Some
of you may remember that I work at the local antique store in this
little town on Saturdays. Well, all but the first Saturday. Plus I
pick up occasional other days when I don't have any work.
Before
this last Great Recession, it did OK for itself with buyers from
other antique stores coming from the city and a small 'shop Wharton
antiques' billboard on the highway before the first exit to town but
the last hurricane blew it down and TxDoT won't allow it back up. The
store hasn't really recovered. Same story for most the other shops on
and around the square.
Wharton
residents don't exactly support the small businesses in town, not
with a Walmart in town and a major shopping plaza 30 minutes away so most our
business comes from day trippers or from the other small towns around
us.
During
the week there are days when no one comes in. Since I work on
Saturday, that doesn't happen to me very often though I do have days
when just a few people come in. The owner sometimes talks about
closing Miss Hattie's as she is supporting it with her day job but so
far it's just been talk.
Mostly
Saturdays are a day of forced inactivity for me. I play a lot of
spider solitaire, shell pecans, read. Sometimes I bring other stuff
to do. I chat with the people who come in.
The
shop is on the courthouse square which is the center of activity for
a lot of events. I got to work one day last month to see the Martin
Luther King Day parade was assembling but by the time I got the shop
open and came back out to get some pictures, they were already
marching on down the street so all I got was the tail end.
Across
the square from us is the veteran's memorial and so I see ceremonies
going on over there sometimes too.
Also
on the square is the gazebo which is not directly across from the
shop but a little caty-cornered and it is a popular place for
weddings and photography. I've seen several weddings and lots of
photo sessions for weddings or quinceneras or proms.
I
try to sneak my own pictures, shooting from the door or through the
shop window on zoom but occasionally I get caught like during
yesterday's Quincenera photo shoot.
This
bride was wearing cowboy boots.
It's
a nice window on life in a small town.
i hope it stays open, but the billboard loss really would cut down visitor traffic.
ReplyDeleteTown squares around here are failing in some towns unless the city really works on them. I enjoy being on one when there is activity like this.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great place to be.
ReplyDeleteReminds me so much of Monticello, the county seat where I live. So very, very much.
ReplyDeleteWithout the billboard it's future is pretty bleak. I've worked in three shops in town, all gone now. One was antique dealers, one was collectibles, the last was local produce. Sometimes they would call each other up and ask if all the customers were up there.
ReplyDeletelove the vibe your photos gives. I envy you this small town life. So many Mom and Pops near us are gone and I mourn that as well. But then you know how I feel about Big Box stores...errrrrrrr. Happy Weekend.
ReplyDeleteThat amount of human interaction is right down my alley - if not in the best interests of the shop owner :)
ReplyDeleteI love that first orange dress photo!
ReplyDeleteTown squares are so important and lacking in most places now with strip malls and regular malls.
ReplyDeleteThose cowboy boots with the wedding dress are just way too cool!
ReplyDeleteThat picture captures so much truth about small towns in the midwest.
LOL -- love the cowboy boots! That's so Texas.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a lot of fun to watch the goings-on in the courthouse square. That's what people in small towns have been doing for hundreds of years, isn't it?
I love the Town Square photographs. Just as a point of interest is black the normal colour for wedding guests to wear? I know it's a terribly formal colour but it just seems a bit grim at a wedding - love that the girls over there wear the same crippling blocks on their feet as over her. I also think the orange dress is fab!
ReplyDeleteFabulous pictures!
ReplyDeleteYour days at the antique shop - Ira Glass should interview you.
Pity about the lack of customers but you do see life from your window, don’t you.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the lagging business but your eagle eye captured so many fine street scenes. Frank's nephew is getting married next summer and the whole wedding party is to wear cowboy boots. Fun stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe shoes in this pictures made me smile. Love the red heels (or are they orange?). And those cowboy boots for the bride are perfect!
ReplyDelete