Joyner Sales Co, 6112 Shakespeare Road: 1988 3 comments
Joyner's (as we called it) was a place my mother liked to visit every now and then. That's because you never had any idea what they might have in stock (and probably they didn't either!). They listed under Surplus & Salvage, and that pretty much describes the place.
It wasn't quite the same concept as Big Lots because while everything at Big Lots may be overstocked or something that no sane person would want, Joyner's specialized in beat up stuff that may have been fine items in themselves but couldn't be sold as new. Or that was a lot of it anyway, though I do specifically recall buying some bottles of Rodenberry's Cane Patch syrup there (a memory from growing up, which it was a favorite of my grandfather, who put it on biscuits) that didn't seem damaged.
Commenter Dennis described the store this way:
I went to Joyner’s a few times. We called it the trainwreck store because they had merchandise that was so beat up. They had cans of food with no labels. So you paid about 7¢ and had to wait till you opened it to find out if it was peas or corn or whatever. They also had cans of paint with no way to know what color it was except to open the can.
The place closed not too long after I left town in 1985, last listing in the Feb 87-88 phonebook. The space now seems to be some sort of transmission and towing operation.
3 Responses to 'Joyner Sales Co, 6112 Shakespeare Road: 1988'
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1 Oct 10 at 7:40 am
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I remeber you used to be able to buy all the Check cerials there for almost nothing.
Tom
1 Oct 10 at 8:20 am
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Our family shopped at Joyner's many times when I was young. I still have the metal bookshelves that my dad purchased for me there back in the 70's. The only distinct memory I have of the place is that the only thing they had of interest for a kid was Pop Rocks.
Sherryl
28 May 22 at 10:33 am
My paternal grandmother used to live off of Shakespeare Road on Middle Street from the early-60's to the mid-70's, and she would shop at Joyner's a couple of times a month at least. I thought it was the craziest thing in the world to buy cans of mystery food just to save a few pennies, but at least when I would eat with her, she never chose a bomb. She had an uncanny way of telling what was in the can by shaking it up and comparing it to the kinetic memory of shaking known cans of food, or something like that I guess.
I'm surprised that Joyner's lasted into the late-80's. It seemed very old and played-out in the 60's. I distinctly remember thinking to myself at the time that it must be very hard to make a living selling merchandise that was so literally questionable. They must have been doing something right to last all those years.
I like Roddenberry's Cane Patch Syrup on home-made biscuits as well, but it's been years since I've had any. Great, now that's all I'll think about the next few days, because I don't have anything sweet to snack on in the cupboard, and grocery day is not until next week.