Alm's Milk Products

In 1961, Alm’s Milk products featured the only plastic, no wax carton in Minot. Alm’s also featured Ice Cream along with their Grade “A” milk. Alm’s also had home delivery available. Alm’s millk bottles were sealed by special machine with heat settings up to 1500 degrees. Under the bottle caps were a heavy a cardboard bottle top with premiums printed on them. One could save the bottle tops and redeem them for a “Treasure of fine premiums”. Such items included a Pen Portrait for a picture you sent in, A flourentine silver spoon set, a Black Foredty Wall Clock, 6 personalized pencils, and at one time the bottle tops could be redeemed for admission to the matinee shows at the Empire Theater.

Dishes in the Grocery Store

Back in the “old days” many grocery stores offered full sets of dishes or a “Kitchen Ensemble” for only low prices per piece with every $3.00 you spent on groceries…  in 1970, the three Piggly Wiggly stores offered Anchor Hocking  Fire King dishes. Each week you were offered a different serving piece for the low price of 99 cents. Some of the other specials included completer pieces like 5 inch cereal bowls – 4 for 99 cents ….. 1 to 3 pound canisters ranged 99 cents to $1.39 …. Of course the most popular color at that time was “Avocado”. At that time Piggly Wiggly had three locations … Town & Country Shopping Center,… Oak Park Shopping Center and Highway 2 East (across from the Fair Grounds)

July 1972 - Front Page Stories

The US Senate voted to increase the hourly minimum wage to $2.20 which would give much bigger paychecks to many people however the House wanted a minimum wage of $2.00 per hour  ….. Speed Limits were being painted on some streets in addition to the standard metallic signs….. the State Fair attendance had surpassed 100,000 and was on track to beat the previous record of 157, 884 – events still to happen that year included Auto racing, an auto destruction derby, tractor pulling contest and Grand Ole Opry stars Jack Greene and Jeannie Seely  also Appearing were Tommy Cash,  Liz Anderson, Carl Smith and David Rogers 

1972 Snowmobile Ordinance

In 1972 the Minot City Council debated an finally passed an ordinance allowing snowmobiles to be ridden in the city as long as they had a 5 foot pole with a red or blaze orange flag at least 10 inches square  attached to the machine. Originally the pole was to be 6 feet tall but the height was reduced by one foot as the club selling the flags only had 5 foot poles. The biggest problem was the enforcement. Those snowmobilers not in compliance were hard to catch as they usually had an easy time eluding the police.

More Business from Days Past

The Sofa & Sleep Shop— Located at 1906 South Broadway just south of Ryan Chevrolet  ---- Specialized in sofas, recliners and mattresses --- they were the dealer for King Koil and Restonic brand mattresses ………  Scheel’s Hardware – located at the corner of Broadway and Burdick  --- full line hardware store that also sold sporting goods and baking products, now Zimmerman's Furniture... the building was originally built for National Foods grocery store -- Chief’s Chicken ‘n Beef – Restaurant located at 1701 South Broadway – now the home of Qdoba’s – Chief’s was primarily a sandwich shop

More Businesses from the 60's & 70's

Plywood Dakotas --  on the 2 & 2 Bypass East – in the area of the truck stop – cabinets, flooring and construction supplies. ….. Valley Sports Ski Shop – 16 West Central Avenue in 1978  ….. The Cloth Haus --  located on main Street in Downtown Minot – fabric and notion store that also sold Viking sewing machines……. Rebel Jeans --- 1977 a store that specialized in Levi Strauss clothing – locate at 400 20^th Ave SW …….. Swiss Colony --- back in the 1960’s Swiss Colony had a permanent store located in the Town & Country Center – Now Swiss Colony shows up a between Thanksgiving and Christmas in a kiosk in Dakota Square Mall

Past Business - 1960's

The Annex – Going through old newspapers I came across an ad for The Annex – located across the street to the east from the Clarence Parker Hotel – the ad  in mid November was for Hoover Vacuum Cleaners – a free turkey with the purchase of a vacuum …. Dakota Surplus – located at the 2 & 52 Bypass East – now the home to Schock’s Safe & Lock – sold a variety of surplus items of all types ….. Lyle’s Western Wear – 2121 North Broadway – claimed to have the largest selection of western clothing in Minot…….