department stores that closed down or any stores from the past...
Ill start :thumbup:
Clover
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/72/3a/2f/723a2f02e724431bf059df458a9f17de.jpg)
BEST - does anyone remember this store? I do!
Woolworth - I remember one in the NJ Mall
Lots 'n lots. When I was a kid there were still all these local chains like Steinbergs's, Van Leunen's, Swallen's (the owner refused to do business on Sundays), Pogue's, Shillitos, Rikes, Gidding Jenny, and at least where I live local chains are extinct now. There's an old saying, "When you're on top, the only way to go is down." That makes me wonder how long Walmart will last. Woolworth once seemed unstoppable, and it's gone. A cautionary tale for you there, Walmart....
I grew up in Paramus, NJ, which was and still is a major shopping-mall/retail hub. Over the years we had at least one of every major retail chain set up shop in our town, with the exception of Wal-Mart, oddly enough. I'm told that Wal-Mart showed interest from time to time but were told that their store would have to be closed on Sundays as per our local "blue laws," so they never came to town.
Anyway, the first defunct chain I thought of was Stern's, because my Mom worked there (at the Bergen Mall, now known as Bergen Town Center) for a few years when I was a teenager in the '80s.
I believe Stern's was swallowed up by Macy's at some point and the Bergen Mall store was re-branded, but that was after my Mom left that job. Last I checked, there was a "Century 21" store in the mall spot they used to occupy.
(https://i.redd.it/uryv7pwmf7z21.jpg)
My first job as a high school kid (circa 1986) was in the lumber yard at Rickel Home Center, another now defunct chain.
They hung in till the late 90s before giving up the ghost to Home Depot and Lowe's.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5a/23/c2/5a23c202d852b63f36e7902b7e669a0d.jpg)
^^ Not the store I worked at, but close enough.
here is a few more that closed down that I remember...
Bradlees
Caldor
Ames
Jamesway
Lionel Kiddie City
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/a106679363a2b18f9545be23d979c4ae75945d87/c=31-49-560-447/local/-/media/2017/12/01/Rochester/Rochester/636477617497127523-KiddieCity.jpg?width=534&height=401&fit=crop)
Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers were two giants of my hometown for at least a century, with cool animatronic Christmas displays every year.
Most of their buildings are still around, but only one or two downtown still have the names on them.
Not so lucky for the one nearest me, which keeps changing hands with different city agencies for office space, and is next to an impound lot that used to be a drive-in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalhimers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_%26_Rhoads
The Thalhimers are still around, but these days, but they're in the business of real estate speculation, meaning, you'll see a lot of blighted properties with their name on them.
If I read it correctly at wiki, an European version of Woolworth still lives on? A pretty big Woolworth store open in our relatively small town two years ago.
I know this thread is more about U.S. department stores closed down, but I thought it was worth mentioning the Woolworth one.
Quote from: claws on February 10, 2020, 10:35:11 PM
If I read it correctly at wiki, an European version of Woolworth still lives on? A pretty big Woolworth store open in our relatively small town two years ago.
I know this thread is more about U.S. department stores closed down, but I thought it was worth mentioning the Woolworth one.
awesome! I did not know that. :thumbup:
HAHNES Department Stores were based in Newark, NJ
(https://lmdevpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/hahne-hero.jpg)
I worked for one in the Livingston Mall
(https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/06/0c/a4/5d/inside-the-mall.jpg)
(https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0a/ba/2a/f1/livingston-mall-view.jpg)
mammoth mart and benny's in massachusetts, prange way in wisconsin and stedman's in kansas( which still exists in canada)
Quote from: chefzombie on February 21, 2020, 05:51:09 PM
mammoth mart and benny's in massachusetts
We used to go to those stores in Cape Cod when I was a kid.
Some others I shopped at in years past (some of which have already been mentioned) are:
* Zayre
* Almy's
* Bradlee's ("At Bradlee's, you buy what Mrs. B buys . . . and nobody can buy like Mrs. B")
* Service Merchandise
* Caldor (best prices by far on 33 1/3 RPM record albums)
* W.T. Grant
* Ann & Hope
* Lechmere
* Jordan Marsh
* Filene's
I guess we can add radio shack and toys R us too...
Quote from: The Burgomaster on February 22, 2020, 08:55:15 AM
Quote from: chefzombie on February 21, 2020, 05:51:09 PM
mammoth mart and benny's in massachusetts
We used to go to those stores in Cape Cod when I was a kid.
Some others I shopped at in years past (some of which have already been mentioned) are:
* Zayre
* Almy's
* Bradlee's ("At Bradlee's, you buy what Mrs. B buys . . . and nobody can buy like Mrs. B")
* Service Merchandise
* Caldor (best prices by far on 33 1/3 RPM record albums)
* W.T. Grant
* Ann & Hope
* Lechmere
* Jordan Marsh
* Filene's
FILENE'S CLOSED????? i learned my skills with spatial relations there!!! and gift wrapping too! dang....i DID forget about grant's, used to go there in junior high after school once a week and pop a balloon to get a discount/free sundae..
Quote from: chefzombie on February 23, 2020, 08:01:22 PM
Quote from: The Burgomaster on February 22, 2020, 08:55:15 AM
Quote from: chefzombie on February 21, 2020, 05:51:09 PM
mammoth mart and benny's in massachusetts
We used to go to those stores in Cape Cod when I was a kid.
Some others I shopped at in years past (some of which have already been mentioned) are:
* Zayre
* Almy's
* Bradlee's ("At Bradlee's, you buy what Mrs. B buys . . . and nobody can buy like Mrs. B")
* Service Merchandise
* Caldor (best prices by far on 33 1/3 RPM record albums)
* W.T. Grant
* Ann & Hope
* Lechmere
* Jordan Marsh
* Filene's
FILENE'S CLOSED????? i learned my skills with spatial relations there!!! and gift wrapping too! dang....i DID forget about grant's, used to go there in junior high after school once a week and pop a balloon to get a discount/free sundae..
Yeah . . . FILENE'S closed a long time ago. 2006, according to Wikipedia.
Department stores, heck, half the malls I grew up with are gone now.
Check this place out. It's still open with a grand total of two stores. (I saw Saving Private Ryan with my grandpa here.)
Error 404 (Not Found)!!1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAkcIsJq9YY#)
all the 80s and 90s arcades are gone as well
Gibson's Discount Centers - Had 500 stores in the 70's. Dwindled to about 20 in the 90's. Chain went bust in 2002. There are still two franchisees using the name.
Gipson's Department Stores - Merged with another chain, who decided to focus on other stores.
Ben Franklin's - A 5 & 10, like Woolworth's. Went bankrupt about the same time Woolworth's decided to shut down their general merchandise stores. Still about 100 franchises in business, mostly as craft stores.
Is a chain really gone if there are still open franchises? I'd count Gibson's as gone, since the franchiser went out of business & no one picked up the trademark, but RadioShack & Ben Franklin's technically still exist; you have to pay someone to use the name.
Woolco - Woolworth's larger discount store. In the US it was driven out of business by Kmart. Canadian stores were sold to Walmart.
Shopko
Pamida
We used to have a Zayre, Venture, then a ShopKo here in town. All three chains have gone out of business. The Mart of K is on life support these days, as is Sears - both of which closed where I live. Some of the others that have come and gone around here include Younkers and Armstrong Dept. Store.
It was kind of hard to get used to the lot being so empty at the Mart of K when they first closed their local store. Even in their last years there were always a few cars in the lot and the shopping center seemed so empty without them around anymore.
Seems to me that the companies that own the mall and shopping centers around here always say that they have a few irons in the fire and they have so many interested in their buildings that they have to beat them away with a stick - but these buildings always seem to sit around for a while gathering dust. Part of the former Mart of K is a VA clinic and another part is a Joann Fabric now but the center part is still empty. ShopKo has been empty since it closed last year.
Companies will sometimes pay other businesses to keep some lots empty to prevent competition moving in.I know in the UK businesses can claim tax relief from some buildings lying empty. There may be sound reasons from a financial point of view to leaving these lots empty, as much as it is annoying for people like us.
Or maybe they are just preparing for a Fallout style existence after the apocalypse.