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The five-and-dime store is a shopping experience that
has all but faded from the American merchandising scene, thanks to the
explosion of shopping malls and chain stores. Very few of the
once-popular stores remain.
Krest 5 & 10 owner Rodney Harpe stands in the center of his store
There is one still operating in Coconut Grove at 3067
Grand Avenue. Samuel Harpe established the business in 1933 as Harpe 5
& 10 on Main Highway, then moved it in 1950 to the present
location in a building constructed for office space in 1936 by Pan
American World Airways. That was when the airline was headquartered in
Coconut Grove and its seaplanes regularly landed in Biscayne Bay, then
taxied to the huge overhaul hangars that still stand at water's edge.
In 1955, Harpe sold the business to his son, Rodney,
who was returning from an enlistment in the Air Force and tours of
duty in Korea and Vietnam.
"I got back here in 1955 from Vietnam,"
Harpe recalled. "I bought the business from my father and paid
for it in three years."
Harpe, who resides in the Silver Bluff section of
Coconut Grove, has operated the business at the same location ever
since, though he did change the name to Krest 5 & 10. He formed a
partnership with another five-and-dime store owner and at one time
they owned five stores scattered around the south end of the county
one on Key Biscayne, another in South Miami, one more on Colonial
Drive and still another on Miller Road.
"When I first got into the business there were 54
(five-and-dime) stores in Dade County," Harpe recalled.
"They were weeded out little by little because the rent kept
going up. One reason that we're still here is that we own the
property, and that's been a big help."
Harpe concedes that the term "five-and-dime
store" may be something of a misnomer in today's market, but
insists that customers can still find merchandise for five or 10 cents
in his store, mostly pieces of candy.
"There still are some things for sale here for a
nickel or a dime, but not many," Harpe admitted. "But, today
it's more like a five and ten dollar store. We're a general store,
really; that's what we mean to be and that's what we are."
Harpe says his store carries 42,000 items -- including
pocket knives, cookware, spray paint, luggage, cleaning supplies, nuts
and bolts, tee-shirts, bug spray, picture frames, soaps, piggy banks
and toys, stuffed animals, underwear, sandals, stationery, envelopes,
notepads, luggage, and a large selection of tourist-oriented items
such as ceramic palm trees, glass flamingos, plastic dolphins and, of
course, Florida key chains.
"That's a lot of items," Harpe admitted.
"Most people don't have anywhere near that many items, even the
chain stores. We'll put in three, four or five types of knives, where
the chain may have just one. But, we can do anything we want. For
example, we can buy one item of a particular line if we want, and a
chain can't do that."
Krest has been a registered Ace Hardware Store for 25
years and, as an official Hallmark store, sells a large number of
greeting cards.
"We've got two-thirds of the Ace Hardware line
and it takes up about one-third of the store," said Harpe.
"We don't go into heavy hardware, like power pumps or lumber and
the like. But, we carry more than the smaller Ace stores; we have a
big tool section, an extensive line of electronic equipment, nuts and
bolts, just about anything you need to make repairs around the
home."
Harpe says just about everybody in Coconut Grove shops
in his store, from local storeowners, shrimp fishermen and boaters, to
bank presidents and area residents. And, he says he knows most of his
customers by name. And, Harpe says he doesn't worry about the recent
opening of a K-Mart store in the vicinity.
"They don't give the service that we do," he
said. "We give an old-fashioned type of service."
With a location in the heart of Coconut Grove
immediately adjacent to the ever-popular CocoWalk complex, one might
expect that Harpe is being deluged with incredible offers to sell out,
offers that might be too good to turn down.
"Well, they are making a lot of offers," he
said with a wry smile. "But, they're just not incredible enough.
Nope, I'm just not ready to retire yet; we're still having fun and I'm
young enough to still enjoy it."
For more information on Krest 5 & 10, please call
305-446-6341.
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