For the Aug. 30 issue of the Tribune I wrote an article about Albert Lea’s mystery newspaper, the weekly Southern Minnesota News. The only issue of this newspaper still available (No. 11) is dated June 4, 1952. As of right now, no other copies of this newspaper issued by Albert Lea’s Trades Publishing Co. have been found.

In my article, I featured the highlights of each of the eight pages for this particular issue. And on page 8 was a full page advertisement for Albert Lea’s C. Thomas grocery store. Right at this point I was tempted to make more comments about this rather unusual store and the food prices of 67 years ago. However, the article was getting to be about the right length and this new topic might work out better as a column instead.

Back in 1942 the local C. Thomas Super Market was at 229 S, Newton St. (now officially designated as an avenue). This store was just south of the post office about where the American Bank is now. (The Aug. 30 article also had a museum photo of this store.)

Their ad said the store had “drive-in parking space.” The store also had a slogan that said, “Self service means super savings for you.”

That drive-in parking was what made this particular store really different. Instead of parking next to the curb, around the corner, or across the street, one could drive right into a designated doorway on the store’s Newton side. Toward the back of the building was a large garage-like place with parking slots for maybe four or five vehicles. Then one could get out of the vehicle, go into the store to do the shopping, and go back to the vehicle. Exiting this indoor parking lot may have been on the alley side leading out to East William Street. I’m not too sure about this last detail.

The obvious advantages with this indoor parking gimmick are very obvious, especially on days with rough weather.

Now, as promised earlier in this column, we’ll close off with some of the advertised prices for food products back in 1942. And please keep in mind that wages and other expenses and costs for just about everything else were somewhat comparable in this era.

A two-pound bag of Mission Inn Coffee, a brand I’ve never encountered before, was 51 cents. Heinz Ketchup was 19 cents for a 14-ounce bottle. At this point I encountered a weird abbreviation in this ad. It was “bot” instead of bottle.

The plural for the bot abbreviation was bots, according to this ad. Thus, three bots (bottles) of natural spring water in the 24-ounce size cost just a quarter. By the way, this proves that folks were buying and consuming bottled water from somewhere else years ago.

In this store’s meat department there were some real bargains. For example, there was summer sausage for 24 cents a pound. What was labeled as 100 percent pure, fresh, lean ground beef was on sale for a quarter a pound Top sirloin was 45 cents a pound and minute steaks were 39 cents a pound.

Under the category of garden fresh vegetables in the local C. Thomas store were two more strange abbreviations. One was “bch” for bunch, and the other was “bchs” for bunches. Thus, two bchs of leaf lettuce cost just a nickel, and a bch of home grown radishes cost a penny.

Some of the items featured in this ad have brand names that can still be found on supermarket shelves today. However, the retail prices are now certainly different.

Here are a few examples: Three cans of Campbell’s tomato soup cost 23 cents. A two-pound box of Kraft Velveeta cheese was advertised for 55 cents. A large box of Oxydol, size not listed, cost 23 cents. Stokely’s tomato juice in the 46-ounce can was 19 cents. Other Stokely’s products also on sale back in 1942 were two cans of peas for 29 cents and two cans of corn for a quarter.

Again, if anyone has any old copies of the Southern Minnesota News from 1942 and maybe 1943, please take them out to the Freeborn County Historical Museum next to the fairgrounds on North Bridge Avenue.

Ed Shannon’s column has been appearing in the Tribune every Friday since December 1984.