It’s Penny Wise to shop at locally-owned stores
Stepping into the Penny Wise drug store on San Benito Street
this week was like walking into a time warp of old Hollister
– and it was a fun trip.
My wife and I were looking for a gift for my parents’ 41st
wedding anniversary and Penny Wise is conveniently located between
my wife’s downtown office and The Pinnacle, so we agreed to meet
there.
It’s Penny Wise to shop at locally-owned stores
Stepping into the Penny Wise drug store on San Benito Street this week was like walking into a time warp of old Hollister – and it was a fun trip.
My wife and I were looking for a gift for my parents’ 41st wedding anniversary and Penny Wise is conveniently located between my wife’s downtown office and The Pinnacle, so we agreed to meet there.
When I was a kid growing up in Hollister, we didn’t have Target or Kmart or Staples; big superstores with miles of aisles full of stuff. We had places like Penny Wise and Whalen’s and Mauro’s and Cornet and Brown and Chappell.
If we wanted milk, we had to go to the grocery store or drive through Ranch Milk. We didn’t have the convenience of going to Target to get a cup of Starbucks, buy some school clothes, pick up a video game for the kids, get a flat of flowers for the garden, buy a gallon of milk, have a prescription filled and get our film processed – all in one trip.
I love Target and shop there frequently. It’s close to my house and I know exactly where things are or I can pick up the red phone and have someone help me locate it. The Target team members are friendly, by and large, but it’s easy to forget how nice it is to have personalized service like we received at Penny Wise.
The nice woman who was working there – I didn’t catch her name, but she reminded me of my grandmothers – greeted us when we came through the door and asked us if we were enjoying the weather.
“Yes, it’s breezy but warm outside,” I said, a little caught off guard by the inquiry. “It’s nice.”
It was also nice to have a store clerk approach us and ask how she could help us.
We browsed for awhile and eventually found the gift, which the nice lady said she could wrap for us, at no charge. Wow, personalized service that’s also free. Nice.
As she was wrapping, I browsed the store’s aisles, which have a lot of religious icons and First Communion gifts. There was the kid’s clothing section and the cheap toy area. The pharmacy is in the back. There was no P.A. system announcing the need for more clerks up front. There was no security guard at the door. It was old school.
Our clerk inquired about whether the Santa Barbara wildfire was still going as she delicately cut the wrapping paper and tied the bow to it.
I thanked her as she handed me the present, which looked way better than the patchwork job that would have happened had I tried to wrap it.
“Thank you, it looks great,” I said, appreciative as much for her reminding me of the old days as I was for her service.
Big chain stores have driven local businesses away here and everywhere because they can offer a great variety of products at a low price. They are a wonderful convenience and it would be hypocritical of me to say I wish they didn’t exist.
We should just not forget that the mom and pop shops still hanging on in our county may not be able to beat the big guys’ prices or hours or assortment of electronics, but it’s hard to beat the satisfaction of individualized attention by a clerk that cares.
Pay them a visit and you may have to pay a few pennies more for what you buy, but it will be money well spent.
