I posted a gallery of photos of Christmas shoppers last week that set off a scavenger hunt to figure out where they were taken. You can read about the search and eventual outcome here.
They cleared up where Santa was, but how about the other stores?
Missourian photographer Fred Lynch rode to the rescue here, too.
Here’s Fred’s account:
Ken’s pictures of Christmas shoppers inside a Rexall drug store were taken in Jackson. Not Cape Girardeau.
Fred asked Cathy Hancock at The Southeast Missourian’s Jackson office to take a look at Ken’s Rexall photos on his blog.
Cathy said: “I believe the drug store shot is Jackson Rexall Drugs, owned by John & Anita Schulte. Anita is the lady behind the counter. It was on High Street uptown and there was a Kroger store across the street, hence the bananas sign.”
Cathy is mostly correct
Fred walked inside the store Cathy remembered and was told that indeed it used to be a drug store. Now it is Amelia’s Fashion Exchange.
He called Cathy’s neighbor, who worked uptown before retiring, and learned that the grocery store was the A&P rather than Kroger. The A&P was located in what is now Siemer’s Best Brands Plus, an appliance store. He also confirmed the Jackson Rexall Drugs. So imagine looking through Amelia’s window and across the street in the window of Siemer’s is a sign for bananas.
By the way, Kroger was down the block from Rexall at the time.
Jim Vangilder provides more info
Jim Vangilder: These photos were taken in Jackson. The drug store was Kistner’s Rexall Drug. The A&P Grocery store was across the street. The Santa and package wrappers were in Priest’s Department Store. The photo with the china and glassware was Cox’s Variety Store.
You can also see Ethyl’s place across the street which later became Crites Tavern. That was Wib and Maggie’s first tavern. Cape County Bank bought them out, demolished the building and built their drive thru window.
Wib and Maggie then moved down the street next door to Blick’s Place.
A few years later they moved across the street in the building that now houses Tractors (the side of the building Tractor’s bar is in)
You sound like you know your Jackson.