Goodbye to Yummy's

Yummy's, the convenience store a block and a half away, closed down today. They were driven out of business by a greedy landlord who doubled the rent and even wanted the storekeeper, Kim, to pay half the real estate taxes. Our street is not a main thoroughfare and the stores don't get that much street traffic. No store on this strip can survive paying $3,000 in rent, certainly not a homey little Mom and Pop convenience store where the prices stayed lower than the rest of the area.

Kim must have taken over from the previous owner about 12 years ago. He's a tiny man of Asian extraction, probably Korean. He's not much bigger than a 13 year old boy, and very thin as well. His glasses dominate his small face. He had several other workers in the store, a young mother who brought her small son in when she worked, another woman and sometimes one of the men who often hung out in the store. I wasn't sure if he was being paid or volunteering!

Yummy's attracted three or four men who hung around the store all day socializing with each other and oozing out of the way when a customer wanted to get by. They gave the place a down to earth, Brooklyn working class ambience. Kim also kept a friendly orange cat wandering around the store, probably to kill the mice.

I never got to know much about Kim. He had a sign suspended from the ceiling, which said, "My son is in the Air Force." He was so proud of that, but then his son was killed in a plane crash. I remember Kim weeping openly in the store shortly after his son died. But he kept his store going, and was there seven days a week.

Kim is a tease. You'd bring your purchases to the cash register and Kim would tally them up and tell you the price was something outrageously high, usually ten times the real amount. Sometimes his razzing went a little too far and I got aggravated with him. I told Bruce once that Kim was going to annoy the wrong person someday, because he seemed to tease everyone.

But the teasing wasn't his downfall. They jacked up the price and he could not afford to stay in business. He doesn't live far away so maybe I will see him around the neighborhood. He's an older man and could decide to retire, but I have a feeling he will try to start a store somewhere else.

Yummy's was one of those old-fashioned places where we were a known quantity. The workers recognized us and asked after Jason when he wasn't with us. It was one of those little unsung places that gives a neighborhood character and warmth. I'll miss it.