Page 28 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2020

PEOPLE
MR. DAY
28 | March 2020
Turns 90
story by Lynn Lofton photos by Donn Hupp
Many Coast residents and former residents think of Triplett-Day Drug Store as
a landmark in downtown Gulfport and its owner Jim Day as an icon. They and others will send him best wishes as he celebrates his 90th birthday this month. There might not be anything so unusual about reaching that birthday milestone except that he still works ve days a week – rain or shine, hot or cold – and rarely misses a day.
He’s owned the store 65 years. Another Gulfport icon, Harry Bell, who owned Bell Travel Agency, has known Day since 1949 and calls him a hard worker. “He’s a prince of a fellow and a good friend. He and Mr. Triplett had that building reconstructed and modernized in 1955,” Bell says.
Not much has changed in the store since 1955, but that’s what regular customers and visitors like. It’s one of few drug stores serving breakfast and lunch where diners can nd hamburgers, lunch specials, milkshakes and more. A television series about astronaut wives shot a scene there because the show was set in the 1960s and Triplett-Day is authentically set in the ‘60s.
Gulfport realtor Lenny Sawyer started working at the store at age 14 stocking shelves. When he got his driver’s license at age 15, he became the delivery boy and
helped at the soda fountain. “Mr. Day is a wonderful, understanding guy,” Sawyer says. “Truly he was an inspiration to me and has helped hundreds of others.”
Sawyer recalls closing the store at 10:30 on Saturday nights. “Then we’d walk down the street to see the midnight movie at the Paramount. Those were good times.”
There are two groups of loyal customers who meet every day for co ee and to solve the world’s problems. Sawyer is in the 8 o’clock group and Bell goes at 10:30 a.m.
Barbara Salloum is another admirer and long time customer of Day. “I think he’s
a wonderful person; his wife is too and his whole family,” she said. “He’s taken care of me and my late husband Teal since day one and I’ve been living here 60 years. He’s always answered my questions.”
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