The Vermont Public Market, Purveyors of Nesbitts Soda Pop

My first recollection of this store was during WWII when my mom went there 
to turn in her accumulated bacon grease.  This was part of our war-time 
contribution, all grocery stores were required to collect various materials 
that were supposed to be in short supply for the war effort. I can picture 
my mother handing a man behind a meat counter a package wrapped in butcher 
paper.  She said she thought they made bombs out of the grease.

The store was typical of small grocery stores of the time, the building was 
completely open in front, with folding doors gathered up at each side which 
were unfolded at night to shut off the gaping front after closing hours. It 
was a very narrow building it seemed to me, maybe twentyfive feet wide at 
the most.  The vegetable and fruit counters were pushed out to the sidewalk 
during the day where you could gaze at the produce as you walked by. The 
owner sat on a little stool behind the fruit wearing his white butcher smock 
and hat and ready to grab any kid that might try to swipe an apple.

This store was owned and run by just this one man, as near as I can remember 
there was never another person in the store to help him.  He was a little 
bit of a grouch. I, like most other kids, used to collect pop bottles and 
turn them in at the various grocery stores in the neighborhood for two cents 
each. You couldn't redeem a bottle of a brand of soda that the store didn't 
carry, we all new this.  We would scour the alleys and trash containers for 
bottles and then go to the appropriate store to get the two cents deposit. 
If the store carried the brand, you would get your money, no questions asked.
But, this fellow apparently didn't like this bottle business, it must have 
been a nuisance for him because he wouldn't redeem a bottle if he thought 
you hadn't bought it from him personally. Maybe he got burnt out with having 
to handle all that bacon grease for the government during the war.  

I did as little business with him as I could but he used to carry orange 
Nesbitts and that was a favorite of mine. Newsomes (Baxters, later) had a 
much friendlier atmosphere but carried Nehi, not Nesbitts, and Nehi didn't 
have the unique taste that Nesbitts did. There was a subtle difference 
between the two sodas or maybe I had just grown tired of drinking Nehi. 

On a hot day I would jump on my bike and ride down 112th to Vermont and buy 
two bottles of this delicious drink and take them back to our garage and go 
sit in the very back corner where it was still, and quiet and a place that 
was private and all you could hear were the flys buzzing in the shade. 
There, I likely wouldn't be confronted by any other kids asking for sips. 
I would sit back on the cool concrete floor and drink my Nesbitts, savoring 
every swallow of the special orange flavor from the Vermont Public Market. 
- J. Dumas<br>