By Dustin Brown
The sign hanging above Stanley’s Discount Variety Center in Woodside recalls another era of shopping, when customers could find their bargains at any number of family-owned mom-and-pop stores lining Roosevelt Avenue.
Both the “D” and the “U” have fallen from the boldface capital lettering that spells “discount,” but their outlines are still prominent in the discoloration on the surface, reminding shoppers of the ongoing promise to offer cheap merchandise with quality service.
Although owner Claire Kanter — whose husband Stanley is the store’s namesake and co-proprietor — has observed Roosevelt Avenue gradually evolve in the 37 years since the sign first graced the building’s facade, she believes the shop itself has stayed remarkably constant.
“Merchandise doesn’t change,” she said. “A pot’s a pot, a pail’s a pail.”
But a glance through the glass window and into the aisles reveals that the old-time mom-and-pop store has managed to stay abreast of the most current trends.
The walls are dotted with items that only a little while ago were not even on the market, let alone available in the neighborhood variety stores. Next to the front entrance hangs a razor scooter, while a glass case along the store’s east-facing wall carries such electronic novelties as “Sound Therapy” — a “deluxe relaxation system with alarm clock” — and a computer mouse with a phone keypad embedded in its surface.
Indeed, the Kanters offer so much merchandise that the only commodity they have in short supply is space.
Claire Kanter spends much of the day standing wedged between the front counter and the wall, running the cash register in a space so cramped it hardly leaves room to step in any direction, let alone turn around.
The same holds true for the display area. Two customers cannot pass at the same time through any of the store’s four narrow aisles, which are so tightly stacked with Tupperware, cleaning supplies and hardware that one false step could send stacks of merchandise into chaotic upheaval.
But what they lack in space they make up in personality.
“We give a service — individual attention to customers,” Claire Kanter said while helping an elderly woman with her utility bill for a charge of only $1.
The variety store sits at 61-32 Roosevelt Ave., directly beneath the tall green trestles of the No. 7 train, and only a few feet from the Long Island Rail Road overpass.
Set in a largely immigrant community, the shop’s bill payment service draws numerous customers who cannot read or write English.
“I’ve had to learn a little Spanish,” said Claire Kanter, who has picked up words for money or the products carried at the store. “I’ve adapted myself. My next thing is learning Russian — and Korean and Chinese.”
The Kanters opened the store 37 years ago when its previous proprietors, a couple who sold juvenile and baby merchandise, closed shop in the midst of a heated divorce.
“I think the wife set it on fire or something because of the alimony,” Claire Kanter said.
Although one marriage had already fallen apart within the confines of 61-32 Roosevelt Ave., the Kanters decided to set up shop on the site, across the street from a store where Stanley Kanter had already been employed for 12 years.
“The landlord put the four walls up, then we had to do the rest,” Claire Kanter said. “We built it from scratch.”
Their daughter Donna, who was 3 years old when it opened, became a permanent fixture at the store until she grew old enough to attend school.
“She had to sleep on boxes and eat lunch here,” Claire Kanter said.
Now married with five children, their daughter often brings her entourage to Woodside and transforms the operation of the store into even more of a family affair.
“The grandchildren love coming here,” she said. “They do the register. A lot of my customers know my grandchildren.”
Although the volume of materials lining the shelves and peg-board walls is so enormous customers might not know where to begin, help is never more than a quiet yelp away.
“People ask us,” Claire Kanter said. “We know where to find it.”
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
