As a child growing up in Columbus, the highlight of every week for Sharon Richardson was visiting downtown Columbus to stop by the Woolworth’s store on the corner of College and Fifth Street South.
Her aunt, who lived across the street from her childhood home, would pick Richardson up on Saturdays to go window shopping.
“Window shop meant we were going to look and enjoy the store, but we didn’t have enough to buy a lot,” she said. “It was such a special time, even for a poor child, because when you walked into this store at that time, it was like stepping into a magical world.”
She remembers people from all over the town gathered inside, shopping and laughing together. There was an “Evening in Paris” scented candle that she imagined smelled just like the famed city. But her favorite part by far was a candy counter stretching across the entire south wall of the store, filled with every kind of candy she could imagine.
“It was just such a wonderful experience to come here to this store where I’m at right now as a child,” Richardson said. “Sometimes I would get a nickel, if I were lucky, that my aunt would give me.”
But more often, she and her family did not have the money for candy or candles. Richardson was one of four children in her family, and she remembers her parents had a hard time getting by when she was growing up.
Behind the candy counter, there was a woman Richardson remembers as a generous, loving soul who would give her a piece of divinity candy for a nickel. Richardson never forgot about the woman’s kindness and said the example set by her continues to inspire her.
“I learned at a very early age the difference in compassion and cold-heartedness, and it did something to me,” she said. “It was already in my spirit to love and be kind to others, but I could see it firsthand right here in the store. To me as a child, this was the biggest, most wonderful place on Earth, and I was allowed to come and get a treat with what little I had.”
At that age, Richardson could not have dreamed she would one day own the same store, now called Shop and Save Gallery, where she’s committed to paying forward the kindness she was once shown.
“The message I was taught from that experience there was that I would think no child needs to go without candy,” she said. “That kind of expanded as I grew, and I noticed children without things, kind of like myself. No person should ever have to go hungry and without the basics in life.”
When the former owner approached Richardson and her husband about buying the store in 1999, she told him she was not sure she could do it.
She had never owned a business or ran a store before, but when he agreed to show her how to run the business, she took him up on the offer.
“And all of a sudden, he was taking the for sale sign out of the window, and I thought ‘I own this store,’” she said.
She immediately began planning ways to help people she knew were in need. Richardson always has candy on hand for children inside Shop and Save Gallery, where she sells framed pictures and other art. She keeps sandwiches, cold drinks, chips and coffee in the store for homeless members of the community who may need something to eat or someone to talk to.
“We don’t advertise it, but they know about it,” she said. “Many times, they come because they want someone to talk with. I’m able from this standpoint to see, to love, to hug, to give candy to children and food to the needy. It does me as much good as it does them because I know that’s why I was put here to do this mission.”
Richardson has continued that mission, running the store for 24 years and never turning anyone down for something to eat. In the past few years, business has gone down, she said, but the support of her family and others from the community who donate food has helped keep it going.
Her philosophy is that everything happens for a reason. From being shown kindness at the candy counter as a child, to running her own business in service of others, each lesson Richardson learned only motivated her further to be a light for each person that walks into her store.
“They need something,” she says about the people she helps. “If they don’t need actual food, they need food for their soul. They come in here — and why, I don’t know — but they’re drawn to this store. And I’m wondering if they feel that same feeling that I felt long ago.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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