Living 2 Eat |

Growing up in Immokalee, Florida we did not have much excitement, especially during the summer months.   Although we knew everyone in town, entertainment often came in the form of seeing and greeting others.   As kids, we were not allowed to ride all over town on our bicycles, however, we would often ride to the neighborhood grocery store, Shopworth.

The Vickery family owned this small store for years.  Growing up, we would always buy our meats there as they were of the finest quality.   The store probably had a total of five or six aisles and could never compare to the current day Winn Dixie, Publix, Ralphs or Bruno’s.     Shopworth was typical of most small Mom & Pop stores, they issued the green stamps, had bag boys to take groceries to your car, and kept a list of folks having written bad checks at the two cash registers.

Shopworth did have something extra special… a vending machine that kept the bottles freezing cold.   A Coke was our drink of choice and they always had ice crystals inside and it was somewhat akin to drinking a slush.   Best I recall, the Coke’s were only a dime, and if we didn’t have any money, Mrs. Vickery would put it on our charge account.

For those who remember these machines, I think we would all agree that our knuckles were busted each and every time trying to pull the bottles out of their slots.  I feel certain that these machines would never pass the legal departments of today’s cola companies.