not redecorating for years after the crash. Mother was a homemaker.

As soon as Andy, Everett and I were old enough to do odd jobs, we found them. All of us had a paper route at one time or another. I began working after school at the grocery store giving up the paper route because I could make more money. Andrew and Everett were several years older and enlisted as soon as they could after Pearl Harbor. We were all fortunate to finish high school.

Andy decided to make the military his career. He retired from the Navy and settled on the West Coast. Andy died in 2004 and is buried here. Everett came home after the war but died in a car accident in 1947. He survived the war only to leave us here back home. Our folks were never quite the same after we lost Everett.

I worked at the grocery store throughout the war. As I grew older, I was given greater responsibilities. I liked the job and the social nature of it all. It was a great place to work and, as young as I was, I felt valued and part of the Rosen’s business.

“I have a note that the food business was different before the war. What can you share about that?”

“Yes, very different. When the last neighborhood grocery store closed in the 1980s, the newspaper story said there had been 54 stores all over town. Few families had cars back then. People just walked a block or two to the neighborhood store. These groceries were quite small and stocked the basics. Most carried cold cuts and some meats. People did scratch cooking and baking back then.

There were storefront butcher shops and bakeries downtown. Dairy was delivered to most homes in glass bottles. Ice was still delivered for the iceboxes. Very few people had electric refrigeration back then. We had area truck farmers who sold seasonal produce door to door. They also supplied the various neighborhood groceries.”

“We’ll get back to this. You served in the Army. Tell me about it, Mr. Davis.”

“Call me Charlie, Bill. Yes. The war had ended by then. I was finishing high school and working part-time. I felt I needed to follow in my brothers’ footsteps, so I enlisted in the Army. I served in Europe during the post-war operations. I was told my job at the grocery would be waiting for me when I got home…and it was.”

“Tell me about your return home.”

“My folks were so happy when I returned. Everett had died the year before. They needed me to be close and I was glad to be back. Andy was over occupying Japan that year.

I took a week off, then started back at the grocery full-time. So much had changed. Rationing was over. The economy was coming back. The town population was growing. The store stocked so much more than before I left. While I was gone the Rosens had expanded into the adjacent storefront. We had been one of those neighborhood stores but were on main street. It made sense to grow bigger. People wanted greater variety and were willing to drive across town to buy it since gas rationing had ended.”

Finally, I had a steady income. Evelyn Wheeler from high school and I began to get serious. We married in 1951. We had two children and they gave us five grandchildren. The kids are retired now and live in the Kansas City area.

Evelyn died twelve years ago after 57 years of marriage. I miss her. It is just me and Sport now, but we get by. I still live independently and for that I am grateful. Sport likes all the attention he gets.”

“You received a promotion. Tell me about that.”

“Yes. I think it was June 1954 when Abe Schmidt retired. He managed the produce. I was offered his position and was happy to get it. Things were booming back then. We moved into an old auto showroom building farther north on main. We became a supermarket in a better location. This was the trend happening all over America. Veterans were starting families. Everything was booming. Refrigerated and frozen foods exploded. Remember the TV dinners? There were more and more pre-packaged foods. Homemakers wanted convenience and increasingly could afford the modern kitchen appliances. Families had more leisure time and backyard cookouts became popular. All of this was so different than before the war.”

“When we first met, you talked about seasonal foods being available most of the year. Tell me more about that.”

“Being the produce manager, I saw many changes by the time I retired. Demand changed food in the U.S. First rail, then refrigerated trucks and the developing interstate highway system brought produce from greater distances, places with different seasons. Now, produce comes in from other counties. You can have melons and more year-round. There are still a few orchards around, but we don’t have the truck farmers like we did before 1940. In the spring, we would get vegetable and bedding plants from area nurseries. We didn’t handle plants before 1960. People had to go to the local greenhouses.

Today, you can get star fruit and jicama…fresh herbs, things never available here before I retired.”

“Tell me more about your retirement.”

“I retired at the end of the 1993 Christmas season. The store was hopping, and I agreed to run-out the year. For a while after I retired, I would fill-in to cover vacations. I was glad to step back into the job I enjoyed. I miss the people today as much as back then.

Tom Cooper became manager when I retired. He is gone now. Not sure who followed him. I don’t get to the store now as much as I did. The Rosen’s sold the store and all the people have changed. I mostly read, watch a little TV and take Sport for a walk.”

“What were some of your favorite things about the grocery business?”

“I mentioned the people, both staff and customers. I have to say sweetcorn season. When we sourced locally, the first sweetcorn created a real frenzy. Also, the first tomatoes and melons. Another favorite was pickle time. Most households had a small backyard garden and grew cucumbers to eat fresh and to put up. I always had bundles of fresh dill for pickling. The aroma filled the store. I can smell it now.

Bill, Sport is telling me he needs to go out. Can you give me a few minutes?”

“Sure. Let’s take a break. I’ll call back in a half hour. I want to get back to rationing during the war and credit issues during the Depression. Also, the evolution of soda and beer sales. I have a whole list from our first meeting. Like the tornado take-covers during store hours, when the mental hospitals were closed, and the Gypsy story. Also, the fraternity toga party, and when cars jumped the curb hitting the storefront. The JFK assassination and when your supermarket promoted an in-store Santa. Oh…and the boa constrictor story.

I’ll call back at 3:00 and we’ll start session two.”

“Hey, Charlie. I’m back. Ready to continue?”

“Bill, I thought of another story while I was letting Sport do his business. Many hippy college students had dogs. Most didn’t follow leash laws, if we had them back then…don’t remember. The dogs would follow the students to school and hang out on campus until classes were dismissed. As you know, my store wasn’t far from campus.

Well, one time this dog in heat was being chased all over town by a pack of four or five dogs in all shapes and sizes. Our supermarket had automated doors then. You guessed it… The pack of dogs shot past a customer exiting through the door. We had dogs

running through the aisles, weaving around customers. It took the manager, me, and several stock boys to chase the pack back out the door. Makes me laugh now thinking about it.”

Bill and Charlie continued the oral history project by phone through five sessions producing a 82-page transcript. With things opening back up, Bill had hoped to hand deliver the transcript to Charlie for his review and approval when he learned that Charlie had died. As it turned out, Charlie’s neighbors heard Sport barking and barking. When they checked in on him, they found Charlie had passed sitting in his easy chair. His death was determined to be of natural causes and not the pandemic. Charles Landis Davis was 93. The neighbors adopted Charlie’s beloved Sport.

Charlie knew produce, and for the History Center archives, shared many incisive grocery stories.