March 16, 2005, was a sad day for many Route 66ers. That was the day that Glenn Wrinkle, longtime owner of Wrink’s Food Market on old Route 66 in Lebanon, Mo., died at age 82.
Wrinkle opened his store in 1950 and ran it until shortly before his death. I met him once, and he was a hospitable fellow who clearly loved being on Route 66 and meeting people.
The store quietly closed after he died, and many thought it would be, regrettably, the last we would hear of Wrink’s Market.
But Ace Jackalope was in Lebanon to visit Ramona Lehman and her Munger Moss Motel, when he noticed some activity nearby:
We saw cars at the Wrink’s Grocery building just a bit down Roue 66 from the Munger Moss. Wrinks has been closed since the death of its owner last year so we just had to investigate.
Karen Sampson (pictured) along with Carolyn Groves have leased the building and plan to open it back up as “Wrink’s Market II.” Sampson says they intend to sell groceries as well as having cafe, antique and lingerie sections. She also says they will have a tribute to the former owner, who’s widow and son, she says, have given the project their blessings.
When they re-open, I’ll be happy to stop in and welcome them to our Route 66 family. It’s great that someone’s trying to carry on Glenn Wrinkle’s tradition.
Hi
My name is Ioana and I live in Bucuresti-Romania.I want to now more information and I wish to see more photo to Route 66.
I was hopeing that someone would take over where Glenn Wrinkle left off and re-open the store. I will most certainly
be up for a visit and show the new owners how much I loved
“Wrinks Market” by showing them the tattoo I got of the place.
Great, great news. When we left Lebanon after the Munger Moss celebration, we stopped to take pictures of Wrink’s, and did see some people hanging around.
We had several long conversations with him before his death.