The Lure of a Bygone Era: Why Jim Smith Still Misses Cranston's

Jim Smith, a former editor of The Daily Democrat, still misses Cranston's, a home repairperson's dream store that closed in the early 1990s. He recalls walking into Home Depot as being like stepping into the internet, with rows divided into bays and guides using cell phone apps to locate items.

Smith recently went to Home Depot to upgrade his mailbox and buy oil for his bamboo kitchen cutting boards but found it difficult to navigate. He believes that if Cranston's were still open, the mailbox would have been upstairs, while the oil would have been in housewares.

Cranston's was founded by R.B. Cranston in 1898, and Smith is convinced that there were still original items dating back to that time right up until the store closed. He remembers asking Nancy Cranston for help with finding a specific item, and she would lead him right to it.