Bechyn Stores
There have been two stores in Bechyn. In my lifetime the larger of the two was owned by my great uncle, Charlie Malecek who took it over from his father. In the 50s and 60's the other store was called "George's". I only remember being in it once. And it seemed to like a drug store. I think there was a counter. While the old famers and young children went to Charlie's after Sunday Mass, the older teens and young adults migrated to George's. George's burnt down. It was in the middle of the night in winter. My father remembers running outside in barefeet to join the bucket brigade. A relative straight off the boat, so to speak, was in the upper level of the store. He put on his suit and shoes and the lowered self down via the old sheet method. Everyone had a shock to see him stroll out from the side of the store dressed so fancy. There they were in contrast, wet and freezing. I have read that the Malecek store was built from the old church material. It is my understanding that John Malecek bought the lumber and built a dance hall next to the store. I played in that building many times with Charlie's children. Only by that time Charlie had converted it into grain storage. At the back of the store were two outhouses. In addition to a garage there was a very building used to hold ice. My father tells how each winter when the ice was the right thickness the men would go the creek and saw out blocks of ice and store them in the building putting straw between and around them. My father was the first grandson for John Malecek Sr and being the eldest he worked in the store until his father bought a farm near the gravel pit. It was his job to keep the ice chest stocked. During Prohibition years my great grandfather brewed his own beer. My father hid the beer bottles under the stairsteps to the upper level when word came that the police were in the area. Actually the local constabulary were on the take and would stop in for a beer (and probably a little cash to turn a blind eye). My Great-Grandfather had been arrested back in 1911 (probably for selling beer on Sundays) - here is the article. Legally sold on Sundays. Following Mass the routine was to go to Charlie's. The men into the bar section and the women and children to the store half where we sat around tables. We usually could get an ice cream cone. Grandma was always ready with her handkerchief in her hand to wipe our faces. Sometimes we would get a soda (Orange Crush). And if my father was along we could join the mean at the bar and play poker dice in the well used leather cups. Men would play whist at the tables or booths. They loved to smash their card down and exclaim; "Son of a Bitch".
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1995	1999	1995
1997	From Centennial Book	2002
2006		2006
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