May 2020 by Edward T.
It's a nice throw-back to the "sweet shops" that were fairly common back when I was a kid, and...for all intents and purposes...don't really exist anymore. Every few weeks, I bring my birth mother to the laundromat a few doors down to do her laundry (which is considered an "essential service" in this age of Covid-19), and I usually stop here to pick up a few items (I guess the sweet shop is considered an "essential service" too). It's old-- you can see that walking in. In fact, my birth mother grew up in the area, and her late father...my grandfather...bought tobacco here. And her brother...my uncle...got one of his first jobs here. He was in his early teens, and he's in his early 70s now, so...that gives some indication of just how long this place has been in business (I'm sure the ownership has changed hands since then, of course).Towards the back is a sit down area that...if I'm not mistaken...was once a soda fountain. I wish it still existed as a soda fountain. Would love to have an old fashioned "black and white" soda, or something comparable. Some of my early positive memories concern the Preakness Luncheonette, which was Wayne's version of the "sweet shop." I can remember my father bringing me there for a lemon coke, which seemed very exotic at the time. They sold magazines, newspapers, candy, ice cream, cigarettes, hamburgers, etc.(On a side note, while I'm wandering down Memory Lane...as an adolescent, I became friendly with 2 cousins from Yonkers...Tommy and Ricky...who had contests with each other to see who could shoplift the most items. The Preakness Luncheonette was one of their targets, and Tommy asked me one time, as I sat outside as a spectator, "Ed, can I get you anything?" "How about a Creepy magazine?" He came back with 5 issues of Creepy magazine, plus several other items, easily winning the contest with his cousin. That incident lit a light bulb in my head: "Wow, this looks almost too easy! Who needs money? I don't have to deliver any more newspapers!" I began my "criminal career" as a shoplifter at the Luncheonette, stealing horror comics and "girlie" magazines...the hormones were starting to kick in...and moving on to books, records, toys, items I didn't really need, even a wall poster that I concealed in my pants leg. My "career" as a budding Dillinger ended when a guy at another store stopped me, lifted up my shirt. Some 6th sense had made me toss back the magazine I had been ready to shoplift before he stopped me. Not finding any contraband, he growled, "Get the f*ck out of my store." The thought of my father...a nice guy but fearsome when he was pissed...finding out terrified me more than the thought of jail did, and "scared me straight." But I would like to take this opportunity to apologize these many decades later to the owners of the Preakness Luncheonette, who seemed like regular people trying to run a small business. Which has been "out of business" for decades. My sincere apologies for any part I might have played in that.)The Manor does have a magazine section, but I've outgrown "girlie" magazines (although I still have a weakness for horror comics), and have no temptation to resort back to my childhood thievery. At the front counter, I buy 2 coffees. One large black, with lots of sugar, for my birth mother. One small black, for me, no sugar. To make up for the no sugar in the coffee, I also buy Italian honey candy, coconut chocolate, and a "Chunky." (This is what I guess I consider "recompense" for my good deed of helping out with the laundry.) You can buy Lotto tickets here, soda or sports drinks, cigarettes, as well as some canned items.Surprisingly, I've been able to buy paper towels and tissue paper here when those items have been in short supply elsewhere. The proprietors seem to be going out of their way t
