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Long Gone Retail stores that you miss.

FrankBlack

FrankBlack

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 28, 2005
365
0
Looking for Lucy Butler
The thread on the demise (almost) of Comp USA got me to thinking about how many retail stores have come and gone in my own lifetime. I miss a few, and some I don't miss at all. Which retailers do you miss? My list:

-Jordan Marsh. I could always find Jeans of the correct size there, and they had a cool consumer electronics department.

-Lechemere Sales. Cool place, nice photography department. Helpful staff.

-Zayres. Discount Retailer. Had some of the best tasting popcorn to be had anywhere. Saturday Afternoons were "toy time". They'd have toys and games set up for the kiddies to play with. (after seeing the ads for them on the Saturday morning cartoons. Ahh, Marketing.)

-Lauriat's Books. I really miss this one. Oddly enough, the Barnes and Noble stores of today closely resemble Lauriat's, only they're bigger.

-Woolworth's. I don't think there are many left, if any are left at all. The lunch counters, the ten cent sno-cones, the smell of moth balls. They were the only place I knew of that sold kits to repair your own shoes. How could you not love the place?

-Radio Shack. Ok, they're not gone,,, yet. But the shopping mall Radio Shack stores of today are not the same as the electronics geek stores of my teenaged years. Back then, every Radio Shack store had a tube testing station just inside the door. The stores were staffed by older guys who knew their stuff, or young guys who were students at local engineering schools. Today's Radio Shack, with the emphasis on cellular phone accounts, and anything that can be sold with a service plan, is just not the same. I suspect they've got another five years left.
 
Lechmere: don't miss them at all. Horrible customer service. A trip to Lechmere usually sent me into a rant (hey, I want to buy something if any of you people will answer a couple of questions!)

Jordan Marsh - that reminds me how much the Shopper's World/Natick mall area has changed - I don't think there's anything left on that side of 9 from when I moved here in 1984. I can't believe how much retail they have crammed into that area - just yesterday I noticed a new Lowe's on 30, with a parking lot on the roof - guess they had no other place to put it. :rolleyes:

The Tower Records demise was kind of sad. However, my favorite CD store is still going strong (I hope) - Newbury Comics. I think I would cry if they ever closed up.
 
CompUSA is close aout 50% of its store. I like them, 2nd best place to buy Apple stuff near me(after Apple Store itself) and their Mac games are cheaper
 
Only in Memphis . . .

I have lived in the Boston area for the past thirty years, but I grew up in Memphis TN. For 'long gone retail' you can't beat the Mall of Memphis. Opened in 1981 (after I had moved away); went into a slow decline in the 90s; closed and demolished in 2005. It's a big grassy field now.

http://www.mallofmemphis.org/
 
incredible universe. i miss that place, but once i discovered fry's, i wasn't sad anymore.

wish florida had a fry's. right now, we're reduced to big box retailers and online for the most part.
 
poopyhead said:
service merchandise
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Heh heh - that was my first job in high school - working in the SM warehouse. I was the guy running back & forth all day sending things down the conveyor belt to the customer pick-up area. Hell job, bad pay - lasted 3 months.

I miss the glory days of Marshall Fields here in Chicago, sold off to Target corp and then Federated (Macy's) now rebranded as Macy's. They still sell Field's Frango mints though. I also miss Woolworths.
 
aricher said:
Heh heh - that was my first job in high school - working in the SM warehouse. I was the guy running back & forth all day sending things down the conveyor belt to the customer pick-up area. Hell job, bad pay - lasted 3 months.

I miss the glory days of Marshall Fields here in Chicago, sold of to Target corp and then Federated (Macy's) now rebranded as Macy's. They still sell Field's Frango mints though. I also miss Woolworths.
Click to expand...

ah damn, i remembering hearing about this. i used to live there and i remember my mom always dragged us there as kids. ugh, talbots was the absolute worst
 
furcalchick said:
incredible universe. i miss that place, but once i discovered fry's, i wasn't sad anymore.

wish florida had a fry's. right now, we're reduced to big box retailers and online for the most part.
Click to expand...

Incredible Universe was awesome! I still miss that place.

Now the Incredible Universe building is HCC SW. :p
 
furcalchick said:
incredible universe. i miss that place, but once i discovered fry's, i wasn't sad anymore.

wish florida had a fry's. right now, we're reduced to big box retailers and online for the most part.
Click to expand...

Wow, I forgot all about that place. One opened up near where I lived for a short time before they went bust. Was indeed a cool place. Not the best prices though.
 
Emporium.

I never shopped there. My parents said it was too expenisve, but I grew up driving past one for years... then one day that gaudy, red, cursive-y 'E' was gone. :p What else am I to look at when I drive past that building now?

And I don't know if they're still in business, but I haven't seen one around here in a long time... but McWorters (sp?). That stationary type store. They had some fun things even if they were usually overpriced. :eek:
 
ScruffyTheMac said:
Jordan Marsh - that reminds me how much the Shopper's World/Natick mall area has changed - I don't think there's anything left on that side of 9 from when I moved here in 1984. I can't believe how much retail they have crammed into that area - just yesterday I noticed a new Lowe's on 30, with a parking lot on the roof - guess they had no other place to put it. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I used to work at the Borders on Rt 9....they built a parking lot on the roof of that Lowes??? I moved before they finished building it. But goodgoddamn...they couldn't share parking with the Target?
 
Anybody remember Ames. I just remembered they sold art supplies which was fun when I was like 4 years old.

The building that used to be an Ames closest to me is now an Ocean State Job Lot. Hahahah w00t. That is such a random yet intriguing store.

BTW if anyone a mouse with a serial port connector I can pick one up at Ocean State Job Lot for you. Or a phone from like 1980.
 
question fear said:
I used to work at the Borders on Rt 9....they built a parking lot on the roof of that Lowes??? I moved before they finished building it. But goodgoddamn...they couldn't share parking with the Target?
Click to expand...

Googling turned up this.

Apparently there was some controversy. I hadn't been down that stretch of 30 in some time - I usually turn into Shopper's World to go to the cinema, or John Harvards. :D

ErikCLDR said:
The building that used to be an Ames closest to me is now an Ocean State Job Lot. Hahahah w00t. That is such a random yet intriguing store.
Click to expand...

I love Ocean State Job Lot - I got a complete set of 14 Ian Fleming/James Bond paperbacks, for 17 cents apiece for a total of $2.38.
 
Hummer said:
Caldor
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caldor02.jpg
!

I used to work at Caldor, way back in the day. "Dave" always used to throw microwaves around in the back, and customers always returned them.

I remember the terrible odor in the stock room (except where the detergent was) and that we only restocked condoms on Saturdays.

Ah, youth.

ErikCLDR said:
Anybody remember Ames.
Click to expand...

When Ames went out of business, I bought so much Garlic Pepper from them. I also bought a "Classic" brand DVD player for like, $20. Now I have to use a screwdriver to pry open the DVD tray whenever I want to watch a movie.

And the Garlic Pepper wasn't so great, either.
 
FrankBlack said:
-Woolworth's. I don't think there are many left, if any are left at all. The lunch counters, the ten cent sno-cones, the smell of moth balls. They were the only place I knew of that sold kits to repair your own shoes. How could you not love the place?
Click to expand...

When I was a kid, we used to have 3 'dime stores' on the same block; Woolworth's, Newberry's and Kress. I used to go there with my mom and I loved them. Each had a soda/lunch counter that made everything perfect (to a kid's taste anyway). Even though they sold roughly the same thing, they were just different enough to have their own personality. I especially liked Kress. Like many lads of that time period, I loved model kits, especially model cars. Kress had a large glass display case. If you really made a trick model, they allowed you to put it on display with your name. If you brought in a questionable piece, the guy who managed the display would not put you down. Instead he would talk about your work, first noting the good things you did. Then he would give you some tips on how to improve your work. Even if you did not 'make the display', you came out of the store with a good feeling and renewed commitment to craftsmanship. God I loved that store.
 
Zodys (dept store)
Acron or Akron (dept store, can't remember exact name)
Newberrys dept store
Thriftys (drug and discount)
Market Basket (grocery store)
Montgomery Wards (dept store)
Leonards (dept store)

Most of these stores were not great, but they are the stores of my childhood, some of them had diners where you could eat, pet supplies that sold fish and turtles, toys, clothes, everything.

Some of these stores may exist elswhere in the country but not in So. CA, all extinct.

Stores that I wish would become extinct:

RadioShack (I'll never forgive them for proprietary printer cables on the old Tandy computers)
Starbucks (I rarely go to one but I always seem to find one that won't accept my Starbucks gift card):mad:
 
ScruffyTheMac said:
I have lived in the Boston area for the past thirty years, but I grew up in Memphis TN. For 'long gone retail' you can't beat the Mall of Memphis. Opened in 1981 (after I had moved away); went into a slow decline in the 90s; closed and demolished in 2005. It's a big grassy field now.

http://www.mallofmemphis.org/
Click to expand...
It really is a shame it became a crime site. We used sit around the ice rink and read or snack and watch the skaters. Even two years after its closing, they found two corpses at the site. It became known as the Mall of Murder.
 
I Miss.....

How about Stuart's or Grant's or even the Methuen Mall before it became THE LOOP. As a kid I loved Weinberg's penny candy in Wilmington and that believe it or not was in the early seventies. Anyone miss the old Burger Chefs?
 
erickkoch said:
Stores that I wish would become extinct:

RadioShack (I'll never forgive them for proprietary printer cables on the old Tandy computers)
Starbucks (I rarely go to one but I always seem to find one that won't accept my Starbucks gift card):mad:
Click to expand...

Wow, I love both of those stores.

They aren't gone, but we don't have any Piggly Wiggly's here anymore.

I miss that store.
 
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