I recently visited an especially fun place where senior adults can spend a few hours strolling down memory lane. The Ridge is a store tucked into a shopping strip on the northwest corner of 75th and Nieman Road in Shawnee. Nostalgia oozes out of your pores as you meander through aisles filled with everything imaginable, from the 1920s on.

Many of the shop's thousands of items will remind you of the past, as you exclaim, "We had one of those!" or "Can you believe I threw one of those away!"or "My friend collects these!"

Happy days from the past are instantly recalled as you recognize this and that from your youth. This place, where more than 100 antique dealers display their wares in overflowing booths, is amazing—and not just for its array of memorabilia. What makes The Ridge different is that it is also delicious.

In the rear of this emporium is an uncommon bistro. If the excellent home-cooked flavors of the food remind you of some you've tasted before, you have probably eaten at Leona Yarborough's Restaurant. When that well-loved establishment closed last year, its manager, Tina Myers, who had baked, cooked, catered, and managed there for more than 12 years, opened this lovely café, Tina Marie's, and many of the Yarborough recipes came with her.

Tina serves affordable, wonderful food in a casual, relaxed atmosphere. On Sundays she serves fried chicken to an appreciative following. To the side of the intimate café of 10 tables is a room that can accommodate up to 50; it can be reserved for club meetings, bridge, bunco, or parties. Sons of the American Revolution and Red Hat clubs meet there regularly.

One of the things I liked best about the café is that it isn't a bit noisy. It's easy to carry on a conversation while lingering there over beverages. And lest I forget, the freshly baked desserts are quite special.

There is also a feast for the eyes on the café walls, where a 26-foot-long mural of the rolling Tuscan Hills of northern Italy can be found. On another wall, incorporated into a mural of the outside of an Italian villa, is a charming fountain that once graced a wall in the Swanson's Store on the Country Club Plaza. Other lovely pastel murals are on walls throughout the store, all the work of talented Kansas City muralist Leah Magee-Winkler, whose Dreamworld Murals are popular in private homes and commercial venues. It's worth a trip to the store just to enjoy these fabulous, one-of-a-kind walls.

The store itself has only been open for two years and has grown by leaps and bounds. Initially 5,000 square feet in size, it has increased to three times that size and it is literally packed to the ceiling. Beverly Roman, previously a retailer in a children's store for 20 years, owns and manages the business. She has particular expertise in glassware and china. Her husband, Gordon, lends a hand when needed. Roman is particularly proud of her record and book library.

The store coddles its customers. An orange 1940s Nesbitt's soda dispenser that you see as you enter is filled with bottles of water that are freely given out to customers. I understand that this was especially appreciated last summer, when we experienced such hot weather. An old-time nickelodeon is kept busy playing for the customers. These days it's featuring Christmas carols and holiday tunes. An annual holiday display occupies a 15-foot-wide area, where life-sized cutouts of characters from A Christmas Story are shown. Young Ralphie Parker is holding his precious Red Ryder BB gun with scenery from that comedy that well could have been in the 1983 movie (including that iconic prop, the Leg Lamp).

Parking is convenient and  browsing is encouraged. You might even find a gift for someone who is "impossible to buy for." Or you might just take your friend there to browse and have lunch.

The Ridge: Antiques and Collectibles
7410 Neiman Road (in the Trail Ridge Shopping Center) Shawnee
10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.
Monday through Saturday
Noon to 6:00 p.m. Sunday
913-268-7979