Sweet memories remembered through the community’s history
By Kendall Patterson
Editor
December 31, 2021 marked the closing of a special place for the people of Sweet Lips, Chester County. That day was when the Sweet Lips Store closed its doors.
Some remember the building being Sweet Lips School before it closed in the 1960s.
After the closing of the school house, it was used as a community center.
Most people today will remember it as a convenience store that the community loved.
After the building changed ownership multiple times after being a community center, Dianne and Lou Williams became the owners.
In June of 2021, they announced that they will either have to sell or close the store due to it being too much for them to manage anymore physically.
The selling of the store included the store, the storage units and a four-bedroom house.
Dianne explained how she was diagnosed with back issues and could not keep standing on her feet throughout the day.
Since it was never sold, they had to end the days of the Sweet Lips Store.
“We were trying to sell it because we thought the community needed it…The closer we got to closing, I believe people began to realize, ‘yeah’ we were gonna close if we didn’t sell it,” Dianne said. “We hated it, but we didn’t have any choice.”
The convenience store, also known as Sweet Lips Grocery, was important to community members, especially for the convenience. Whether it was spice, gas for mowers sandwiches for lunch and more, the Sweet Lips Store was there.
If somebody came in and they just needed two teaspoons of cinnamon, and I didn’t have any cinnamon back there, I’d get it out of my store or get it out of my house and give them the cinnamon to finish out their recipe or whatever so that they wouldn’t have to run all the way out to town,” Dianne said.
Dianne and Lou said that they will cherish all the memories of the customers that they grew close to over the years. That community was their favorite part about it all.
“There’s just a lot of good people around here. That’s what I miss. I miss the people. I just miss seeing everybody. A lot of people I didn’t know by name, I knew by face. They would come in, and we would cut up,” Dianne said. “You cried with people when they lost loved ones. You celebrated grandbabies and children getting married. It was just truly part of the community.”
“It was the opportunity to meet the people of the community and become friends with them,” Lou said.
