Cow Store

I used to frequent the ones on Washington Street and Bragtown.  This one on Chapel Hill road seems to have a raised pad added later.  You were to drive under the canopy, and this raised area would make it awkward.

We used to stop here all the time to get a last-minute carton of milk or some such... Very friendly southern family used to manage this one. I guess all of these in Durham are now taquerias or mexican bakeries? I know the one on Hillsborough Rd is. Didn't even know there was one up in Bragtown. A few years ago I was talking with a recent transplant from up north and they asked me if I knew of the taqueria la vaquita on chapel hill rd. I had a confused blank stare for about 30 seconds before I realized what they were talking about... "You mean the Cow Store???" ;P

Pine State Creamery started these stores.They were dairy stores to start with and Albert Poe owned this store and ran it until he died. Horace Waters owned the one in bragtown it was beside Currents cafe.

The owners of the cow store was a family named Poe. Christine and Albert. Later Alberts son, Charles Poe took over the store. I grew up with Craig Poe. Christine Poe (I forget her maiden name, it may have been Besler) was a member of a well to do Durham family and inherited quite a bit of property. Including the florist shop (and greenhouses at the corner of old Chapel Hill St and west lakewood ave. Mrs. Poe often mentioned the old lakewood park. She told me that the area where the movie theator (then Duke surplus store) was the site of a heated swimming pond, it had steam pipes running underneath it. She also said the park had a small roller coaster and a dance hall. I would love to see pictures of the old park.

Tuscaloosa-Lakewood Neighborhood Association raised funds in 2012 to repair the cow, now a historic landmark. Artist Matthew Mahler completed the restoration work in the spring of 2013. Owner Charles Poe said the cow was erected in 1963 so restoration is on 50th anniversary. see also article in Herald-Sun July 23, 2013.

I usedto work there. It was 2001. M in laws were leasing the store and it was a drive through convenient store. I was robbed at gunpoint with my 11 minth old baby the day after thanksgiving and never went back. Waitedfor the cops to show up for 5 hrs, they never did.

When I was 16 I used to get cigs, beer and pain pills there. The owner was a cool dude. I think his name was Charles.

Not true...just a joke

I think there was another one on Carver St and Preston Ave. near Guess Rd. A retired cop used to run it. That one and the one in Braggtown were very familiar places for me and my friends growing up in the '70s.