LOCALS have shared their memories of the Red Shop convenience store at Alexandra Hills that closed down recently.
Carole Blythe said her parents Keith and Valerie Gillespie owned the shop, which was on the corner of Finucane and Allenby roads, from March 1973.
It had been built by Judy and Colin Holt. Mrs Holt went on to become a councillor in the Redlands from 1979 to 1988.
Ms Blythe lived in the house behind with her parents and older sister for about two years.
She said there was development in the area which brought builders and trades people to the shop to buy lunch.
"It was a growing area in those days but the closest shops were at Cleveland and Capalaba," she said.
Ms Blythe said her family had moved to Alexandra Hills from Manly when she was 11 years old.
Her parents moved on from there to run a convenience store at Birkdale.
"I feel sad that the shop has closed down because it had been there a long time but I have a lot of happy memories," Ms Blythe said.
"I got to work in the shop and serve customers."
Ms Blythe said her parents had sold the shop to Harry and Mary James, who later sold it to the McMillan's.
Children of other owners have also commented on the store after reading of its closure.
Tracy Kirley said her parents were the McMillan's who named the shop McMillan and Wife. She remembered having to bag up lollies when customers could buy them for one cent.
Amanda Vorisek said her parents had the shop in the 1980s.
"So many memories there: Helping dad opening up shop at 5am, eating truckloads of lollies everyday and developing a hernia at aged seven years old from bringing the milk crates in of a morning," Ms Vorisek said.
Tanya Smith said the closure was sad. "I remember taking a written note from my dad giving permission to buy his Winfield blue when I was about 10," she said. "Best hamburgers in the day too."
Dan Ruig said that he had played pinball at the store.
"I lived across the road and sometimes played the pinball machine which was on the outside," he said.
"Had so many free games. When the shop closing time came the owner said just unplug it when you finish...about midnight on a few occasions."
Kelly Boon said that as children she would buy a dollar's worth of mixed lollies at the shop.
"Since there were half cent and one cent lollies we always walked out with a huge brown paper bag full," she said.
Chris Blume said he used to ride his push bike to the shop between 1989 and 1992.
"Get paper for my dad, milk and bread and spent ages watching and playing the video games," he said. "Used to cop it when I got home for taking so long."
Elders Real Estate property manager Jane Davie said last week that the building owners did not want to sell but were yet to decide whether to reconfigure the inside for a business or convert it into a home.
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