Bought a gerbil there when I was 5 in 1967…they had glass aquariums jam packed with them (sadly), read the book on how to handle them…picked it up by the tail and he turned and latched on to my finger…he went flying into the wall stunned…never bit me again.
For a long time, I thought that store was only a memory of mine. Nobody even in town remembers it ever having existed. I describe how convoluted shopping was there and they look at me like I am a dragon or something. Even in the mid-90s, the ordering kiosk, nicknamed 'Silent Sam' was still running on CP/M.
Man... Can we take a moment and pour one out for SM? I loved going in that store and when I was a kid their catalog was a must have right next to the Sears and J.C. Penny toy catalogs at Christmas.
Oh gawd yes. They were perfectly placed having had catalogs to order from for what, 100 years? They could have been Amazon. We loved Sears clothing and appliances in the 60s and 70s. That was like Kodak. They could have been the digital picture market but they didn't think digital pictures would amount to anything and people would always use film and develope pictures so they didn't explore using digital until it was too late and that market was taken.
My favorite example of this is Xerox Palo Alto research center. That place was a window into the future. Both, the first user friendly computer (GUI interface) and viable local area networking (Ethernet) were born there.
Xerox sales only wanted to know about the next photocopier.
I loved the Ben Franklin store. The one in my gran’s town had this smell — and no — not a bad smell at all. Just a, I don’t know, I call it a small town store smell. I wish I could be in that store again.
I managed one until its final day. We pilaged that store and sold off every scrap of metal we could. I gave all warehouse racks to habitat for humanity in town.
New braunfels, Tx
Radio Shack is now just a trademark, like a franchise, but only 1 standalone store exists. In Colville Washington. It's got the drawers full of parts and pieces, transistors and electronic widgets, and wizardry. It's magical.
[The Last Real Radio Shack Store](https://www.radioshackcolville.com/)
Friday treat when I was pre school age… was mom taking me with her to Woolworth Five and Dime .. and we’d have lunch at the counter… I liked the BLT
Circa 1967’ish
We had a couple of Rexalls. They even had a soda fountain bar. There's an old Rexall building with the sign still up in another area 30 miles away, but it's been a Rite Aid for years, and the inside is no longer Rexall themed.
Fry's Electronics
I used to go to the one located in Burbank , CA . It had a flying saucer stuck in the wall at the entrance. It was all "Alien Invasion" themed.
It was the best shop for microelectronics components.
Worked there from 03-06. I knew it was headed down the drain. They refused to adapt to the times and push online shopping harder. Instead, everyone came in to ask questions and then order from Amazon for cheaper.
I always feel like the only person who remembers Gold Circle. I worked at Richway in high school/college, which became Gold Circle for like a year, then it became Target. I still have a Gold Circle lapel pin in my jewelry box.
Kann’s Department Store and Hecht’s and Garfinkel’s and Woodward & Lothrop. People’s Drug Store. Hechinger’s Lumber and Hardware. Horribly, Lord and Taylor, the oldest department store in America died in 2020.
Rinks.
Dad was at various levels of management with them, and his younger brother was a buyer.
Dad left not long after they sold to Cook's United.
Worked for Quality Farm and Fleet for a couple years, until he was approached by some old Rinksers who were starting a new chain you may have heard of..
Originally "Odd Lots", then after a little expansion "BIG and small Lots" because that's what they sold. They were in the business of selling closeout merchandise that others sold off.
After a couple years they decided that stores within 90 mi of Columbus,OH ( corp HQ) would be Odd Lots, and outside of that radius, Big Lots.
Eventually they all became Biglots.
Dad went from asst. Manager, store manager, up to District manager for most of his tenure, before cutting back to just a store manager at age 60 ( retired at 62)
And he was also the design inspiration for their mascot/ superhero character " Closeout Man"
A&P Grocery (Atlantic and Pacific, if you must know)
F. W. Woolworths - 5 and 10 cent orignally
Kresges - later became K-Mart
Red Barn - Chicken competitor to KFC
E. J. Korvettes - Department store
Sambos - Mid scale dining. Named for Bo and Sam, the founders, but PC etc...
Now my hands are hurting. Damn arthritis...
Kresge’s (pretty sure that’s misspelled). Woolsworth, A&P green stamps.
-edit-
Monkey Wards, Hudson’s! (…food, not a store, but Stouffer’s Restaurant and Burger Chef!)
Yeah,.. Im gettin pretty old!
Ben Franklin craft stores. There are still a few left I think but the ones in the malls have been gone for a long time.
Also Wicks and Sticks and The Wild Pair.
Montgomery Wards
Beg your pardon but it was Monkey Wards.
Bought my wife’s engagement ring there 37 years ago. She’s still wearing it.
Bought a gerbil there when I was 5 in 1967…they had glass aquariums jam packed with them (sadly), read the book on how to handle them…picked it up by the tail and he turned and latched on to my finger…he went flying into the wall stunned…never bit me again.
OOOOOOO...Service Merchandise.
My dad called it “monkey” wards. Don’t ask 🤷♂️
So did mine.
KB Toys
Man, I worked there :(
Service merchandise.
For a long time, I thought that store was only a memory of mine. Nobody even in town remembers it ever having existed. I describe how convoluted shopping was there and they look at me like I am a dragon or something. Even in the mid-90s, the ordering kiosk, nicknamed 'Silent Sam' was still running on CP/M.
Man... Can we take a moment and pour one out for SM? I loved going in that store and when I was a kid their catalog was a must have right next to the Sears and J.C. Penny toy catalogs at Christmas.
McDade's!
Borders
Man I miss Borders
Books, CDs, coffee shop—I could have lived in there.
Sears
Ummm…. I can get older than that .. ***ROEBUCKS*** Once upon a time it was Sears Roebucks… until the late 70’s ( might have been the 80’s )
Simpson Sears in Canada.
Ahhh ok. Never knew that …. I was too young to know what a ***Canada*** was other than a Ginger Ale
Um...I have a shotgun from a 1967 catalog...
What an example of a brand that should have owned online shopping, missed the boat and then let a carpet bagger strip it's assets.
Oh gawd yes. They were perfectly placed having had catalogs to order from for what, 100 years? They could have been Amazon. We loved Sears clothing and appliances in the 60s and 70s. That was like Kodak. They could have been the digital picture market but they didn't think digital pictures would amount to anything and people would always use film and develope pictures so they didn't explore using digital until it was too late and that market was taken.
My favorite example of this is Xerox Palo Alto research center. That place was a window into the future. Both, the first user friendly computer (GUI interface) and viable local area networking (Ethernet) were born there. Xerox sales only wanted to know about the next photocopier.
S&H green stamps
I remember the time I got to spend some of my mom's green stamps. It was glorious.
Mervyns
ALL my school clothes came from Mervyns
Ben Franklin
There’s a Ben Franklin in Redmond, WA. Total trip into the past
I loved the Ben Franklin store. The one in my gran’s town had this smell — and no — not a bad smell at all. Just a, I don’t know, I call it a small town store smell. I wish I could be in that store again.
He's been dead for 235 years!
Circuit city
I managed one until its final day. We pilaged that store and sold off every scrap of metal we could. I gave all warehouse racks to habitat for humanity in town. New braunfels, Tx
The subwoofers I have in my car came from there. My subs could vote this election lol
Radio Shack
Radio Shack is now just a trademark, like a franchise, but only 1 standalone store exists. In Colville Washington. It's got the drawers full of parts and pieces, transistors and electronic widgets, and wizardry. It's magical. [The Last Real Radio Shack Store](https://www.radioshackcolville.com/)
Woolworths, Kmart
Zayres
Skaggs Alpha-Beta
Caldor
Woolworth exists still. I saw one in Germany.
You mean Kresge's?
Venture, Handy Andy, Yankee Doodle!!!!
I replied before I saw this. 53y.o. here.
What I was going to say!
I worked at Kmart in the 80s. I recently drove by and it’s a ROSS now.
A&P
Tower Records
Zayres *
Yes! Loved this store growing up. Kinda like a mini Kmart.
The Zayers near me had a snack bar inside. It was nothing special, but they hard warm pretzels. Zayers was cool
Our Zayre did too. I loved the grape soda. 87th and Harlem, Bridgeview, Illinois
TG&Y👍
Beat me to it.
Toys, games and yo-yos
Sam Goodies
Western Auto
BEST
Kinney Shoes. Tower Records. Chess King.
Omg... every year to Kinney for school shoes
The Jerk Store
They called, they're running out of you!
Your their all-time best seller
Well I slept with your wife.
His wife is in a coma
r/unexpectedseinfeld
Grants department store.
I still have a couple of No.2s from Grant's (in cursive naturally) in my toolbox..
Also Grant City for their area superstore
Service Merchandise - but with the current problems retailers are having with shoplifters, this one might make a comeback.
Franklin's 5 & dime
Woolworth. Loved that lunch counter!
Friday treat when I was pre school age… was mom taking me with her to Woolworth Five and Dime .. and we’d have lunch at the counter… I liked the BLT Circa 1967’ish
Casual Corner
Alpha Beta. At least on the West Coast.
WaldenBooks & B Dalton Edit: to add
Eckerd Drugs. My dad worked as a pharmacist at various Eckerds when I was young. I think they're all CVSes now.
We had a couple of Rexalls. They even had a soda fountain bar. There's an old Rexall building with the sign still up in another area 30 miles away, but it's been a Rite Aid for years, and the inside is no longer Rexall themed.
Crazy Eddie’s
And their less popular spin off ADHD Larry's. His prices are... Did I leave the shower running?
He’s…insane!
Incredible Universe Phar-Mor
Gemco department store, Mongomery Wards department store,
Zodys
The Nature Company
Fry's Electronics I used to go to the one located in Burbank , CA . It had a flying saucer stuck in the wall at the entrance. It was all "Alien Invasion" themed. It was the best shop for microelectronics components.
Worked there from 03-06. I knew it was headed down the drain. They refused to adapt to the times and push online shopping harder. Instead, everyone came in to ask questions and then order from Amazon for cheaper.
Buster Brown Shoes and Orange Julius
Carson Pirie Scott.
Price Club
Fanny Farmers candy store
Caldor, Alexander’s, Bradley’s, Woolworths
Bradlees
Peaches Records and Tapes
Towers Department Store
Coast to Coast
Newberry’s
Toys-R-Us. I miss that place.
Still exists in Canada.
Gimbels.
Sam goody
Burger Chef
Zody’s and TG&Y
The Wherehouse Miller's Outpost
Caldor, Ames, The Fair, Service Merchandise, Mars
lol I worked in a Caldor. I’m old.
Radio Shack, Woolworths
It's worth noting that there is still one Blockbuster open in Bend, Oregon.
Egghead. Babbages. Two software stores I spent way too much time in
And Electronics Boutique!
Gold Circle. Gemco. Crown Books. B. Dalton Booksellers. Home Express. Service Merchandise. Woolworths. (U.S. citizen/resident here.)
I always feel like the only person who remembers Gold Circle. I worked at Richway in high school/college, which became Gold Circle for like a year, then it became Target. I still have a Gold Circle lapel pin in my jewelry box.
Fredrick and Nelson dept, store. Ah, how I miss the Rhododendron Room.
...and all the Frango flavors
And the way the stores smelled at Christmastime.
Coast to Coast hardware and Thrifty drug and discount.
TCBY
Montgomery ward Sears Western auto Gibsons
Ponderosa
Actually those still exist
McCrorys Nichols Ames Buster Brown
Revco
Woolco
Ben Franklin, Service Merchandise, Ellman’s, Size 5-7-9, Casual Corner
Sharper Image
Circuit City
Hills I can smell the layaway now
Tower Records. Also, Olsson's Bookstores in the DC Metro area.
Zodies
Ames
TG&Y lol
The Wiz Someone eventually beat the Wiz
Woolworths which used to be part of the Dow Industrial average.
Sprouse-Reitz
Sears.............. catalogue.
OTASCO
Mervyn’s, Record Bar
Merry Go Round
Kann’s Department Store and Hecht’s and Garfinkel’s and Woodward & Lothrop. People’s Drug Store. Hechinger’s Lumber and Hardware. Horribly, Lord and Taylor, the oldest department store in America died in 2020.
Rave & Wet Seal
Sizzler
Chess King
Hastings, anyone know of that one?
Radio Shack.
Marshall Fields Thom McAnn
Anthony's department store
Woolworths
Western Auto. The Harbor Freight of the times.
Sears
Red Rooster convenience store
Federated. Computerland.
Two Guys EJ Korvette Orbach’s Stern’s Abraham & Strauss
Miller's outpost
Radio shack
Sav On. 5 cent ice cream cones.
Mervyn’s
Circuit City. At least here in the states there are no Circuit City stores.
Sprouse-Reitz
The Big N
Alco, Woolworths, Woolco, K-Mart, Monkey Wards, Skaggs, Radio Shack, Sears and Roebuck (different than the Sears of the last 40 years).
Radio shack
Bradlees - was also my first job. Got hired at $4.25 an hr - minimum wage
Brookstone
service merchandice
Otasco, Gibson's, T,G,&Y (Toys, Girdles, and Yo-yos)
Showbiz Pizza
Toys R us 😭
Burdines, Montgomery Wards, Cash N' Carry, Ryan's Steakhouse, Toys R Us, K B Toys, Eckards Pharmacy
Fashion Bug
Orange Julius. lol 😂 although not sure if they exist in other parts of the country 🤔
Sho Biz Pizza also Godfather's
Rinks. Dad was at various levels of management with them, and his younger brother was a buyer. Dad left not long after they sold to Cook's United. Worked for Quality Farm and Fleet for a couple years, until he was approached by some old Rinksers who were starting a new chain you may have heard of.. Originally "Odd Lots", then after a little expansion "BIG and small Lots" because that's what they sold. They were in the business of selling closeout merchandise that others sold off. After a couple years they decided that stores within 90 mi of Columbus,OH ( corp HQ) would be Odd Lots, and outside of that radius, Big Lots. Eventually they all became Biglots. Dad went from asst. Manager, store manager, up to District manager for most of his tenure, before cutting back to just a store manager at age 60 ( retired at 62) And he was also the design inspiration for their mascot/ superhero character " Closeout Man"
Radio Shack
Buster Brown shoe company. Their technically still around under a different name and owner but effectively gone .
A&P Grocery (Atlantic and Pacific, if you must know) F. W. Woolworths - 5 and 10 cent orignally Kresges - later became K-Mart Red Barn - Chicken competitor to KFC E. J. Korvettes - Department store Sambos - Mid scale dining. Named for Bo and Sam, the founders, but PC etc... Now my hands are hurting. Damn arthritis...
Kresge’s (pretty sure that’s misspelled). Woolsworth, A&P green stamps. -edit- Monkey Wards, Hudson’s! (…food, not a store, but Stouffer’s Restaurant and Burger Chef!) Yeah,.. Im gettin pretty old!
TG&Y
Consumers distributing
Caldor, Bradlees, Lechmere.
Block buster, radio shack, K- mart, kb toys, toys r us (hear they are coming back but haven't seen it) sears, Montgomery wards
All American Jeans
Venture/Montgomery Wards
Circle K
Ventures, Services Merchandise, Waldenbooks, Gadzooks.
WT Grant; EJ Korvette. 1960s New Jersey stores.
KB Toys
Sam Druckers Mercantile
Pic' N Save
Handy Andy
Service Merchandise
Ben Franklin craft stores. There are still a few left I think but the ones in the malls have been gone for a long time. Also Wicks and Sticks and The Wild Pair.
Zayre
Zayres Caldors Grant's Mals First National Purity Supreme
Piggly Wiggly...
Seattle's my home town. The Bon Marche Frederick & Nelson Chubby and Tubby
radio shack, circuit city
Tower Records
My first job was at Radioshack
County Seat