Different Businesses, Same Location
Tony Peyser
Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse 2008 (view all the winners)
Most Highly Commended
In the early Fifties, it was a diner;
Pretty good but lacked variety
In the late Fifties, a bookstore
Promoting the John Birch Society.
Then a mom & pop bakery where
Kids lined up for their cookies
Followed by a barbershop that had
A pay phone reserved for bookies.
Western Union did pretty well here
And it wasn't really their fault
That locals searching for new food
Made telegrams come to a halt.
Polynesian cuisine became the rage
Puupuu platters were exotic & new
But a hobby shop replaced all of that;
Many kids just came in to buy glue.
Next was a place to go if you happened
To need any kind of typewriter repair
Then came a trendy fondue restaurant;
I usually burned my tongue there.
Roller skates had a nice run for awhile
But eventually that all came to a stop;
The Sixties culture became widespread
And it gave way to a psychedelic shop.
A comic bookstore was soon to arrive
(In the back room they often sold pot)
The massage parlor was next in line
(Those "happy endings" cost a lot.)
It morphed into an adult bookstore
I was glad when they got that jerk out
It sat vacant for several months until
It wound up a Jane Fonda workout.
A feminist bookstore started out well
But like so many businesses was fading;
Another fad was coming down the pike
And this one was called roller blading.
Laserdiscs hit the scene but this venture
Was one that never struck gold
The tanning salon didn't survive either
Or the place where hot tubs were sold.
The sci-fi bookstore then put up its sign
And had wild spaceships on its drapes
But this went belly-up as all the locals
Were now eagerly clamoring for crepes.
A quiche & salad restaurant showed up
My Godóit was so early Eighties
With those oh-so cutesy restroom doors
Emblazoned with SaLads & SaLadies.
The croissant shop seemed promising
But its downward spiral was final;
The video store didn't last, nor did
The record store that only sold vinyl.
The helium balloon store stepped aside
For some questionable foreign bank
The next tenant promised contentment
Was floating in an isolation tank.
Italian Gelato was tasty but the owners
Had a losing venture in their laps
The following business sold smoothies
The one after that organic wraps.
Flavored popcorn moved in; a business
That I doubt I'd ever have chosen.
The next was at least an improvement:
Yogurt that was pleasingly frozen.
That make-your-own pottery franchise?
In short order, it went right under
The cyber-cafÈ died like the dot.coms;
Yet another small business blunder.
The chi-chi cigar lounge seemed destined
To be around for a much longer stay
(But this was also believed by those people
Who went & opened that low-carb cafÈ.)
Everything in time comes full circle
The final change was amazingly minor:
The current business that's in there now
Is Johnny Rockets, a retro Fifties diner.
