The Niwot Country Store

We called it the Fina, because that's what the big sign out front said. Fina was the brand of gasoline sold at the Niwot Country Store for years when I was a small fry in the little spit of a farming community on Colorado's Front Range.
It was a small wooden building with a couple of gas pumps out front and typical conveniences inside. The candy shelves kept my dentist busy. My brothers and I frequently begged Mom for sweets from the store. It was also a place where she could run to grab a gallon of milk, some canned goods, a box of rice or laundry soap.
As I grew older, a trip to the Fina meant comic books and magazines. I bought a lot of Spider-Man comics there, along with Famous Monsters and Starlog magazines. When we felt no one was looking, the magazine rack became the place where we could peek at the ladies with the stapled navels. Ah, youth!
The store grew over the years and changed hands several times. The Fina gave way to Conoco. The Hazzards (who later became my former in-laws), sold to the Ficks. A strip shopping center was built behind it. Many a neat and not-so-neat stores came and went from the Cottonwood Shopping Center.
Almost as long as I can remember, there has been a raised culvert that creates a big bump at the entrance to the shopping center. I had a method down-pat where I could coast my bike off that bump straight into the left opening on the bike rack. I could do it without using my hands.
In my early adult life, the Niwot Country Store was razed and rebuilt as a modern, concrete convenience store. I'm sure it holds some charm for the rich kids that drove us poor farm boys out of town, but it sure ain't the same as it was. Clerks now stand behind bullet-proof glass. That was unheard of in the days when a single, unused conveyor belt counter was the place where we dropped our comics and candy while fishing quarters out of our pockets. Gone are the days when we could pay later when we came up a dime short.
Yeah, I miss the old store. Fina or not, it was the hangout of my youth and the place that sold me many fond memories. Here's hoping that the Niwotians today will never forget that special place. I know I won't.