Snapshots of History
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Breckenridge store building being razed in Tingley in 1992.
This week’s photo comes courtesy of the Clair Heyer collection. Clair took pictures in and around Tingley from about 1920 until the 1990s.
William S. Breckenridge opened a grocery and feed store in Tingley in early May 1921. I believe this first location was about half a block east of the site where Breckenridge Store would be for 48 years. Mr. Breckenridge moved to the corner building, previously occupied by W. W. Miller, in late April 1923.
Dry goods had already been added to the stock of merchandise when, in 1927, a meat department was added. Claude Coffman operated the meat department. In 1946, the store went to a self-serve system. In the early years of grocery stores, a customer commonly gave a written list to the clerk and the clerk filled the order while the customer waited.
The store was remodeled in 1953. Hardware, appliances, and dry goods were available as was the grocery stock. Billy R. and Dean R. Breckenridge bought the store from their father in 1962. They had both been associated with the store since their return from the U. S. Army after World War II.
On May 25, 1991, Breckenridge Store celebrated 50 years in business. A history of the business appears in the May 23, 1991 Record-News. The store still offered delivery service at the time of the celebration.
Billy had said he would retire when he turned 65 and he closed the store late in 1991. Billy R. Breckenridge passed away in June of 1992 and his wife Minnie passed in September 1017. The building was torn down in August 1992.
The newspaper records Billy as saying he sold items in his store that his father could not have sold; items such as pet food, bottled water, and potting soil.
I lived in Tingley in 1981-82 and did my shopping at Breckenridge Store and I even had a charge account there. Billy and Minnie were great folks and it was a pleasure to do business with them.
Tingley would have another grocery store. A new building was erected in 1992 and the Tingley Country Store opened in November of that year with Nick Needles as manager. It didn’t last 50 years, though.
