While I may be a writer for this paper I am also a reader. It is here that I get all my information for the comings and goings of the Broad Ripple businesses. I always look for the Random Ripplings photos to keep me in the loop.

This last issue was a true trip down memory lane as I read that Chelsea's and Periwinkle, both long time gift stores, will be history. I became nostalgic as I read the full page farewell message written by Ellen and David Matthews, owners of Chelsea's. I was a gift sales rep for many years and when I left that side of the business I landed next door to Chelsea's at Turandot (another fabulous gift shop) working part time. I'm sure many of you remember that wonderful store that closed in 2007. I worked there until I opened my own store, City Dogs Grocery.

While toying with the idea of opening my store I drew on the advice and mentoring of the owner's of Mr. E's Hallmark in Nora Plaza. Fran and Judy retired to Florida after closing, probably in 2006, never seeing the fruits of my labor. A gift shop is trendy and seasonal and new product is always being sought to keep customers interested.

There are buying trips to Chicago and Atlanta. I used to work at the gift shows there. I look around and I see that many gift stores have faded away. Remember Beanie Babies? Picture frames, candles, wind chimes and potpourri were hot items. Today it is in style to be a minimalist. Less is more. Greeting cards are a tough market in today's world. I didn't know David and Ellen personally but I shopped there on occasion from their beginning. Thirty years is a long time! Congratulations!

So you wonder, what will take its place in the building left behind on Westfield Blvd.? That question allowed for more nostalgia as I remembered Lobraico's Rexall Store that was there prior. The last issue of the BR Gazette featured the historic ad for Lobraico's as it appeared in 1939 mentioning its "real luncheonette and fountain service". My mother used to talk about her Broad Ripple High School friends who would go there after school in the 30's. In the 70's we would shop there with our children for our prescriptions. Joe Lobraico knew us all by name and was so friendly to the kids. The interior was so neat with all the dark wood cabinetry. That era, the 1930's through the '70s was a time of the corner drug store. If you lived here those days you remember. If not, and you are of a younger generation, you may only know CVS and Walgreen and for that you have missed an interesting piece of retail history. Binkley's restaurant at 59th and College has done an excellent job of preserving that history. They have a great collection of black and white photos of old drug stores hung for you to enjoy. They kept that theme because that corner was once Binkley's drug store, complete with soda fountain that served the best cherry phosphates.

Moving south on College to 54th Street was Baker's Drugs which is now Sam's Gyros and previously an army/navy surplus store. At 52nd and College was Sullivan's Drug Store where Luna is now. Still going south on College to 49th, 46th and 42nd Streets, all corners had drug stores as did the corner at 56th and Illinois, Schoener's Drugs, where Starbucks is now.

Not too long ago the last independent druggist to leave our midst was Hamakers at 49th and Pennsylvania where Patachou now invites you for breakfast.

As retail needs change the architecture that it leaves behind or repurposes is ever changing. I think about those changes in Broad Ripple. The biggest change on the drawing board is the Shell station and the proposed demolition of the 1930's quaint apartments on the canal. What once was a simple liquor store on Broad Ripple Avenue on the Monon Trail is a new multi-story building. The small building east of Chelsea's that once housed a furniture refinisher is now a large building with multiple tenants. Roselyn Bakery and the Marathon station made way for the parking garage. Head south again and see how many small College Avenue homes have become businesses with signs out front. They too are in line for change and demolition. It's being negotiated right now with bungalows at 59th and College to make room for a new office building. The Old National Bank replaced a nursing home.

Nothing is certain but change, and retail has certainly changed.