Sunday, August 27, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006 The owner admits that she got a lot of children's lunch money. KENTON, Ohio (AP) — Her pigtails bobbed as she stretched her neck, trying very hard to get a peek at the candy in the ancient display case. But in the end, the 4-year-old simply wasn't tall enough. So Christina Diego pressed her face against the counter's scratched glass front and watched as the much-practiced hands of Eileen Erwin readied her penny candy. "Five pink candies for a pretty little girl in pink," Erwin said as she bagged the goodies. "I don't know of anything better than a pink Tootsie Roll, do you?" And just like hundreds, if not thousands, of children before her, Christina learns a lesson about kindly shop owners and penny candy at Kenney's Grocery. Erwin has dispensed soda, ice cream sandwiches and candy since July 1970 from the dimly lighted front room of her house. The walls are covered with pictures drawn with love by some of her youngest customers, and with school photos, wedding pictures and family portraits from some of her oldest. With an elementary school catty-cornered from her store, and Kenton High School within shouting distance, the 87-year-old has a ready-made customer base. Back to school The first week of school has always been her favorite. "The kids come in, and over the summer they've grown tall. Some of the boys' voices have changed, and some of the girls have started carrying a purse," she said. "They're all grown up, but they'll still take a minute to visit with an old lady. That makes me feel good. So if they have a problem, they tell me and I try to help." She and her late husband, Dan, bought the house in early 1970. An uncle of Dan Erwin's had lived there and was the first proprietor of Kenney's Grocery. When Eileen Erwin opened her candy store, she kept the name and changed little else. She used to open at 7 a.m., and a line of school kids would already be waiting out front. A stroke 20 years ago bent her body, and old age is beginning to slow her down. Now, she opens the store at 1 p.m. and waits for customers until 9 p.m. or dark, whichever comes first. On Friday, Christina and her mom, Ashley Whitaker, were the day's first customers. Whitaker's school picture is among the hundreds that hang on the wall. Whitaker, 22, admitted spending money that she shouldn't have when she came to Erwin's store as a kid. "I went home hungry a lot of days, because my lunch money bought soda and penny candy instead of mashed potatoes at school," she said. "That's what we all did. We just thought that's what lunch money was for: to spend here." At that, Erwin lets loose a school-girl giggle and covers her face with her hands. "I sure got a lot of lunch money, that's true," she said. "But I guess it didn't hurt anybody, now did it?" As Christina and her mom head out the door, the after-school rush begins. No more time to sit down now, as Erwin spends close to an hour handling a steady stream of kids and teens. Keeping order Most are friendly. Some are not. But in 36 years of business, she's had to toss out only two boys for bad behavior. Maybe that's because, until recently, she kept order with a sharp stick and has been known to pull it from behind the counter and wield it at a mouthy teenager or two. Eventually, her son made her put the thing away. She's had only one attempted robbery, and that was years ago. A 10-year-old boy with a mask and a BB gun came in. "I want all your money and all your candy," he told her. "Well," she told him. "I can't give you either." She didn't call the police; she called his parents. "That's the thing, you see," she said. "They just need a little tough love." Having reared her own two children, and now sharing the joys of six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, Erwin said she's been blessed to have two families: one that God gave her, and one that came to her by way of penny candy.