When the Savages close their lakeside market, they’ll take a lot of memories with them.
AUBURN – Folks in North Auburn soon will have to go several miles out of their way to pick up a sandwich, a pack of smokes, or a bag of chips.
But when the century-old North Auburn Cash Market closes at the end of the month, the area will lose more than a convenience store.
It’ll lose an institution.
For nearly 30 years Sheldon and Annette Savage have owned and operated the market that sits at the end of Lake Shore Drive, just across from the northwest tip of Lake Auburn. Together they have waited on customers from 6 a.m. to closing, seven days a week, all year long.
Now that they’re 69 and 66 years old, respectively, they’ve decided to call it quits and settle into retirement.
“We’re going to miss the people, that’s for sure,” said Annette, as she tidied up the counter that lines the left side of the store.
Likewise, to be sure.
For as long as the Savages have owned the store, it’s been a makeshift social center. They have hosted ice-out contests, deer hunting contests, horseshoe tournaments, a lending library and cookouts. Generations of neighborhood kids have dropped in to buy candy and sodas; now grown up, they continue to come by for a quick bite or to pass the time.
“It’s going to be a sad day when they close the store,” said Tim Getchell, who drops by on his way to work – sometimes a couple times a day. “On the other hand, they’ve earned it.”
The cozy market reflects the personality of the owners. Inventory runs from groceries to hula dolls, fishing tackle to craft scissors. You can open the dairy case and pick up a quart of milk, or – in season – a couple dozen worms. The countertop is so worn at the register – where bounced checks are posted prominently and no credit cards are accepted – that the pattern is buffed off the laminate.
“And it’s the second counter we put in, too,” mused Annette.
The couple, who live above the market, bought a home in Buckfield that they hope to move into at the end of the month. When they do, Sheldon finally will have time to hunt and fish; Annette looks forward to reading and doing puzzles. Together they have 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
But it’s clear they love their extended family in North Auburn.
“Every kid that came in here, there’s one special day that they did something that will always stay with you,” said Annette.
“Like that Angus Webster, he was a handful,” said Sheldon.
Annette chuckled at the memory. The boy always addressed her as Mrs. Bretton, her former name before she married Sheldon in 1979.
“Of course her name was Savage, and she says to him ‘If you remember my name when you come in next, I’ll give you a candy bar,'” said Sheldon.
“So the next time he comes in,” said Annette, picking up the story, “he says, ‘Hello, Mrs. Savage. Can I have my candy bar now, Mrs. Bretton?'”
They share a laugh. It’s obvious laughter is a commodity at the market. When Sheldon says he thinks he might want to pick up a part-time job in retirement, Annette teases, “At 70? Ha!”
A customer who had his deer tagged out back of the market the night before forgot to move a wheelbarrow while the deer was weighed. When he stopped in Tuesday to pick up a few things, Sheldon told him the wheelbarrow had filled with blood.
“I’m knocking 10 pounds off for getting blood in my wheelbarrow,” said Sheldon, pointing to a big chart posted on the market’s wall that records the weight of each buck and doe tagged at the station. “You’re not the leader anymore!”
Sheldon gets $1 for every deer tagged; he says he spends about that much for each picture he takes with his Polaroid camera of every hunter and his trophy. The photos – thousands of them from throughout the 30 years – line a wall and are stashed in boxes on shelves.
It’s part of the market’s institutional memory that will be gone once the Savages leave. The city water district has been talking to the Savages for the past few years about buying the property when the couple retires to preserve the integrity of the lake’s watershed. Sheldon said he already told the city it would have first option on the property.
Norm Lamie, superintendent for the water district, said it’s likely the district will purchase the store and take it down, although no firm decisions have been made. He concurs that the store has been a landmark, showing up on old city maps since the early 1900s.
For Getchell and other faithful customers, the closing of the North Auburn Cash Market will be like losing an old friend.
“I haven’t decided what I’ll do when it closes. It’s an old piece of history here, and it’ll be gone. And they’ll be gone,” he said looking at the couple behind the counter. “It’s sad, really.”
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