Written by Diane Taylor Roberts
We now live in a world of convenience shopping. If we need batteries, groceries, shoes, or just about anything you can think of, it can be delivered to your door immediately by a Walmart Spark driver or Amazon delivery. We just get on the app on our phone, browse through the items available, and at the touch of a button, our selections are on their merry way to our front door.
Back in the day, we could browse through the Sears Roebuck Catalog and patiently wait a week or two for delivery. The main shopping in Williamsburg was a trip to Bailey‘s Country Store. They carried about anything you needed and then some. Ed Bailey is the last of the Bailey boys and is as fine of a man as you could ever meet.
I am sharing another chapter from my book, “That’s What I Thought.”
Chapter 50 – Bailey’s Country Store
There were few places to shop in Williamsburg, and one of the best was Bailey‘s Country Store.
It had about everything you needed, and you never knew what you would find. Baileys was unique, even in the Sixties.
It had an upstairs and a downstairs; they were an all in one stop shop. In the upstairs you would find dry goods of all kinds placed in stacks, stacked in bin like tables. These large tables would be placed throughout the store, and customers could shop from all angles as they would inspect the stacks of pants, men’s dress shirts, slips, skirts, etc., trying to find the right size or color. There were fabric tables as well, and they offered a variety of McCall’s and Simplicity patterns to choose from, for many women made their own clothing.
The shoe cubbies were my favorite. There were men’s shoes, women’s shoes, and children’s shoes, each in their own little three-sided cubby. They were arranged by size. Each cubby had a chair on the back wall, the right and left walls of the small cubby area were lined with shoes of all kinds in the same size. You could sit in a chair, select your shoes, try them on and leave the open cubby room for the next person.
When you went downstairs, you walk down steps that were wide enough for the flow of traffic to go up and down at the same time with the banister in the middle. Downstairs you could find just about anything you were looking for. They had a variety of items from hardware, furniture, porch swings, heaters, to shotgun shells. You could even get your hunting license there. Men rarely ventured upstairs, and women rarely did the shopping downstairs.
There was ample parking at the top level and the bottom. When you opened the door to enter the store you were “inside.” There was no foyer or entryway, you were just inside, and you immediately commenced to shop.
The store had a comfortable down-home feel to it, with its wooden floors and friendly atmosphere. It was owned by the Bailey brothers, Bob, Bart, Joe, and Ed. You were always greeted with a smile from one of the Bailey’s. You were welcomed when you arrived, thanked for coming and asked to come back again when you left. They were not class conscious, and each customer regarded them as a personal friend, even if their only encounter with any of them was in the store.
Another unique attribute of Bailey‘s Country Store was the live sound booth in the corner of the upstairs that produced a popular radio program on a Corbin radio station, WCTT. Ed and Bart would share tidbits of interest, including what was for rent, and where the fish were biting. They also gave weather updates, tips on gardening, information from the Farmers Almanac, and a little music as well. It was a real outing to go to Bailey‘s for you almost always ran into someone you knew.
Once, my mom took my sister and me to Bailey‘s, and we were upstairs looking through a large table filled with miscellaneous items. It was almost my brother’s birthday, and my mom found a jigsaw puzzle in a nice box that had a colorful picture of the United States on the front, and the outer edge of the puzzle displayed flags from each state. The pieces were made of thick cardboard that would hold up well, and she took her time as she inspected the box. She showed my sister and said that she would get this for Jerry’s birthday for he would really like it. I held my breath while she was deciding, because if she got it, I could play with it too. It was rare that we got items that were not essential as money was extremely tight. Barbara stayed with her to continue to look in the bin, and I left the area to look around, totally contented as we were getting a really cool puzzle. That’s when the fight broke out.
Another lady watched my mom with the puzzle. This lady stood next to the bin and continued to look through the items while my mom held the puzzle in her left hand. Mom couldn’t really look well with the puzzle in her hand so she set it down in front of her so she could reach other items. The lady took this opportunity to reach around my mom and grab the puzzle. My mom grabbed it back. Then the two had a tug-of-war at Bailey’s in front of the world. I turned to look when I heard the commotion. People were gathered around, and my sister stood there with a horrified look on her face. It became a battle of the wills between these two women. This was completely out of the ordinary for my mother to get into an altercation. I heard my mother say, “This is for my son’s birthday.” The other lady said, “You put it down, and now it’s mine.” One of the Bailey boys came immediately to stop the altercation. He said, “I believe we have another one here somewhere.” My mother said, “Great! Give it to her. This one is my sons.”
We left the store, but the victory was bittersweet. We rode home in silence, but all was forgotten when we turned into the driveway. Mom gave the puzzle to my brother and told him the story. We loved this puzzle for years. We were the first kids in our classes that knew their states, their capitals, and their flags.
