Saturday, October 24, 2009
A Finale for TP Market on 39th and Columbia
Can a yellow plastic sign of a Tee Pee shed a tear? There were solid decades and generations running this spot. As my neighborhood market, I personally came late to the game. The highlight for me were the years of mix and match imports six for six and later seven bucks. And it didn't matter how much it was worth.
They had a good butcher who knew what he was doing. And they would stock up on New Seasons or Whole Foods styled deli salads from a local caterer years before those establishments made the scene. Some of the first meals that Pam and I had at our 31st St place were purchased there.
I liked the times when it felt like neighborhood. An owner was the father-in-law of one of my high schools most beloved teachers among nerds. I often thought of that when I would drive by in the years of surly East Indian owners, then unsurly owners or workers and later years of vacancy, a fire and now what is apparently a multi office complex coming in. I've heard about a small market or coffee shop being a part of the plans. We'll see.
TP allowed credit to neighborhood customers well into the seventies. I remember a reminiscence of a couple of mischievous tweens, as we would call them now, a pair of cousins who put quite a candy fest on the bill one summer. It is a tale straight out of Cleary or the Brady Bunch. But in this case, because it was next to Trinity Lutheran Church, probably more like Davy and Goliath.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:20 PM
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