I’m a sap for nostalgia, so the feelings started flowing recently when I happened upon an online discussion about Upper Valley businesses we miss. 

I’m not sure why memory attaches to certain stores, but it does, like a sticky spill on aisle 2.

I’m not much of a buyer, but sometimes I like to look to see what I’m missing in consumerland. Home Depot is too much, like Eurasia. That’s why I was happier at the gone but not forgotten Hildreth’s Hardware in downtown Lebanon, or Aubuchon’s in White River Junction. I could quickly find duct tape, screws and WD-40 for the limited jobs in my repertoire.

I was satisfied with the Sears on Route 12A, not a big store, but it had quality tools, lawn mowers, washers, dryers, stereos, exercise equipment — the stuff of domestic dreams and delusions about getting in shape if I only had a …. 

For that matter, I was OK with smaller department stores, like King’s on the Miracle Mile or Rich’s in plazaland. Nobody waited on you, which suited me. In its last years, after Walmart stomped to town like Godzilla, I grew fond of Kmart, where you had whole departments to yourself. Its motto could have been something like, “If you can’t find it, neither can we.”

All these years later, I still miss the chicken cordon bleu on a bulkie roll from the Colonial Deli Mart in Lebanon. Thicker than a book by Charles Dickens, it was tasty, generous, unrestrained by corporate systems that put profits over a consumer’s delight. My son loved the Gondola Deli in White River Junction when he was a boy. If it had stayed in business, I believe he might never have gone off to college and left us hungering for his visits. 

We moved here in 1982, so I didn’t really get to know J.W. Barber’s, but I admired its slogan, “Friend of the Working Man.” The working man has been short of friends for a long time. We caught the later years of Woolworth’s in Lebanon and Newberry’s in White River Junction, from the five-and-dime era. We took our toddlers to Woolworth’s to admire the parakeets and it was almost as good as a trip to the zoo.

I don't know what has happened to the shoe business, but the Shoetorium in Lebanon was the last place where they had a full selection of shoes and they waited on you. Now if you buy online, they don’t quite fit right and hurt your feet. They are cheaper, but lots of crummy things are.

When our kids were little, we preferred eateries where a little noise was acceptable. There was a bagel place around the corner from Kmart where my wife, Dede, took the kids when we were new to town. She was a little lonely, and found refuge there. She still thinks fondly of the couple who ran the place. 

I liked old-fashioned businesses on their last legs, like the A&W in West Lebanon, or general stores in small towns where I felt like I was visiting a museum. You could always find Bag Balm hand cream, or Moxie, which was both sweet and harsh, like life.

I miss looking at furniture at Bridgman’s, although the Listen Thrift Store that took over the building is my official outfitter. My wife worked at Evergreen and Homescapes, so they have a special place in my heart, along with her, of course. Board & Basket made me wish I knew more about cooking. Everything looked clean and perfect, so different from my scorched-earth methods.

Rest in peace J.C. Penney’s (you could buy an appropriate pair of pants, shirt and tie for a funeral), Riverside Grill (our toddler was so naughty there one night it has gone down in family history), Voice and Vision (TVs before big screens took over our homes), the original Ramunto’s on Main Street in West Leb (thick pizzas restored my faith in humanity, and mozzarella), Hirsch’s in Lebanon and Colodny’s in White River (old-fashioned, small department stores.) Travel nowadays and it’s another town, another Old Navy, Gap, Trader Joe’s, Home Goods. It leaves me unsettled.

We are always making new memories, of course. The lead business news now, as reported in our own Valley News, is that Jersey Mike’s Subs is opening Nov. 15. Like most Upper Valley residents, I am already deeply attached to Chez Mike’s, but history tells us that all things pass, and when that day comes I’m not sure how we will carry on.

Does anyone know how long a Jersey Mike’s franchise lasts, on average? Please post the answer online. 

Dan Mackie lives in West Lebanon. He can be reached at dan.mackie@yahoo.com.