ASHLAND 5&10 CLOSES FTR 10/1/04 MULLEN
ONE OF THE STATE’S FEW REMAINING FIVE-AND-DIME STORES IS CLOSING AT THE END OF THE MONTH…
W-M BAILEY’S IN ASHLAND IS GOING OUT OF BUSINESS AFTER 54 YEARS.
The WORD ON MAIN STREET IS THAT THERE’S A NEW LANDLORD IN TOWN, RAISING THE RENT AND DRIVING OUT TRADITION.
BUT AS NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO CORRESPONDENT SHANNON MULLEN REPORTS… THERE’S MORE TO THIS STORY.
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COULDN’T BELIEVE IT WHEN I SAW THE SIGN… JUST PLAIN FEEL SAD THAT THE STORE’S NOT GOING TO BE HERE ANY LONGER…IT’S GOING TO LEAVE AN AWFUL BIG HOLE IN THE TOWN OF ASHLAND, I KNOW THAT.
PAT PROVENTURE HELPED BILL BAILEY’S FATHER OPEN HIS FIRST FIVE AND DIME IN ASHLAND 54 YEARS AGO.
SHE JOINS A LOT OF BAILEY’S CUSTOMERS SAD TO SEE THE STORE CLOSE DOWN AFTER SO MANY YEARS.
THE STORY SOUNDS FAMILIAR.
IT'S ONE THAT'S POPS UP REGULARLY AS IF TO ILLUSTRATE THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF SMALL TOWN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
AN OUT-OF-TOWN DEVELOPER BUYS AN OLD PROPERTY, FIXES IT UP, RAISES THE RENT AND THE OLD TIMERS CAN'T AFFORD TO STAY IN BUSINESS.
AT LEAST THAT’S WHAT EVERYONE IN ASHLAND SEEMS TO BELIEVE HAS HAPPENED TO BAILEYS.
[Track 4 – 3:32 Helen Horin] Well, it harkens back to my youth, little 5 and 10 cent stores, lots of good bargains…
[Track 4 - 10:18 Pat Proventure] – Look at those jackets, and these pants, you just don’t find these things anyplace else… these are the old hunter pants they used to wear, forever… and look at that, made in the United States… you don’t find ‘em, you just don’t go into a store and find things like this.
THE PEOPLE WHO SHOP HERE SAY THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN SOMETHING THEY NEEDED BUT COULD ONLY FIND AT BAILEY’S.
[Track 4 - 1:36 Mickey Clark] – The last thing I bought was an aluminum coffee pot to make perk coffee with real coffee, couldn’t find one anywhere else.
[Track 4 0:06 Swedish Nightgown Lady] – I just wanted to buy a flannel nightgown that I can’t find anywhere, that’s what made me come here again. I got one last year and was happy as a lark, had to come back.
PERHAPS THE REASON OTHER STORES DON'T CARRY THESE THINGS IS BECAUSE FEW PEOPLE USES THEM ANYMORE.
STORE OWNER BILL BAILEY.
[Track 4 - 24:35 Bailey] Some things we carry in here, it’s never going to go bad, it may take me two years to sell one dozen and they wouldn’t bother with that, so people still need these things but they can’t get them anyplace, what are they going to do?!
CAP GUNS, PUZZLES, CORN-COB PIPES, WASH BOARDS, LADIES’ UNDERVESTS… AND PLATE HANGERS IN EVERY SIZE…
SUCH HARD TO FIND ITEMS, COUPLED WITH THE NOSTALGIA THAT COMES WITH A TRIP TO BAILEY’S, ARE PART OF THE REASON THE STORE HAS BEEN HERE FOR SO LONG.
EVEN NEARBY WAL-MART AND AMES STORES COULDN'T DRAW BAILEY'S CUSTOMERS AWAY.
SO WHY AFTER MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY IS THIS LOCAL LANDMARK CLOSING.
A NEW LANDLORD DID COME IN FROM OUT OF TOWN AND BOUGHT THE BUILDING…
AND HE DID SAY HE WOULD HAVE TO RAISE THE RENT… BUT FRED SANTUCCI NEVER GOT THE CHANCE TO SAY HOW MUCH IT WOULD GO UP.
HE SAYS AFTER A FEW CONVERSATIONS, BAILEY CAME BACK TO HIM WITH HIS MIND MADE UP.
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THERE WAS NO NUMBER THAT WOULD WORK TO KEEP HIM THERE, AND YOU GOT THE FEELING THAT YOU WERE KEEPING HIM IN SOME KIND OF BONDAGE IF YOU WILL… THAT TO CONTINUE A BUSINESS THAT HE WOULD TELL YOU WASN’T MAKING IT ECONOMICALLY AND THAT HE AND HIS WIFE JUST COULD NO LONGER DO.
BAILEY SAYS HE DID THE NUMBERS… AND THAT WAS THE PUSH HE NEEDED TO CHOOSE RETIREMENT.
[Track 4 30:08 Bailey] – It’s just time… companies I’ve been buying from for years have been going out, expenses in the store are more than the store can afford, so it’s time, and I’m happy with it (laughs).
BAILEY SAYS HE WANTS TO RETIRE… HE’S TIRED OF WORKING 7 DAYS A WEEK, HIS WIFE WANTS TO TRAVEL, AND HE’D LIKE TO DO SOME VOLUNTEER WORK.
SO HE’S CLOSING THE STORE… NOT SELLING, BUT CLOSING.
[Track 4 - 32:55 Bailey] – It’s time for me to relax, and I would not try to sell it to somebody because I know the expenses that incur in this place – they couldn’t make it – and I’m not going to bury somebody that way.
THAT’S NOT TO SAY BAILEY HASN'T BEEN HAPPY ALL THESE YEARS.
CUT TO 36:54 I appreciate all the business they’ve given me over the years, I hope they’ve enjoyed coming in here, and I’m going to miss them – I am going to miss the people…
AND THE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO MISS BAILEY’S…
BUT SO FARTHERE’S NO COMMUNITY EFFORT TO TRY TO SAVE THE STORE.
MOREOVER, BAILEY IS NOT ASKING TO BE SAVED.
HE SAYS HE WAS READY TO RETIRE… WHETHER THE RENT WAS GOING TO DOUBLE OR GO UP BY A DIME…
HE SAYS IT TAKES WORKING SEVEN DAYS-A WEEK TO KEEP A TRADITIONAL FIVE-AND-DIME STORE ALIVE TODAY.
[Track 4 - 33:36 Bailey] – You gotta really be willing to work hard to keep one going, it’s unfortunate that the big stores are taking away so much of their business – I mean there used to be at least one or two five and dimes in every town, some of the bigger towns had more, and they’re all gone now, the Woolworth’s, the Kresge’s, the Newbury’s.
SO WHY HAS BAILEY’S WORKED FOR SO LONG IN ASHLAND?
SOME OF HIS BEST CUSTOMERS ARE THE SUMMER PEOPLE.
[Track 4 - 37:35 Bailey] – People come up in the summertime with their lists… they have lists of things they just can’t get in their towns, their states, they come in here and they get them. Most of the time, I’ll fill at least 95% of their lists.
MAYBE IT’S FITTING THAT THE PENNY-PINCHING THAT GAVE BIRTH TO THE FIVE AND TEN HAS SURVIVED ALONG WITH THIS STORE – WHEN NO ONE IS PITCHING IN TO SAVE THE STORE.
SO IF THIS IS “THE END OF AN ERA” - AS SO MANY BAILEY’S CUSTOMERS LAMENT - THEN THEIR SADNESS AT ITS PASSING IS PART OF A NORMAL, GRIEVING PROCESS AND PEOPLE WANT SOMEONE TO BLAME.
SO FAR THEY’RE BLAMING A LANDLORD THAT SOME LOCAL NEWS REPORTS HAVE LEFT NAMELESS AND FACELESS, EXCEPT TO ATTRIBUTE HIM WITH THE ONLY REASON IN THE RUMOR MILL FOR BAILEY’S CLOSING.
BUT SANTUCCI SAYS BAILEY’S STORE WAS ONE OF THE REASONS HE BOUGHT THE BUILDING LAST WINTER… AND HE’LL BE SAD JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE TO SEE IT GO.
HE SAYS HE WON’T TAKE A TENANT THERE JUST SO HE CAN COLLECT RENT, BUT TAXES HAVE GONE UP IN ASHLAND… AND SANTUCCI SAYS THE SPACE HAS POTENTIAL.
(NAT SOUND… CARS PASSING OUTSIDE ON MAIN ST.)
BAILEY’S HAS BEEN A FIXTURE ON MAIN STREET IN ASHLAND FOR MORE THAN A HALF CENTURY… BUT IN THAT TIME, A LOT ABOUT THE TOWN HAS CHANGED WITH THE TIMES.
ASK ARTHUR MARCROFT… WHO WAS BORN HERE IN 1919.
HE REMEMBERS THE DAYS WHEN PEOPLE TIED THEIR HORSES ALONG THIS STREET.
[Track 8 - 1:02 Marcroft] - Thing is, nothing ever stays the same, there used to be a building here, right out to the street, those buildings are all gone, everything changes… theater is gone, makes you sad but you can’t stand in the way of progress if you call it progress.
Q: Is it the end of an era?
A: It’s the start of a new one… (laughs)
FOR NHPR NEWS, I’M SM.
