BEE-WARE: Is it just us or does it seem like there’s an
inordinant number of bees – and bee stings – this autumn?
OLD TIMER: The headline read, “A Magnificent Store:
Phoenix-Like, it Grandly Rises From the Ashes.” And in a column
almost the length of the entire page, the story regales the opening
of what would become a Bradford staple – Nusbaum’s Grocery
Store.
It was September 1895 when Nusbaum & Steinberger rebuilt
their grocery store on their old site, 3-5 Main St., after what
must have been a devastating fire. It was billed as having the
“finest delicatessen and groceries to be found in the larger cities
of the east.”
The store, located in the Nusbaum block, was equipped with the
“largest plate glass show window in this part of the state, being
130×146 inches.”
The counters, shelves, office and furnishings, the story noted,
were all made from native wood and “built entirely by home talent.”
The store was lit with “12 large combination electric chandeliers,”
and also showcased a refrigerator the compartments of which would
recede when the grocers “dealt out” the butter, thereby saving much
of the “precious ice.” The right-hand entrance opened into a
wholesale/retail cigar and tobacco department.
“The Nusbaum block is solidly built from foundation to roof,”
the story notes.
The prices on items in the store? Sugar was a little over 4
cents a pound, coffee was 35 cents a pound, a three-pound can of
tomatoes was 8 cents, sugar-cured ham and bacon were 13 cents a
pound and salmon was 13 cents a pound.
AND ALSO: By the way, we can’t resist this. In 1895, the
“ruling” price of Pennsylvania Oil was $1.25. We reported in the
Sept. 13 ‘Round the Square that the price of a barrel of crude in
September 1905 was $1.33. That means that in 10 years, the price of
crude only rose eight cents! Today, gas can rise eight cents (per
gallon!) in a matter of minutes in this neck of the woods – and
that’s per gallon, not per barrel. You call that progress?
TODAY’S QUOTE: “Times have not become more violent. They have
just become more televised.” The comment was made in 1999 by singer
Marilyn Manson.
