Once upon a time, a good Italian sandwich was only a short walk away for most people in Bath. Each neighborhood had its own corner store where kids bought penny candy and parents bought beer and cigarettes. Almost all of these stores have gone the way of the Dodo bird, but they live on in the memories of the people who grew up here. Pictures of these stores have been difficult for me to come by, but Kerry Nelson has recently unleashed a slew of them on Facebook. Mrs. Nelson, you have our gratitude.

Today, I am fortunate to live two houses over from Mike’s Place, formerly Puffin Stop, so I can still walk to the store if need be. Sadly missing, however, are the sandwiches, wooden floors, pickled eggs in jars and plastic-wrapped chunks of pepperoni that I remember from the old days. Here are a few of the many little stores you might remember.

– Nolan’s Market (later B.J.’s) was my own childhood store. From my house on Cherry Street, it was a short walk to Weeks Street, then down past the green VW that was always parked on the side of the road and finally to the store on the corner of Washington. Tucked in my pocket was my mother’s cigarette money, along with a note allowing me to purchase a pack of Larks. It was a different era, obviously. I also hopefully a couple extra coins to buy myself a candy bar.

– Lee’s Market was my next store after we moved to North Street in 1985. It was called Lemoine’s from 1942 until 1976, then Lee’s Market and finally Young’s. My co-worker Tom Harrington left school at 15 to manage this store full-time and later helped turn it into a house when the new Puffin Stop store killed the business.

– Lincoln Street Market was my next-closest store, and we used to go there frequently when Morse let out for lunch. There would be cold little pizzas wrapped in plastic or Italians, if you wished. Today, the store addition has been destroyed and the house restored.

– Two downtown markets once battled for Italian sandwich supremacy: Roy’s Market, known colloquially as Ma Roy’s, and Angelo’s market. People still debate which is better.

– Kakos Market. Mr. Kakos also served in the local government, and his wife ran the Happy House preschool on Mechanic Street.

Other stores people might remember are Dummer St. Market; Hilltop Market on Center Street, later home of Kristina’s and now Mae’s Café; High Street Market, corner of Oliver Street; McDougal’s Market; McDonald’s Store, High Street near Oak; Burgess’s Store, Center Street, now the Galley Restaurant.

One of the last to go was the old Winnegance Store, which has seen rebirth as a restaurant. My favorite corner store Italian is now found at the Georgetown Center Store, which is a lot more than a few blocks down the road.

Source and photo: Kerry Nelson.

Zac McDorr is a Coastal Journal contributor. He can be reached at zacmcdorr@gmail.com.