University of Alabama students and Tuscaloosa residents have said goodbye to 67 years of history housed on the corners of Bryant Drive and 8th Avenue, known appropriately as The Corner Store. Built in 1946, The Corner Store was a place for students to go for snacks, shopping or to hang out, and it is the latest in the University’s series of demolitions.

Virginia Underwood, daughter of original owner John Puryear, said she has fond memories of working and visiting the store during her time as an undergraduate at the University.

“The Corner [Store] was a small store that evolved over the years,” Underwood said. “We would be whatever the students needed us to be. I remember when we started carrying Zippo lighters and pipes. It doesn’t seem like a big deal now, but it was back then.”

Eventually, Underwood said the store also started selling beer because of student demand.

“Whatever students needed or wanted, that is what we put on our want list,” Underwood said. “Students came to the Corner to buy books and hang out. We had the soda fountain and later we added small booths and a jukebox. Students could come and get lunch or meet their dates. A lot of people met the person they married there. They would come back on a gameday and visit and tell us all about how they met, and what this place meant to them. There are lots of memories tied to the Corner.”

Cathy Andreen, director of the Office of Media Relations, said the University acquired The Corner Store in 2007.

“The building located at 801 Bryant Drive was vacant, had significant deferred maintenance issues and was not built in a manner that allowed re-adaptation of space to meet current UA needs,” Andreen said.

As for the now-vacant lot, Andreen said the University had future plans for the space. The University has also announced the dance studio located next to The Corner Store would be demolished in the future, although no date has been set.

“The space will be landscaped until UA can determine the best use of the space, based on our Campus Master Plan,” she said.

In the early 1980s, Underwood and her husband, Hugh, bought the Corner from her parents and ran it 24/7 until 1997, when it was sold outside of the family.

“It was very difficult to sell it outside the family,” Virginia Underwood said. “It was very personal. It was a neighborhood store and it had been in all of our lives for so long. I did shed a tear. A lot of people worked there over the years.”

In its 67 years, one of the many students The Corner Store served was 1956 graduate Leon Hamiter.

“[The store] was a close place where we could get food and drinks without going way away,” Hamiter said. “It was only two blocks from where I lived. So it was very convenient on the way to class.”

Like many UA alumni, Hamiter said he is sad to see the building go.

“I think it would have been appropriate to keep [the store] as a keepsake business for the area,” Hamiter said. “Of course they’ve taken over so many other properties in the area it might not be feasible.”

The “they” Hamiter refers to is the University, which, since the beginning of 2013 ,has demolished a number of iconic sites including the former Office of Student Media next to Reese Phifer Hall and the historic Kilgore House.

“It affects the history from the standpoint of people used it, enjoyed it, knew it,” Hamiter said. “It was sort of a landmark for the University.”

Tom Land, an institutional records analyst with Hoole Special Collections, said he also remembers frequenting The Corner Store during his time as a UA student.

“When I was in school, everybody would go down to the store and get something quick,” Land said. “The issue is that more stuff is being torn down that is a part of history.”

Virginia Underwood said she was upset by the store being torn down but understood the University’s need for development.

“It’s progress,” she said. “But I know there are a lot of people who are not real happy about it. … I feel like a part of me is really gone now.”