Thanks for sharing these memories!

Although I sometimes write about my childhood here on Hive, it's a little different since I was born in Denmark and grew up there... didn't arrive in the US until University time in 1981. Over there, I did start riding the bus by myself when I was about 7-8, and it was considered perfectly normal for a little kid to ride the bus from one relative's place to another.

I do remember there being a Woolworth's on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin when I first arrived there, and it was (technically speaking) what was called a "Five-and-dime."* Alas, it shut down pretty soon, thereafter.

Even so, I occasionally would find little "pockets" in smaller Texas towns where it seemed like time had stood still...