Review: Pat's Market, Brookport, Illinois

Cross the metal bridge on Hwy 45 leaving Paducah, Kentucky and you will find yourself in the small town of Brookport, Illinois.

This is a simple town, leaving the fancy stuff to their bigger neighbor across the bridge. While you are there take a trip down memory lane with a visit to Pat's Market.

Pat's Market is a grocery store located at 106 W. Second Street. They stock a good variety of food and supplies, even operating a movie rental service within. Look at the items on the shelves and you will see honest-to-goodness price stickers--not a bar-code scanner in sight! Even the cash register uses the simplified methods so common in days past.

While there I saw a mixture of old and new: Novel Wash© Sudsy Ammonia beside the latest scented Clorox© bleach. Bon Ami© Scouring Powder along with the latest liquid scrubber. Kirk's Original Coco Castille Soap side-by side with it's modern counterparts. Even Stewart's Orange Cream Soda had a place among the shelves!
The store had an actual meat counter with a selection that surprised me for a smaller grocery.

The cashier obviously knew the older gentleman ahead of me in line as well as the others I observed being waited upon while I wandered the aisles of this piece of the past. My overwhelming thought was the fact that this store is a dying breed: a relic of a simpler time when customers were more important than technology.

How long has it been since you went into a store where everybody knew your name? A store that placed more emphasis upon quality products than mass-marketed junk, yet still managed to keep their prices low?

If you would like to experience this come visit Pat's Market in Brookport, Illinois. Buy something there and tell them that you appreciate the fact that you are a customer and not a number on a savings card. Experience a bar of Kirk's Original Coco Castille Soap or grab a can of Bon Ami Scouring Powder. Sip on an ice cold bottle of Stewart's Creme Soda or grab a piece of banana nut cake at the checkout. Say hello to the cashier and notice that she really looks at you and not through you like the bar code scanners at a modern store.

Come back into a simpler age, and help keep a piece of our history alive.

You can get exact directions to Pat's Market by clicking here. Come say hello to Brookport--and ask them not to change a thing!