Old Riverton Store’s hired help

Old Riverton Store

KSN / KODE-TV scared up this neat story from the Old Riverton Store, once known as Eisler Bros. Store, along Route 66 in Riverton, Kansas.

Forrest Nelson, 93, works nearly seven days a week at the Old Riverton Store. He rings up customers, goes to the bank or the post office. Nelson will also talk to tourists traveling Route 66 from around the world. He says he tried retiring 25 years ago from teaching, but he says you need to have something to do everyday.

“It gets me up, gets me down here. Like a lot of them always say, if you stop working, you just. Well, If you stop moving around, you just forget it,” said Forrest Nelson.

The kicker is Forrest is the father of Scott Nelson, owner of the store. The video is below:

This spring, Old Riverton Store marked its 90th anniversary. Leo Williams opened the store March 20, 1925. So it’s possible Forrest remembers the store when it opened. The store also predates Route 66 by about 18 months.

Joe and Isabell Eisler of Texas bought the store in 1973 and renamed it Eisler Bros. Scott Nelson, who’d been an employee there when he was a teenager, bought the store in 2011.

One thought on “Old Riverton Store’s hired help

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.