Roads all across Chattanooga are being widened, lengthened, and connected to other thoroughfares. It’s called progress, and it’s in full swing in the Scenic City. Even Memory Lane has more than doubled in size.
I’m referring, of course, to MoonPie General Store, a head-spinning repository of memorabilia, knickknacks, and marshmallowy goodness. No matter when you grew up, its shelves of classic candy, Star Wars lunchboxes, and toys of yesteryear will bring out the child in you.
My only disappointment when I first visited the store over a year ago was its size. Its merchandise was crammed into a tiny space, limiting its ability to offer a wide variety of products.
Walking down Market Street last week, thoughts of a Smoothie – a peanut butter cup candy I could easily eat my weight in as a teenager in the ‘70s – lured me back into the store. As the door closed behind me, I stopped dead in my tracks, surprised by what I saw.
The shelves of old school candy were still there, where they’d been before, as were the memorabilia and the knickknacks. But the tiny space had more than doubled in size, allowing the store to offer more of everything that had made it an awesome space to begin with.
But that wasn’t all. There were entire displays devoted to superhero merchandise, rock and roll goodies, and Christmas fare. Also, products for today’s kids were more plentiful than before, a short documentary about the history of the MoonPie was looping on a large screen TV, and a huge selection of MoonPie t-shirts all but took up the entire back wall.
I was liking what I was seeing, but there was more. And this is where it got really good.
If you belong to an older generation, which I’ll unscientifically define as any decade preceding the ‘80s, you might remember soda fountains and lunch counters in general stores and pharmacies. You could sit down on a round stool, spin around to face the soda jerk, and order a shake – or add a sandwich, and call it lunch. A store in Toledo, Ohio located close to the house in which I grew up sold the best strawberry shakes I’ve had. While I can’t remember the name of the place, I’ll never forget the yummy combination of milk shake, whipped cream, and maraschino cherry. One of those shakes was usually my first purchase after getting paid for delivering the Toledo Blade.
Well, in an effort to duplicate this relic of the past, the owners of the MoonPie Store have installed a full-blown, classic-style lunch counter, complete with soda fountain, sandwiches, and MoonPie Milkshakes. And darned if the prices aren’t much higher than they were “back then.” A hotdog with all the toppings the bun can hold costs only a few bucks, and is worth every penny. The chicken salad and baloney sandwiches make for an inexpensive lunch, too, and taste great. (Over the course of a few days, I tried all three. I was especially impressed with the chicken salad, which is made fresh in-store.)
I also recommend the MoonPie Shakes. Holy cow, are they good. Or at least the one I tried was good. Shakes are made of your choice of Mayfield ice cream and any one MoonPie. I picked Turtle Tracks ice cream and a Salted Caramel MoonPie. There’s nothing like sucking a milkshake through a straw and getting a chunk of MoonPie as a reward. My only advice: bring your own straw. The thin tubes available at the store can’t handle the thickness of the shake, nor the chunks of MoonPie.
Other additions include a candy display featuring gourmet chocolates from Atlanta, but that’s not what sets the MoonPie Store apart. Rather, I believe people will be drawn to the warm glow of nostalgia emanating from the lunch counter. Sitting there, sheltered from the hustle and bustle just outside the front door, I was taken back to an earlier, simpler time, when my only concern was getting the Blade out on time and returning home before supper. That made the rest of the day better.
What things take you back to an earlier, simpler time? A long-forgotten candy bar? A lunchbox featuring your favorite show? Or a Chattanooga-made MoonPie, seeing as they’ve been around since 1917? (They cost a nickle when they came out.) Whatever it is, the MoonPie Store is worth digging through to unearth those treasures.
Even if you’re not the kind of person that typically looks back, you’ll still find plenty of frivolous but amusing ways to spend a few dollars. My favorite are the PMS Mints, which on the cover of the tin are said to be “the best mints – period!” (Rim shot!)
The MoonPie Store has always been about browsing and impulse buying, and now that the store has doubled in size, it’s easier than ever to get lost in its aisles. But that’s okay. I can’t think of many places where I’d rather lose track of time than Memory Lane.
For more photos, pick up a copy of the Hamilton County Herald.