Reminiscing reveals one of the many advantages of shopping local...

The letter to the editor pictured at right was submitted by Jane (Cronin) Butler of Waukon and first appeared in the Waukon newspaper during the holiday season in 1974 regarding her father, Joe Cronin, who had owned and operated Cronin’s Variety Store and Gifts in the middle of the long Main Street business block in Waukon. The letter was written and submitted by former Waukon residents Jack and Catherine Wadsworth when they lived in Wenatchee, WA and recalled a treasured moment from several years earlier when Jack was shopping with his grandmother in Waukon and experienced one of the many invaluable advantages of shopping local, as noted in the letter’s final paragraph.

Joe and Florence Cronin owned and operated Cronin’s Variety Store and Gifts (often referred to as “The Little Dime Store”) from 1951-1974, when their daughter, Jane, and her husband, the late Robert “Bob” Butler, took ownership of the store and called it Butler’s Variety Store. Jane says she has kept the newspaper clipping with other keepsake items she pulls out around the holiday season and wanted to share it with others this year who may remember her family’s variety stores from years past, as well as with those who may wish that they could after reading about the kind of service that can be offered when shopping local.