Man, another one of the few things I liked about the RGV is closing. El Pato is owned by gringo's and now Globe is gone. I remember when Globe was a "superstore" with a lunch counter, clothing and home furnishings, sporting goods, and all kinds of stuff and super market attached to it.

I guess all that changed about 1990 or so, mas o menos. Not only in the RGV does the ending of the little guy exist, it happens everywhere and it is just a furthering of the amalgamation of our American culture. It is what it is.

On a side note, Mata's grocery store, once a fixture and very succesfull store, in Port Isabel closed last year as well. That bummed me out, as Mr. Mata died a few years ago and I did not get to pay my last respects as he was a good man, crotchety old bastage that hated white folks, but a good man none the less. He was a hard worker and a success. I remember when his store would deliver all the groceries for the shrimp boats in PI and Brownsville.

That is how he made his business and at one time had two neat stores in PI. He gave the boats credit on the food for the trip, 20-40 days worth at a time, when they came back in they either paid up their grocery bill at the packing house or paid him in shrimp. A different time and better time in South Texas.

RIP Globe.

Damn, hadn't heard globe was closing. Are you in town?

I am in town, but not your town . Depends entirely on what town. I will be back up there a few days after Ole Miss. Going to miss you up there this year, no pun intended.

Sad about Globe, I like the old school places. Hope your doing fine, drop me an email.

OP you sound like a typical valleyite that can't function north of the checkpoint where English prevails and tacos are called burritos.

[This message has been edited by aggiestx (edited 10/4/2013 10:30a).]

[This message has been edited by aggiestx (edited 10/4/2013 10:31a).]

Aggiestx:

Really?
You have made me have an epiphany that I am a typical Valleyite who can't function or exist away from the RGV, gotcha. But you are right, I do have a hard time thriving where English prevails, just realized that.

I have no idea where you came up with that train of thought based on the fact that I like an odd little independent grocery store and or that I miss a small family run business in Port Isabel? Please do enlighten me.

FYI, in the last 20 years I have spent a whole lot more time out and away from the RGV than in it. Your comments make no sense.

I never shopped in Globe in McAllen but it was a fixture down on south 10th. Sometime during my time living in San Antonio the name was changed to El Globo. My wife and I got married in 1967 and lived in an apartment building right behind the Globe in SA on N. San Pedro. We used to shop there and only had to walk out the back door and into the parking lot. We could buy all the food we needed for a week for $25-30. Loved that place. I notice that it is closed too.

There used to be a store on the square in Edinburg, run by Darrel Brumley. Everyone in town bought their clothes there. Been out of business for years but noticed that I still have a suit bag with the store name on it yesterday! Too bad things have to change.

But we didn't have the internet then!

I grew up going to the Mini Max or later Carl's Jr. in Mission they too closed over a decade ago. We never had a Globe here in Mission. M Rivas was another supermarket we had here in Mission that no longer exists. We do still have Foy's off the Exwy though.

The HEB going up on 3 mile and Conway will be the 4th HEB in Mission. Talk about growth!!

Foy's is owned by the same group that owns/owned Globe in McAllen. They also own El Globo, and I think El Globe is the McAllen name too, in Brownsville.

I like Foy's, the brief time I lived in Mission I tried to shop there.

I was a South Tenth Valley Mart kinda guy myself. I was always fond of Valley Mart. I guess Carl's took over their stores when they went south. There was even a Kroger in McAllen at one time. I also remember Scurlocks stores in both McAllen and Edinburg.

You should check out Ruben's Grocery on 20th in McAllen. www.rubensgrocery.com

I know Ruben's very, very well. A former HS teammate's dad was the meat market manager there, Mr. Soto, but I think he retired.

He would get me some really good standing prime rib roasts and pork crown roasts back in the day. Also back in the day they were very lenient on age requirements for beer purchases, hence they were very popular. I would buy Barbacoa there at times, and Mr. Soto would be generous on the serving and give me extra hotsauce, he would let me pick out what kind I wanted.

In the last few years they reduced their offerings on groceries down and went towards a more South American crowd, which was actually pretty cool but not entirely my cup of tea. Traveling and being out of the RGV I kinda lost touch with Ruben's.

In an interesting part of the tale, I was talking to my dad this weekend and he told me that my Mom and him bought a large segment of the champagne they served at their wedding at Globe in McAllen. This was 1963.

They were driving back from Houston to Mexico City at the time and champagne was a lot cheaper in Texas than Mexico at the time. My Dad told me he bought 4 cases and had them delivered to the bridge the next day so as to avoid the sales tax. Different times and different places. I miss my Mom.