Zayre's

I was thinking the other day about Zayre's. Remember it? They sold everything from snacks, discount clothes, and toys to tires and such. I remember one night when I was a kid. Darth Vader was going to be at Zayre's for photos and autographs. Star Wars was the hottest thing around back then (1978) and I was definitely going to be there. The line wrapped around the building and there I was in the middle of it.

Rumor had it that "Darth" could only stay out in the store for about 20 minutes at a time because he overheated in the costume. Well of course, the people didn't want to see him leave when it was their turn..so Darth's "handlers" left him out a bit too long. The master of the dark side of the force passed out into a heap on the floor of Zayre's. Poor guy.

Children cried...people moaned...and the universe was never the same.

You know I never did get my picture with Darth that day. To make up for my disappointment, my mom bought me a T-shirt from the shirt shack at the front of the store. A cool iron-on of a Stormtrooper on a ring-necked white shirt. Crisis averted.

Darth was down for the count and I was in cheesy T-shirt nirvana. Besides, next week R2D2 was coming...

BV