Variety Store

ONLY IN Baltimore does Santa Claus do his own plumbing less than a week before Christmas. One wouldn't think such a thing could possibly be true - certainly there must be elves trained in the plumbing arts - until one steps into Hi's Variety, the "almost everything store" on Fleet Street in Fells Point, to discover a black Santa named Mike White and the brothers who run the store, Patrick and Charlie Wroncinski, huddled over the front counter and contemplating...

At Three Brothers shopping plaza in East Baltimore, residents buy groceries, tools, wine, bus passes, socks, cherry slushes and wedding rings. They get their cars washed, or wash their laundry. They cash Social Security checks, pay utility bills and get their license plates. Longtime customers often hand clerk Michael Ruby their paychecks, bills and spare cash and ask him to sort it out. More often than not, he knows their brand of cigarette or liquor, or their favorite scratch-off lottery ticket, and has it ready for them.

Samuel Chester never thought much of security at his small variety store in West Baltimore. He never liked the idea of Plexiglas between customers and his merchandise or stone-faced guards at the door.Instead, he welcomed everyone and encouraged them to browse -- unwatched -- as long as they chose."He probably knew that some people at some times stole from him, but he felt they were the ones who really needed it," said his son, Clement Chester of Miami. "I think he was more about making friends than money."

ONLY IN Baltimore does Santa Claus do his own plumbing less than a week before Christmas. One wouldn't think such a thing could possibly be true - certainly there must be elves trained in the plumbing arts - until one steps into Hi's Variety, the "almost everything store" on Fleet Street in Fells Point, to discover a black Santa named Mike White and the brothers who run the store, Patrick and Charlie Wroncinski, huddled over the front counter and contemplating...

The loyal customers of Bob's Variety Store know nothing can replace it, now that the Main Street fixture has closed its doors after 40 years. But owners Bob and Sue Klingenberg are hoping to fill the space with at least one business that will thrive. Tomorrow, the Klingenbergs are scheduled to go before Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission to get feedback about what changes they could make to help market the 4,200-square-foot space at 1206 N. Main St. "We just want to see what the options are, to see whether we could leave it as one store or divide it, so we know before we market it," said Sue Klingenberg.

McCrory Corp., one of the last major retailers clinging to the declining variety store business, told creditors it was unable to pay $3.4 million in debt due today.Analysts said the announcement could foreshadow a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.The York, Pa.-based company said it was "examining all of its restructuring options."Paul Weiner, the company's chief financial officer, declined to comment.McCrory's announcement comes two months after the chain said it would close 229 stores, leaving it with about 820 across the country.

For the regular customers of Bob's Variety Store in Hampstead, Mother's Day is not complete without a hanging basket of nonstop begonias or showy fuchsias that hang from the store's greenhouse ceiling like a rain-forest canopy. Bob's Variety Store is many things to its customers, but in the spring, it is Mother's Day Central, with potted miniature roses, geraniums, lupines and daisies waiting to honor mothers. "I enjoy watching the people pick out flowers for their mothers or bring them in and let them choose," said co-owner Sue Klingenberg, who opened the store 40 years ago with her husband, Bob. She's especially cherishing the flower season this year.

The loyal customers of Bob's Variety Store know nothing can replace it, now that the Main Street fixture has closed its doors after 40 years. But owners Bob and Sue Klingenberg are hoping to fill the space with at least one business that will thrive. Tomorrow, the Klingenbergs are scheduled to go before Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission to get feedback about what changes they could make to help market the 4,200- square-foot space at 1206 N. Main St. "We just want to see what the options are, to see whether we could leave it as one store or divide it, so we know before we market it," said Sue Klingenberg.

Last Thursday on Hoffman Street in West Baltimore, in a raid considered so stunning that this newspaper devoted five entire paragraphs to it, Housing Authority police swept through what is laughingly called a Drug-Free Zone and arrested 25 people on narcotics-related charges.Five paragraphs.On the same day on Greenmount Avenue, in a drug raid considered so monumental that this newspaper devoted four paragraphs to it, city police charged into the National Variety Store -- Neiman Marcus, it ain't -- and seized enough narcotics-packaging materials to fill two prisoner transport wagons, while arresting more than a dozen people thereabouts.

Two customers of a Linthicum variety store tackled a Christmas Eve bandit after they realized he had no weapon and before he could get out of the store, county police said yesterday.Police said a man walked into Bonnie Max Variety Store in the 500 block of Camp Meade Road about 4: 30 p.m., put his hand in his pocket to imply that he had a weapon and announced a robbery.A clerk placed money from a register on the counter, and the man picked up the money, police said.As he began to leave, an unidentified customer saw the man take the hand that would have been holding a weapon out of his pocket, police said.

JAMES MEARS sits behind the counter of the Independent Variety store these days. On this particularly gorgeous May afternoon, Mears sports his black kufi and matching black buba and peers out at you from behind black-framed spectacles as he chats up the customers who stroll in. He greets them all with a cheery hello and asks about their welfare. A woman who wants a pack of Newport cigarettes agrees that his are the cheapest in the neighborhood. A boy and man come in, and Mears jokes with the lad about always being the one who orders while the older guy pays.

Lola M. Hazlett, 83, store owner, caregiver Lola M. Hazlett, a former caregiver and variety store owner, died Monday of heart failure at her Waverly home. She was 83. Lola Martin was born and reared in Wayne County, N.C., and attended public schools there. She moved to Baltimore in the 1950s and settled in Waverly, where she ran a variety store for many years in her home in the 2500 block of Greenmount Ave. She later worked as a caregiver until retiring about 10 years ago. Mrs. Hazlett, whose husband died many years ago, enjoyed gardening and doing needlework.

The loyal customers of Bob's Variety Store know nothing can replace it, now that the Main Street fixture has closed its doors after 40 years. But owners Bob and Sue Klingenberg are hoping to fill the space with at least one business that will thrive. Tomorrow, the Klingenbergs are scheduled to go before Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission to get feedback about what changes they could make to help market the 4,200- square-foot space at 1206 N. Main St. "We just want to see what the options are, to see whether we could leave it as one store or divide it, so we know before we market it," said Sue Klingenberg.

The loyal customers of Bob's Variety Store know nothing can replace it, now that the Main Street fixture has closed its doors after 40 years. But owners Bob and Sue Klingenberg are hoping to fill the space with at least one business that will thrive. Tomorrow, the Klingenbergs are scheduled to go before Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission to get feedback about what changes they could make to help market the 4,200-square-foot space at 1206 N. Main St. "We just want to see what the options are, to see whether we could leave it as one store or divide it, so we know before we market it," said Sue Klingenberg.

For the regular customers of Bob's Variety Store in Hampstead, Mother's Day is not complete without a hanging basket of nonstop begonias or showy fuchsias that hang from the store's greenhouse ceiling like a rain-forest canopy. Bob's Variety Store is many things to its customers, but in the spring, it is Mother's Day Central, with potted miniature roses, geraniums, lupines and daisies waiting to honor mothers."I enjoy watching the people pick out flowers for their mothers or bring them in and let them choose," said co-owner Sue Klingenberg, who opened the store 40 years ago with her husband, Bob. She's especially cherishing the flower season this year.

For the regular customers of Bob's Variety Store in Hampstead, Mother's Day is not complete without a hanging basket of nonstop begonias or showy fuchsias that hang from the store's greenhouse ceiling like a rain-forest canopy. Bob's Variety Store is many things to its customers, but in the spring, it is Mother's Day Central, with potted miniature roses, geraniums, lupines and daisies waiting to honor mothers. "I enjoy watching the people pick out flowers for their mothers or bring them in and let them choose," said co-owner Sue Klingenberg, who opened the store 40 years ago with her husband, Bob. She is especially cherishing the flower season this year.

Lola M. Hazlett, 83, store owner, caregiver Lola M. Hazlett, a former caregiver and variety store owner, died Monday of heart failure at her Waverly home. She was 83. Lola Martin was born and reared in Wayne County, N.C., and attended public schools there. She moved to Baltimore in the 1950s and settled in Waverly, where she ran a variety store for many years in her home in the 2500 block of Greenmount Ave. She later worked as a caregiver until retiring about 10 years ago. Mrs. Hazlett, whose husband died many years ago, enjoyed gardening and doing needlework.

A stubborn fire that burned for hours yesterday morning destroyed two stores at Oldtown Mall, a struggling strip of retail outlets east of Baltimore's downtown that symbolizes failed urban revitalization.Wrecking crews knocked down the smoldering remains of a variety store and a hat shop in the heart of Oldtown Mall at lunchtime shortly after firefighters put out the smoky blaze that was first reported about 8: 15 a.m. The mall is near Ensor and Monument streets.The fire started in a four-story narrow brick rowhouse built at the turn of the century in the 500 block of Oldtown Mall, a part of Gay Street closed to traffic and turned into a red brick pedestrian thoroughfare.