Wallace Christmas Past-The Stores

I was sitting here this wintry Saturday morning playing the old reel to reel movies in my mind of past Christmas times growing up Wallace, and there are so many joyous memories that there is not the time to pen them all or to even attempt to do some type of chronological justice to all of them.Today, out of my memory files I have chosen to write about one of my favorite Wallace stores that graced Cedar Street when I was growing up. Here is the reposting of the blog that I wrote in 2014 about Gene's Radio Shop, later known as Gene's Gambles.

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I was reading an obituary the other day about the passing of a Wallace lady whom I remember quite well as a clerk in several Wallace retail shops. One of the shops was Gene's Radio, later on, it became a Gambles. When I reflect on Christmas memories of my childhood, Gene's Radio Shop is always the first store to come to mind.

Gene's was first located up by the Wilma Theater and was not much more than a hole in the wall, but it was stocked full of wonderful merchandise. My brother and I bought our first airplane models to put together from Gene's Radio. Then, the expansion came, and Gene's Radio moved down Cedar Street to the middle of town. It was here that my most vivid memories take shape. For, it was here, that the latest 45 and 33 1/3  albums could be found

Records were not the only types of merchandise that Gene's carried. Gene's Gambles was loaded with toys, furniture, washer and dryers, televisions, model trains, and thousands of other items. I loved going into that store during the Christmas shopping season. Most of the gifts, other than clothes, that I got in my early years came from that store.

One of the coolest things about Gene's was that on New Year's Day, Gene would open the store up so that the locals could come in and watch the Rose Bowl on color television. What a treat that was! My brother and I would head down there every year to watch a game in "living color".

Well, this was not an exciting blog today, but I just wanted to share my memories of Gene's Radio Shop. I wish that it was still there.