A recent article in the Mansfield Courier regarding an auction of a supermarket in Highett Street, reminded me of the old ‘Murphy and Parson’s store in Highett Street Mansfield. I think it is now a motorcycle shop.
One of the highlights for a young child was going to the back of the shop to sit on the counter and wait for the biscuits to be weighed and put into a brown paper bag. Often Mr Murphy or Mr Parsons would give children a broken biscuit. They usually wore white coats over their clothes. One of them was smaller than the other.
The shop had floorboards that had been ‘polished’ by years of customers walking on them.
Hogarth’s was a barber shop around the corner in High Street. When you walked past you could smell the lotions and creams that were used in the shop. Sometimes, on a Saturday morning, I would sit and wait for my father to have his hair cut. The reward was often a three piece bright yellow packet of “Juicy Fruit’ chewing gum, that cost about 1 or 2 cents.
The Misses Conlon had a material shop nearby. The material was in long rolls along the walls, and was beautifully arranged by the sisters. They lived in Ailsa Street in a spick and span white house that had a red roof. When I walked past, in the mornings, to kindergarten they were sometimes in the garden and would chat to me.
There were two butcher shops: Nolans was on the south side of High Street, with the smaller one being next to Volkerings fruit shop and milk bar.
Kids at primary school would collect copies of ‘The Age’ and sell them to Nolans for use as wrapping paper for meat. For many years the smaller butcher had saw dust on the floor, which was mildly irritating when you walked in it.
Volkerings had the ?only fruit shop for some time before a fruit shop opened across the road. The had mirrors up on the wall behind the fruit and vegetables, so the fruit and vegetables were ‘on display’. They had a small table where they cut, weighed and wrapped items. A big, black handled knife was also on the table, on top of the wrapping paper. The floor was a tiled lino. Opposite the fruit and vegetables was the confectionery. Large boxes of chocolates and other lollies were displayed. We used to look longingly at the ‘Black Cat’ chocolate boxes, for these came with a small plastic black cat that was attached to the outside of the box.
This was also the shop that sold the ice-cream that came in a plastic moulded, yellow tennis ball for several summers.
The newsagent at the time was a family named Fricke. They had a variety of newspapers, magazines, toys and other gifts. My favourite magazine at the time was an English magazine for girls called ‘Princess Tina’. It continued until 1973, when it was merged with another magazine named ‘Pink’ (Source: bearalley.blogspot.com). Sometimes the new edition was late arriving into the store.
The newsagent at the time was a family named Fricke. They had a variety of newspapers, magazines, toys and other gifts. My favourite magazine at the time was an English magazine for girls called ‘Princess Tina’. It continued until 1973, when it was merged with another magazine named ‘Pink’ (Source: bearalley.blogspot.com). Sometimes the new edition was late arriving into the store.
When my grandparents would come to visit, Grandpa would sometimes give us a $1 note, and off we would go to the newsagents to peruse. This would take ages and ages deciding how to best spend the $1.
The Courier Office was located at the west of the string of shops (it’s at the other end of town today). I often would go in with something to be published (and they usually obliged).
