The Dollar Store

Mother said this building at the intersection of Cape Rock and Country Club Drives used to be called the Dollar Store. She thought someone named “Dollar” owned and operated it, but she couldn’t be sure.

A quick search of the Missourian in the Google archives came up blank except for a real estate ad dated June 19, 1946, for a “large lot on Cape Rock Drive located just across road from Dollar Store.” So, it was a prominent enough local landmark that it was used for giving directions.

I DID turn up a couple of other cool stories in that day’s paper that I’ll share soon. They deserve a little more research.

19 Replies to “The Dollar Store”

  1. My family moved to Cape Girardeau in 1962 and at the time the building was used as a corner grocery store. It was called Popps Grocery back then. I think this was a brother to the Popps A&W on Kingshighway Some years later it was closed and turned in to a duplex apartments.

  2. I lived on Vincent park drive, moved there in 1954
    then the store was popps grocery. Standley Popp work there and use to run me out after awhile for reading comic books. setting in the floor by the front door,
    mitch

  3. All are correct as far as popps grocery. My family has live here since the late 50’s. Was a rally nice corner store for us folks who lived here and did not want to go into town. Good undercover work.

  4. This was Popp’s store. It was our neighborhood grocery store for decades. Mr. & Mrs. Popp + Sue & Skip lived above the store. As a kid, I came to the conclusion (all on my own) that there wasn’t anything better in life than a big bag of Lay’s potato chips & a cold 12 ounce bottle of Pepsi – all purchased at Popp’s Store.

  5. My husbands grandmother and her husband used to own the store. His name was William Dollar. I’m not sure of the years.

  6. This building was a Quick Shop convenience store in the early 70’s. It was one of several Quick Shops in Cape. I worked part time at most of the Quick Shop stores while a student at SEMO. If I remember correctly, the property was owned by the Pope?? family. A Mrs. Pope?? was the manager/dietician of the cafeteria in Memorial Hall on the SEMO campus at that time. The other Quick Shops in Cape were located: on N. Frederick, across from the post office; on the south side of Independence Street, a half block west of West End: on the east side of Kingshighway north it’s intersection with Cape Rock Drive; and finally one on the west side Perryville Road, north of it’s intersection with Cape Rock Dr. Of all the Quick Shops in Cape, the “Cape Rock Store” (as we called it)had the lowest sales volume, while the “Frederick Store” had the highest.

  7. I remember going to Popp’s Grocery when I was a little kid. We lived about 3 blocks away on Main Street. I specifically remember it would take me forever to decide what I wanted to buy, because I didn’t get to buy candy like that very often. I remember buying the 2 cent bubble gum there on at least one occasion. It’s funny the small details the brain stores away.

  8. My 1956 City Directory had it listed as Popp’s Superette at 338 Cape Rock Rd. I would bet Lotetta Cowen,her brother and sister made a few trips there as well as the Ervin Kids that lived on Capaha Trail.

  9. A few years ago, when I was doing the McKeown genealogy, I found they had lived in Dollarville (Upper Pennisula, Michigan) in 1900. I had assumed the town name had to do with making money, but Dollar was the last name of the lumber operation owner. It was my first encounter with that last name.

  10. This may be unrelated, but I did notice that records for Bollinger County for 1880 did show a woman named Bess was later married a man named Dollar and settle in the area. People who know more about Bollinger County genealogy may have more details on this Dollar family.

  11. The mason girls lived on Capaha Trail too. We caught the bus at Popp’s Store every school morning. We cashed many a soda bottle in to purchase some penny candy. I have fond memories of Mr. Popp. He treated all of his ‘bus riders’ with kindness. If it was cold, he let us stay inside till the bus came.

  12. This was Popp’s Grocery. Ed and Onita Popp owned it and this was the store we used when we lived on Timon Way. It was a nice little store and had a good meat department. Onita had a catering business and she was a fantastic cook. My Mother and Onita were good friends and we have many of Onita’s recipes. They were in the same Home Extension Club and many stories from those days still have us laughing. In fact, when Phil and I married, Onita catered the rehearsal dinner for us. Their daughter worked at Schnucks in the bakery for years before her retirement. When we moved to Themis Street we used Fischer’s Market, another fine little store.

    1. Bob Isaacs of class of 59 purchased the apartment Building, I think in the early part of 1980’s . Sold it in the mid 80’s. What a hell of a guy, miss him a lot

  13. My father and I just purchased this building and are currently renovating it. Does anyone have any photos from the pre-apartment days?

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