Monday, October 5, 2009

Progress


The Quint's Army/Navy store at Lackawana and Franklin, in downtown Scranton, was torn down last week. I took the above photo early Thursday morning.

I stopped by a few times a year. Quint's was a great place to explore. It wasn't a large store, but the owners managed to pack a lot into its square footage.

I usually purchased two things during my visits. You can find them on-line, but Quint's was the only retail store that I knew of that stocked Levi's jeans in odd numbered waist sizes, like 35. I hadn't seen that before-- or since.

Quint's was always the place to find something called "mailman's belts." The name is just as it implies-- belts for letter carriers' uniforms. They were perfect-- not too wide, not too narrow, decent buckle, brown or black, durable as heck, and less than $10 ! You could wear them with anything.


Quint's closed in 2007.  I found the "still standing" photo on the internet.  I know I have one somewhere in  my file, but I couldn't find it.  This was quicker and easier.

Anyway, the building was sold to the furniture store next door.  The furniture store owner said the Quint's building would be too expensive to restore, and the furniture store really needed the parking.  Do the math.  Guess the outcome.

Quint's is history.  It had some really nice brick work and detailing around the upper floor windows.  It's too bad the building was allowed to deteriorate over the years.   It's too bad it was torn down.  It could have been a gem.

As I was walking around the site Thursday morning, something oddly familiar struck me.  Actually, it struck my nose.  I was working downtown during the demolition of several Lackawana Avenue buildings for the Steamtown Mall project in the early 90's.  The demolition of the Quint's building launched the same musty, dusty odor into the air.  It brought back a lot of memories-- and a few sneezes.

Luckily, I don't need any jeans or mailman's belts at the present time.