Re: Dead Department Store Chains
MWB
Wal-Mart moved in with better stores and they closed.
Mark
SNITCH SCHENLEY IN WONDERLAND
>
> Woolworth's - the company that was Woolworth's still exists and
> was renamed Venator Group (who operate the Foot Locker chain) but
> the old Woolworth stores are long gone.
>
Not so fast! ;)
Check out this:
http://www.fototime.com/539B4C535E255BC/standard.jpg
and this:
http://www.fototime.com/E36818906CE91AE/standard.jpg
Two separate Woolworth stores more or less within walking distance of
each other in the Centro section of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
I couldn't honestly tell you how healthy they are financially but
WalMart is making huge inroads into Mexico. I would say that compared
to the small stores that you see in much of Mexico (this area of
outside vendors and small storefronts was a block away from one of the
Woolworths:
http://www.fototime.com/4FD9F15C74132AE/standard.jpg
the Woolworths should compete pretty well for the next decade or so.
Hyfler/Rosner
"Squib" <cg...@zwovsk.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.20d623544...@news.newsguy.com...
> It's amazing the number of department store chains, some
> quite large,
> that have come and gone over the years. Remember these?
>
> Ames
> Bradlees
> Grants
> Hills
> Montgomery Ward
>
> E.J. Korvette - people in the northeast should recall this
> one.
I work in the building that was once Gimbels of Herald
Square.
Laurie Mann
building houses either a Target or a Best Buy now. The Grant's
building now houses a Wal*MART.
I later worked for Kaufmann's, one of the many better stores bought
out by Macy's. The only good thing about Macy's buying out all the
local stores (especially Marshall Field's) is that if you really want
to buy a Frango mint outside of Chicago, you can now.
Finally, I've worked twice for Borders.
All of these things are fine examples of economic evolution in action.
Dick Cheney
> that have come and gone over the years. Remember these?
>
> Ames
> Bradlees
> Grants
> Hills
> Montgomery Ward
>
> and 1970s before K-Mart got really big. I don't know if they were
> ever any Zayres out west, though. Ironically they were bought out
> by Ames, who later went under themselves.
ames also bought the hills department stores as that company was
sinking.
grants and hess' were other east coast chains that have gone by the
wayside.
MDB1...@hotmail.com
Here in California, I recall Grants (long gone now) and Montgomery-
Wards, gone now too.
I believe there are still some K-Marts, but not sure about Sears-
Roebuck's.
For nostalgia buffs, I remember a chain called "White Front" back in
the 1960s-'70s. Their TV spokesman was 'Password' host Allen Ludden.
That chain has been gone for about 30 years now, maybe longer. Does
anyone know if Thrifty's or 'Sproutz-Reitz' (sp?) are still around?
They too, were quite vast chains about 20-30 years ago. So was Gemco,
but I believe that is gone as well. It may have merged with one of the
current chains, like Target or K-Mart.
SNITCH SCHENLEY IN WONDERLAND
> > On Jun 10, 4:04 pm, Squib <c...@zwovsk.net> wrote:
> I believe there are still some K-Marts, but not sure about Sears-
> Roebuck's.
Over here on the East Coast we still have plenty of Super K-Marts or
some such - they seem to have expanded the existing K-Marts. Lose $.
02 on every sale and make it up on volume, I guess <old accounting
joke>
Nobody
You might like this website
www.deadmalls.com
"Squib" <cg...@zwovsk.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.20d623544...@news.newsguy.com...
> It's amazing the number of department store chains, some quite large,
> that have come and gone over the years. Remember these?
>
> Ames
> Bradlees
> Grants
> Hills
> Montgomery Ward
>
> E.J. Korvette - people in the northeast should recall this one.
>
> Zayre - this store was big east of the Mississippi in the 1960s
> and 1970s before K-Mart got really big. I don't know if they were
> ever any Zayres out west, though. Ironically they were bought out
> by Ames, who later went under themselves.
>
> Federals - this was a Detroit based chain located in the midwest
> area that went under in the mid-1970s.
>
> Woolworth's - the company that was Woolworth's still exists and
> was renamed Venator Group (who operate the Foot Locker chain) but
> the old Woolworth stores are long gone.
>
> Fishers Big Wheel - a somewhat obscure chain, but there were quite
> a few of these stores in the Great Lakes states of Indiana, Ohio,
> Michigan and possibly Wisconsin. Went under in the early 90s.
>
> S.S Kresge - this "sort of" lives on, several executives from Kresge
> started the K-Mart chain in the 1960s, but the Kresge stores are all
> bye-bye.
>
> Turn Style/Osco - this was another midwest based chain that was
> owned by Jewel Foods. Jewel would later drop the department stores
> and concentrate on it's grocery business, the Turn Style stores
> were sold to another defunct chain, Venture Stores.
>
> At the rate things are going the only department stores that will
> be around in a few years will be Target and Wal-Mart, K-Mart/Sears
> will likely go belly-up before long.
>
>
>
>
mrhead
to Otasco or Western Auto?
poplar bluff missouri where i grew up had one of each
as well as Woolworths and The Dime Store in the downtown
area that started to die out in the mid-60's when the strip malls
started popping up on the outskirts of town.
SNITCH SCHENLEY IN WONDERLAND
Western Auto?
>
Purchased by and converted to Advance Auto Stores, which is a major
auto parts store here on the East Coast.
MWB
"Laurie Mann" <ld...@dpsinfo.com> wrote in message
news:1181507363....@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
Grant's opened store a in the late 1960's in my hometown and that was the
beginning of the end of the downtown area.
As you can see for yourself it is on topic.
Mark
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Squib <cg...@zwovsk.net> wrote:
> Remember these?
>
> Ames
> Bradlees
> Grants
> Hills
> Montgomery Ward
>
>
> Zayre - [...]
>
> Federals - [...]
> area that went under in the mid-1970s.
>
>
> Fishers Big Wheel - [...]
>
> S.S Kresge - [...]
>
> Turn Style/Osco - [...]
There was an east coast chain called, simply, "Best." I had an
awesome US$8 toolbox from them that took me 25 years to destroy -- it
just went out in last Friday's trash.
And a DC area snooty chain called Garfinkel's. I was living in
Maryland when they had their "store closing" clearance. The stuff was
drastically marked down to merely twice what you'd pay in a normal
store.
There was a chain here in Michigan (but definitely ranged beyond
Michigan) when I moved here in 1995 called "Jacobson's" that is now
gone.
Also, I remember two chains that were pretty well local to west
Michigan: Steketee's (kind of a weird place, it was like stepping
back in time a couple of decades) and Gilmore's (just the one location
in Kalamazoo, I think -- very nice place).
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
aka Bob
magnanimously proffered:
>It's amazing the number of department store chains, some quite large,
>that have come and gone over the years. Remember these?
>
>Ames
>Bradlees
>Grants
>Hills
>Montgomery Ward
There were a number of West Coast department stores when I lived
there, but I have no idea whether they still exist:
Campbell's (Santa Monica, Westwood, etc)
May Company
Robinsons
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
King Daevid MacKenzie
the '60s and '70s, Wiebolt's and Goldblatt's. The radio station in the
northern suburbs of Chicago that I worked for in '84-'85 had a telephone
number that had two digits juxtaposed from the number for the Michigan
Avenue Wiebolt's; when I did my call-in talk show, I had to take calls
unscreened and often got a person who'd misdialed and asked for a
Wiebolt's department instead...
...there were also a lot of chains that came and went north of
Milwaukee, too -- Copp's (once a department store, now a grocery chain),
Prange-Way, Welles, Treasure Island ("under the squiggly roof"), Topps...
--
King Daevid MacKenzie.
No brag, just fact.
http://myspace.com/kingdaevid
http://groups.google.ca/group/hateradioboycott
"You're only entitled to your informed opinion." HARLAN ELLISON
MDB1...@hotmail.com
ROBINSON'S and MAY CO. merged in 1993 to become 'ROBINSONS-MAY'. But I
believe they were recently sold to Macy's.
Macy's, as most of you may know, bought out the BULLOCK'S/ I. MAGNIN
chain (or what was left of them) in the mid 1990s, too. So now, all
four are part of Macy's, with only the I.Magnin name surviving as a
women's dress label sold by the company. Buffum's, another sizable
chain, went out about 15-20 years ago, as well.
Brad Ferguson
<rel...@rcn.com> wrote:
And I worked at Gimbels. I've also gyred in the wabe.
Kathi
> On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:14:13 +0000 (UTC),
>
>
> There was a chain called "Best Products" that one shopped by finding
> the desired item in the catalog, filling out a form, taking the form
> to the register and having the item eventually come out via (IIRC)
> conveyor belt. I guess the idea was that they just had to make a
> small customer area attractive and safe and not spend so much money
> and time on product presentation. In hindsight, it seems like a weird
> way to shop, but somehow it all made sense at the time.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Products
There was one like that in the Detroit area called Service
Merchandise. It was a lower-priced alternative to the housewares
bridal registry shopping of the major department chains. Another
chain in this area was Crowley's, which went bankrupt oh, maybe 15
years ago. They re-opened under the name of Value City or some such.
I can't stand T.J. Maxx. Love the discount Elder-Beerman about 2
hours north of here, what deals!
aka Bob
proffered:
>ROBINSON'S and MAY CO. merged in 1993 to become 'ROBINSONS-MAY'. But I
>believe they were recently sold to Macy's.
>Macy's, as most of you may know, bought out the BULLOCK'S/ I. MAGNIN
>chain (or what was left of them) in the mid 1990s, too. So now, all
>four are part of Macy's, with only the I.Magnin name surviving as a
>women's dress label sold by the company. Buffum's, another sizable
>chain, went out about 15-20 years ago, as well.
Thanks. I also remember Bullocks (there was one in Santa Monica) and
IIRC there was an I. Magnin in Beverly Hills. There was also a big
Japanese department store somewhere near the La Brea Tar Pits, but I
can't recall the name.
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Schenley
> Santa Monica) and IIRC there was an I. Magnin in
> Beverly Hills.
I worked at the Bullock's in Westwood (and Saks and Bonwit-Teller, both in
BH). IIRC, I. Magnin was on Wilshire just southeast of Santa Monica Blvd. in
Beverly Hills.
I can't remember a Bullock's in Santa Monica. Was it in the mall?
aka Bob
<stra...@ma.rr.com> magnanimously proffered:
Can't remember exactly, I'm going back to the fifties and sixties. But
I think it was in the that general area and was a smaller store than
Westwood. When I try to visualise it I see a tall, solid front with no
windows and Bullock's spelled out in big metal script along the wall -
which was a sort of pale brown? But I also remember the Bullocks in
Westwood. Westwood was great place to shop if you could find a place
to park.
At the more down market end of things we had a JC Penny's (the best
t-shirts and tools in town) and a Sears & Roebuck (lawnmowers). But
they were not in Santa Monica's traditional shopping centre.
Campbell's Department Store was where my family did a lot of our
shopping. IIRC it was on Third Street. It's where I was fitted for my
first suit in the Sixth Grade. I pretty much ruined the trousers
outside Charlotte Ringwood's apartment after trying to pin a Gardenia
corsage on the front of her dress on my first parent approved and
chaperoned date and stuck her with the pin. She screamed and I fell
down the stone stairs, tore the knee and bled all over the trouser
leg. Great way to start the evening. My mother tried very hard to stop
laughing.
PirateJohn
> There was one like that in the Detroit area called Service
> Merchandise.
Service Merchandise was popular in Cincinnati and here in
Jacksonville. Once upon a time they had good prices on cameras. I'm
pretty sure they went into liquidation and are one of those chains
which are simply no more.
wboenig
Caldor
Jamesway
Hechinger's (not a *department* store, but still on topic, yes?)
Channel / Rickel's Home Centers -- do these still exist?
I was a teenager living in the Hudson Valley of New York state when
Grant's went out of business in 1975. At that time I had an old-
fashioned paper route where I delivered newspapers on bicycle and got
paid once a week in cash. Handling all of that loose change got me
interested in coin collecting. I mention this because the Grant's
store near us actually had a small numismatics department, and that
merchandise was subject to the same liquidation discounts as
everything else. When the discount reached 33% I spent $100 of my
hard-earned money on a bunch of silver coins.
Fast forward to early 1980. Precious metals prices are skyrocketing,
and jewelers are advertising that they will buy silver coins at 12 ...
14 ... 16 times face value. Finally when they got to 18X in March, I
decided that they had hit my price, and I sold those coins for a
little more than $300. (Which I then used to purchase a large compact
stereo system from Sears.) That is my one fond memory of Grants,
although I don't really recall anyone ever speaking that badly of the
chain.
When I moved into my first apartment in 1988, it was largely furnished
by Bradlee's. Not the furniture itself, but everything for the
kitchen and bathroom, as well as bed linens and floor/table lamps
helped stave off Bradlee's ultimate demise.
Some comments on other stores that have been mentioned already:
I really liked both Best and Service Merchandise (both of whom
described themselves as Catalog Showrooms) because you could get
pretty much anything there, and they did both publish nice paper
catalogs (the same reason I liked Sears). Service Merchandise existed
here in Massachusetts until just a few years ago, but they had shifted
their emphasis from household goods to jewelry.
Jamesway was a completely nondescript mid-Atlantic chain for which I
cannot offer much information. Ames was a dump, clearly catering to
the public transportation crowd. Caldor was the chain that took over
the particular Grant's building that I mentioned above, and my one
positive recollection of them was that they devoted a lot of square
footage to record albums and similar merchandise.
Hechinger's still has a website, but as far as I can tell they pulled
the plug on their stores with a bankruptcy filing around 1999.
E.J. Korvettes -- my mother used to tell me (when I was but a
youngster) that the name was derived from the fact that it was founded
by "Eight Jewish Korean (War) Veterans". I have no idea if she was
being serious or truthful. Has anyone else ever heard this?
Finally, a list of department stores that may have either been stand-
alones or very small chains in New York-New Jersey-Delaware. Do any
of these names ring a bell with anyone?
Gaylord's
Murphy's
Barker's
Two Guys
wboenig
Herman's Sporting Goods
allenk...@hotmail.com
Eaton's (though the name still exists on the Eaton Centre in Toronto)
Simpsons
Woolco (which had been associated with Woolworth)
Steinberg's (grocery chain)
Miracle Mart / Miracle Food Mart (bought out by Loblaws, I think)
Additionally, K-Mart and Radio Shack no longer exist in Canada under
those names. All K-Mart stores were rebranded as Zellers stores and
Radio Shack was rebranded as 'Circuit City'.
--
Allen Kirshner
(the alt.music.lyrics TV theme guy)
wboenig
my head:
Lionel Kiddie City -- a Philadelphia-area toy store chain. I have a
VHS tape of Christmas shows that I taped from TV broadcasts in 1988,
and while watching it last year one of their commercials came on. I
had to Google them to see if they were still around (nope).
(I do enjoy this topic, in case you hadn't noticed!)
MWB
> described themselves as Catalog Showrooms) because you could get
> pretty much anything there, and they did both publish nice paper
> catalogs (the same reason I liked Sears). Service Merchandise existed
> here in Massachusetts until just a few years ago, but they had shifted
> their emphasis from household goods to jewelry.
I didn't like Service Merchandise.
You picked out you purchase, stood in line to pay for it, then waited and
waited and waited for it to come down the conveyor belt.
Mark
Hyfler/Rosner
"wboenig" <wbo...@aol.com> wrote in message
>
> E.J. Korvettes -- my mother used to tell me (when I was
> but a
> youngster) that the name was derived from the fact that it
> was founded
> by "Eight Jewish Korean (War) Veterans". I have no idea
> if she was
> being serious or truthful. Has anyone else ever heard
> this?
All Jewish mothers told their kids this.
Dave Sill
>
> E.J. Korvettes -- my mother used to tell me (when I was but a
> youngster) that the name was derived from the fact that it was founded
> by "Eight Jewish Korean (War) Veterans". I have no idea if she was
> being serious or truthful. Has anyone else ever heard this?
http://www.snopes.com/business/names/korvette.asp
"I had a name picked out for the store, E.J. Korvette. ''E'' is for
Eugene, my first name, and ''J'' stands for Joe Swillenberg, my
associate and my pal. As for ''Korvette,'' it was originally meant to be
spelled with a ''C'' after the Canadian marine sub-destroyer, simply
because I thought the name had a euphonious ring. When it came time to
register the name, we found it was illegal to use a naval class
identity, so we had to change the spelling to ''K.''"
--
Dave Sill
Deerfoot
Wiggs;this would have been in the mid sixties.
IIRC, the store sign had a picture of "Mr. Wiggs", who sort of resembled the
face on the Pringles potato chip can.
Oh,and the Eskimo Pies...yum!
kaj
remember:
Los Angeles
Ohrbach's
Fedco (good old Fedco!)
Bullock's (is Bullock's Wilshire still around?)
Robinson's
The May Co.
San Francisco/Oakland
Emporium
Capwell's
City of Paris
Ransohoff's
Liberty House
Joseph Magnin
I Magnin
Honolulu
McInerny's
Liberty House
Salt Lake City
ZCMI
The Paris
Auerbach's
St. Louis
Famous-Barr
Washington D.C.
The Hecht
Woodward & Lothrop (Woodies)
Philadelphia
Strawbridge and Clothier
Wanamaker's
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Kathi <seidl...@ic.net> wrote:
> There was one like that in the Detroit area called Service
> Merchandise. It was a lower-priced alternative to the housewares
> bridal registry shopping of the major department chains.
I bought my first CD player (a Sony something-or-other) from Service
Merchandise in Pensacola, Florida. I remember they had a LOT of
jewelry for sale, which is also what I remember about their store in
Maryland.
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Hyfler/Rosner <rel...@rcn.com> wrote:
> > E.J. Korvettes -- my mother used to tell me (when I was but a
> > youngster) that the name was derived from the fact that it was
> > founded by "Eight Jewish Korean (War) Veterans". I have no idea if
> > she was being serious or truthful. Has anyone else ever heard this?
>
>
> All Jewish mothers told their kids this.
http://www.snopes.com/business/names/korvette.asp
Andy Goldwasser
highway from one another, and both went out of business at about the
same time ... Service was much more jewelry-intensive ...
The local Caldor's had perfected the Not a single salesperson within a
square mile of customers strategy subsequently taken up by other retail
chains
R H Draney
In Phoenix when I moved here in 1983, but not today:
Joske's
Goldwater's
The Boston Store
Diamond's
These are in addition to a number of the names I've seen elsewhere on this
thread....
I got a bunch of space heaters to give as Christmas gifts when Service
Merchandise was closing down and reducing the price of everything in ten-percent
increments each week...kept one for myself...still use it from time to
time...when Gemco did the same routine I got an Atari 800 XL which to the best
of my knowledge is on a shelf in the closet and would work if I bothered to take
it down and plug it in....r
--
"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!"
"You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!"
wboenig
by Federated in the last 25 years and merged in with Macy's. this
list would include (but not be limited to):
Bamberger's (issuer of my first-ever credit card)
Filene's
Jordan Marsh
Abraham & Strauss
Marshall Field
Strawbridge & Clothier (mentioned earlier)
Speaking of the not-quite-dead stores, my favorite K-Mart anecdote
goes back about seven or eight years, when I walked into one of their
stores for the purpose of buying blank VHS tapes. I could buy a
single tape for $2.99 or a pack of three for $8.99 (I suppose the
extra cellophane wrap was worth two cents!)
MDB1...@hotmail.com
Hi,
As I mentioned in a previous post, Robinson's and The May Company
merged in 1993 to become Robinson's-May. They have recently been taken
over by Macy's. Federated/Macy's also bought out I. Magnin's in 1994,
and Bullock's about the same time. I read that a few Bullock's
Wilshire stores survived that, but went out about two years later,
circa '96.
My mother would just hate this if she were still living these days.
All of her favorite department stores here in So. Calfornia are gone,
except for The Broadway, Nordstrom's and Neimann-Marcus.
There was also a lesser known dept. store called Wineman's (sp?). It's
gone now; a Steinmart store exists where Wineman's once did. But
Wineman's 'may' live on in a small piece of TV history: it's seen in
the background on the Minnapolis street corner where, in 1970, 'Mary
Richards' threw her cap into the air in the final scene of the
sitcom's opening theme song 'Love Is All Around'. (Assuming it's the
same chain. Its' cursive styled letters, a la 'Disney', were
distinctive).
Charlene
> Canadian stores that've bit the dust:
>
> Eaton's (though the name still exists on the Eaton Centre in Toronto)
Eventually purchased by Sears, operated for a year or two under the
Sears name, then closed down. Some stores were just shuttered, others
re-opened under the Sears name.
> Simpsons
At least in Western Canada, bought out by Sears, which is why a lot of
elderly people still call the store "Simpsons-Sears"
> Woolco (which had been associated with Woolworth)
Dirty, cluttered, unclean, unsafe, badly kept up stores with about
three staff members working at any one time, and half the merchandise
was shop-soiled (if you could find it). Horrible, horrible places. Wal-
Mart bought it out and the stores have been ten times better since.
> Additionally, K-Mart and Radio Shack no longer exist in Canada under
> those names. All K-Mart stores were rebranded as Zellers stores and
> Radio Shack was rebranded as 'Circuit City'.
Radio Shack was actually rebranded "The Source by Circuit City", with
the last three words in much smaller type than the first two.
I'd also include Woodward's, a BC and Alberta only department store
chain that included a large supermarket in most locations (they used
to be the largest grocery stores around by size). Woodward's was
founded in 1892 and went bankrupt and was bought out by the Bay in
1993. I still remember their $1.49 Day jingle. Since Woodward's closed
you don't see many supermarkets in larger shopping centres - Safeway
bought most of them, but then closed them down a few years later.
The old Woodward's building in the Downtown Eastside was the centre of
Vancouver shopping back in the 70s and earlier. It became an eyesore
(and a home for many squatters) after Woodward's went bankrupt, but
the city has torn part of it down and is intending on updating it. As
with many things proposed for the Downtown Eastside, I'll believe it
when I see it.
wd43
jdunlop
> E.J. Korvettes -- my mother used to tell me (when I was but a
> youngster) that the name was derived from the fact that it was founded
> by "Eight Jewish Korean (War) Veterans". I have no idea if she was
> being serious or truthful. Has anyone else ever heard this?
Worked in their store in Paramus the next to last summer it was in
business. Had my car broken into, all there was to take was the spare
tire. Otherwise a nice place to work.
Might have stayed in business longer ,but had just been sold to a
French company, who decided that a store that made its money in small
appliances and records would become a fashion icon. So the phrase "the
OTHER Korvettes" was the slogan during that painful period. I think
the Paramus store kept the chain afloat the last year or two.
>
> Finally, a list of department stores that may have either been stand-
> alones or very small chains in New York-New Jersey-Delaware. Do any
> of these names ring a bell with anyone?
>
> Gaylord's
> Murphy's
> Barker's
> Two Guys
Two Guys was one of the first stores to combine a general department
store with a full fledged grocery. Now, of course, the Super Targets
and Wal-Mart Supercenters dominate, but I thought it was unique back
then.
Regarding your other message, I bought plenty of sporting goods from
Herman's in the Garden State Plaza. That, and clothes from A & S down
the road in Paramus Park. My grandmother worked in A&S in Brooklyn
for close to 40 years, and when she retired she was given a permanent
employee discount, so just before school started my mother would take
us to Paramus for clothes/shoes etc. My sister's first job after
college was working as an assistant manager there. She quit to go
waitress at the Magic Pan. More money, less hours.
PirateJohn
>
> Radio Shack was actually rebranded "The Source by Circuit City", with
> the last three words in much smaller type than the first two.
>
Radio Shack actually seems to be doing pretty well in the States. Or
at least on the East Coast, where they are usually shiny, new shops.
John M.
I only bought one thing at SM and can't remember. Was it as bad as waiting for
your luggage at an airport? :-)
--
John M.
Chuck Kopsho
department stores.
White Front
TG&Y
Two Guys
Oh, and a local (San Diego) one as well.
Walker Scott
Cheers,
Chuck Kopsho
Oceanside, California
aka Bob
>I've lived all over the U.S., and here are a few of the old stores I
>remember:
>
>Los Angeles
>Ohrbach's
Of course! Ohrbach's!
And, IIRC, the big Japanese department store I'm think of but can't
name took over the Ohrbach's store near the La Brea Tar Pits.
aka Bob
magnanimously proffered:
>A few other names that come to mind:
>
>Caldor
>Jamesway
>Hechinger's (not a *department* store, but still on topic, yes?)
>Channel / Rickel's Home Centers -- do these still exist?
Since we're no longer limited ourselves to department stores, there
was a great chain of places in Southern California in the 50's & 60's
that specialised in imports from Asia. Things like complete flatware
sets from Thailand (totally impractical, but beautifully made of
copper and ebony), Sake sets, statues from Africa, ceramics from Japan
and China, seagrass matting, rattan blinds, etc. Pier One?
And, in Hermosa Beach, right across the street from the famous
Lighthouse, there was a combination store and music venue that
featured music from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean and bits and pieces
like prints of Japanese art, African musical instruments and other
exotic treasures. It was called The Insomniac Coffee House.
Shopping was a real adventure.
aka Bob
<bobf...@surfwriter.net.not> magnanimously proffered:
>On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:34:19 -0600, kaj <k@j> magnanimously proffered:
>
>>I've lived all over the U.S., and here are a few of the old stores I
>>remember:
>>
>>Los Angeles
>>Ohrbach's
>
>Of course! Ohrbach's!
>
>And, IIRC, the big Japanese department store I'm think of but can't
>name took over the Ohrbach's store near the La Brea Tar Pits.
Thank you Google! I got that backwards. According to this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohrbach's , Ohrbach's moved their Miracle
Mile store to the building once occupied by the Japanese Seibu
Department Store at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax - which is just
a few blocks west of the La Brea Tar Pits.
kaj
> On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:34:19 -0600, kaj <k@j> magnanimously proffered:
>
>
>>I've lived all over the U.S., and here are a few of the old stores I
>>remember:
>>
>>Los Angeles
>>Ohrbach's
>
>
> Of course! Ohrbach's!
>
> And, IIRC, the big Japanese department store I'm think of but can't
> name took over the Ohrbach's store near the La Brea Tar Pits.
>
>
Are you thinking of the Seibu department store? The only other Japanese
department
store I can think of is Matsuzakaya, but they are (were?) in Little Tokyo.
I liked Ohrbach's, decent clothes at an affordable price. Robinson's
and Bullock's
Wilshire were where we shopped when we needed clothes for special occasions.
aka Bob
Yup. It was Seibu, thanks. Here's a link to Ohrbach's history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohrbach's
kaj
> On Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:26:50 +1200, aka Bob
> <bobf...@surfwriter.net.not> magnanimously proffered:
>
>
>>On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:34:19 -0600, kaj <k@j> magnanimously proffered:
>>
>>
>>>I've lived all over the U.S., and here are a few of the old stores I
>>>remember:
>>>
>>>Los Angeles
>>>Ohrbach's
>>
>>Of course! Ohrbach's!
>>
>>And, IIRC, the big Japanese department store I'm think of but can't
>>name took over the Ohrbach's store near the La Brea Tar Pits.
>
>
> Thank you Google! I got that backwards. According to this link:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohrbach's , Ohrbach's moved their Miracle
> Mile store to the building once occupied by the Japanese Seibu
> Department Store at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax - which is just
> a few blocks west of the La Brea Tar Pits.
>
>
Whoops, I didn't see your reply before I answered. I lived in Los Feliz,
but preferred shopping at the Miracle Mile Ohrbach's rather than the
Glendale one.
My sister and I were talking about these long-gone department stores
at dinner tonight, and she reminded me that she worked at The May Company
on Wilshire when she was newly married (back in 1968).
Now that I live in Denver, I should have added the following names to the
group's growing list of dead stores:
Denver:
May D&F
Foley's
Allen Abel
showroom" places).
ShopKo still seems to be going, but they closed their 3 Peoria area
stores last winter.
Bermuda999
> On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:14:23 -0700, wboenig <wboe...@aol.com>
> magnanimously proffered:
>
> >A few other names that come to mind:
>
> >Caldor
> >Jamesway
> >Hechinger's (not a *department* store, but still on topic, yes?)
> >Channel / Rickel's Home Centers -- do these still exist?
>
> Since we're no longer limited ourselves to department stores, there
> was a great chain of places in Southern California in the 50's & 60's
> that specialised in imports from Asia. Things like complete flatware
> sets from Thailand (totally impractical, but beautifully made of
> copper and ebony), Sake sets, statues from Africa, ceramics from Japan
> and China, seagrass matting, rattan blinds, etc. Pier One?
Undead
http://www.pier1.com/storelocator/uspier1.aspx
cat
> Caldor
> Jamesway
> Hechinger's (not a *department* store, but still on topic, yes?)
> Channel / Rickel's Home Centers -- do these still exist?
There was a Rickel's in my neighborhood that closed shortly after I moved
there in 1989. I remember Hechinger's as well. Nice hardware store;
certainly friendlier than the current big box giants.
Caldor's lasted longer. I went to their GOB sale. They had perfected the
art of doubling the price and then offering it at half off.
> Gaylord's
> Murphy's
> Barker's
> Two Guys
I spent a lot of time as a kid in GC Murphy's. It was indistinguishable
from Woolworth's. Your basic five-and-dime.
I remember commercials for Two Guys, but my mother never went there. Those
were the days when I actually paid attention to commercials--the era of
Ronco and the original Ginzu knives.
cat
> Such a list should probably also include every store chain taken over
> by Federated in the last 25 years and merged in with Macy's. this
> list would include (but not be limited to):
> Bamberger's (issuer of my first-ever credit card)
> Filene's
> Jordan Marsh
> Abraham & Strauss
> Marshall Field
> Strawbridge & Clothier (mentioned earlier)
And Filene's took over G.Fox.
It wasn't a chain, but did anyone mention John Wanamaker's?
Louis Epstein
:
: Woolworth's - the company that was Woolworth's still exists and
: was renamed Venator Group (who operate the Foot Locker chain) but
: the old Woolworth stores are long gone.
From the USA,though severed foreign chains persist under their
new owners.
: S.S Kresge - this "sort of" lives on, several executives from Kresge
: started the K-Mart chain in the 1960s, but the Kresge stores are all
: bye-bye.
K Mart (now part of Sears Holdings) was a tail-that-wagged-the-dog
at S.S. Kresge...it was not a chain started independently by people
who worked for the company,but a new company-owned division that
eventually completely crowded out the company's original business.
-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
Louis Epstein
: In my area, Ames was a horrible shopping experience and Zayres was a dump.
:
: Wal-Mart moved in with better stores and they closed.
:
:
: Mark
In mine,Barker's (a discount-department-store chain) was taken
over by King's which was in turn taken over by Ames,which closed
(after years dark,the building,thoroughly rebuilt,is about to open
as a Hannaford grocery).
Louis Epstein
: I worked in a Zayre and later in a Grant's. The Zayre (later Ames)
: building houses either a Target or a Best Buy now. The Grant's
: building now houses a Wal*MART.
:
: I later worked for Kaufmann's, one of the many better stores bought
: out by Macy's. The only good thing about Macy's buying out all the
: local stores (especially Marshall Field's) is that if you really want
: to buy a Frango mint outside of Chicago, you can now.
Thanks to the delusions of Terry Lundgren,who became CEO of Federated
Department Stores and decided to merge all its brands except
Bloomingdale's into Macy's (Macy's did not "buy out" the other
brands) without understanding that this meant taking the appeal
of many strong franchises downmarket,dozens of once-proud names
have disappeared...only Lord & Taylor escaped the wreck,and its
new owners may yet downsize it.
Some of the mergers had already taken place before he took over,
but if people wanted a "national brand" department store they'd
go to J.C. Penney.
The new "Macy's Group" (ex Federated) combines all the chains
that were once part of several separate chains-of-chains...
the old Federated (Lazarus,Shillito's,Abraham & Straus,and
Filene's,and one other formed Federated in the 1920s just
after Lazarus bought Shillito's),Allied Department Stores,
Associated Dry Goods,May Department Stores (which had acquired
Filene's from Federated when Federated bought Allied),Marshall
Field's (which had acquired a few other chains...Breuner,Ivey,
Halle),and Dayton Hudson(the corporation survives as Target,
its ex-namesake department stores were renamed Marshall Field's
and DH bought Marshall Field's,then sold).
Rich's,of Atlanta.
J.W. Robinson,in California.
Strawbridge & Clothier and Wanamaker's,both of Philadelphia.
Foley's and Sanger Harris,both of Texas.
Jordan Marsh and D.M. Read,of New England.
Goldwater's,in Arizona.
Bamberger's,Stern's,and Gertz,in New Jersey/NY Metro.
Joseph Horne.
L.S. Ayres.
Famous-Barr,of St. Louis (long May's flagship despite the
various May Company chains in different areas including
Colorado's May-D&F that was their original company).
G. Fox,of Connecticut.
The Bullock's and (both) Magnin chains in California.
Stix Baer & Fuller.
Rike's.
Meier & Frank.
Burdine's.
All these nameplates and more gone to the scrapheap
to be replaced by Macy's because of one executive's dumb idea.
Louis Epstein
:
:> > On Jun 10, 4:04 pm, Squib <c...@zwovsk.net> wrote:
:
:> I believe there are still some K-Marts, but not sure about Sears-
:> Roebuck's.
:
:
: Over here on the East Coast we still have plenty of Super K-Marts or
: some such - they seem to have expanded the existing K-Marts. Lose $.
: 02 on every sale and make it up on volume, I guess <old accounting
: joke>
The nearest onetime Caldor's is now a K-Mart.
Louis Epstein
: On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:14:13 +0000 (UTC),
: INVALID...@example.com.invalid (J.D. Baldwin) wrote:
:
:>There was an east coast chain called, simply, "Best." I had an
:>awesome US$8 toolbox from them that took me 25 years to destroy -- it
:>just went out in last Friday's trash.
:
: There was a chain called "Best Products" that one shopped by finding
: the desired item in the catalog, filling out a form, taking the form
: to the register and having the item eventually come out via (IIRC)
: conveyor belt. I guess the idea was that they just had to make a
: small customer area attractive and safe and not spend so much money
: and time on product presentation. In hindsight, it seems like a weird
: way to shop, but somehow it all made sense at the time.
It's how grocery stores used to run before A&P developed the "self-serve"
store in the 19th century...and not prettying up the presentation area
is what makes chains like Sam's Club cheap today.
Louis Epstein
:
: aka Bob wrote:
:> On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 16:04:26 -0400, Squib <cg...@zwovsk.net>
:> magnanimously proffered:
:>
:> >It's amazing the number of department store chains, some quite large,
:> >that have come and gone over the years. Remember these?
:> >
:> >Ames
:> >Bradlees
:> >Grants
:> >Hills
:> >Montgomery Ward
:>
:> There were a number of West Coast department stores when I lived
:> there, but I have no idea whether they still exist:
:>
:> Campbell's (Santa Monica, Westwood, etc)
:>
:> May Company
:>
:> Robinsons
:>
: ROBINSON'S and MAY CO. merged in 1993 to become 'ROBINSONS-MAY'. But I
: believe they were recently sold to Macy's.
May Department Stores (founded in Denver and long based in St. Louis)
bought A. Hamburger & Sons,of Los Angeles,and renamed it May Company
of California.In the 1980s May bought J.W. Robinson and later consolidated
it with May California.
Federated bought Macy's and then May,and rebranded all May-owned chains
as Macy's.
Independent of all May Department Stores chains and also defunct are
the J.W. Mays discount department stores.Note that the company still
exists,they just decided to stop operating stores in their real estate.
: Macy's, as most of you may know, bought out the BULLOCK'S/ I. MAGNIN
: chain (or what was left of them) in the mid 1990s, too. So now, all
: four are part of Macy's, with only the I.Magnin name surviving as a
: women's dress label sold by the company.
The company that already owned Bullock's and Magnin bought Macy's,
and decided to rebrand all its stores except Bloomingdale's as
Macy's,except Lord & Taylor got sold.
: Buffum's, another sizable chain, went out about 15-20 years ago, as
: well.
Was Dorothy Buffum Chandler from that family?
Louis Epstein
: A few other names that come to mind:
:
: Caldor
: Jamesway
: Hechinger's (not a *department* store, but still on topic, yes?)
: Channel / Rickel's Home Centers -- do these still exist?
: I was a teenager living in the Hudson Valley of New York state when
: Grant's went out of business in 1975. At that time I had an old-
: fashioned paper route where I delivered newspapers on bicycle and got
: paid once a week in cash. Handling all of that loose change got me
: interested in coin collecting. I mention this because the Grant's
: store near us actually had a small numismatics department, and that
: merchandise was subject to the same liquidation discounts as
: everything else. When the discount reached 33% I spent $100 of my
: hard-earned money on a bunch of silver coins.
:
: Fast forward to early 1980. Precious metals prices are skyrocketing,
: and jewelers are advertising that they will buy silver coins at 12 ...
: 14 ... 16 times face value. Finally when they got to 18X in March, I
: decided that they had hit my price, and I sold those coins for a
: little more than $300. (Which I then used to purchase a large compact
: stereo system from Sears.) That is my one fond memory of Grants,
: although I don't really recall anyone ever speaking that badly of the
: chain.
:
: When I moved into my first apartment in 1988, it was largely furnished
: by Bradlee's. Not the furniture itself, but everything for the
: kitchen and bathroom, as well as bed linens and floor/table lamps
: helped stave off Bradlee's ultimate demise.
When did it (once part of same company as still-extant
Stop&Shop supermarkets) die?
: Some comments on other stores that have been mentioned already:
:
: I really liked both Best and Service Merchandise (both of whom
: described themselves as Catalog Showrooms) because you could get
: pretty much anything there, and they did both publish nice paper
: catalogs (the same reason I liked Sears). Service Merchandise existed
: here in Massachusetts until just a few years ago, but they had shifted
: their emphasis from household goods to jewelry.
Got the SM catalogue in the mail,never visited their stores.
: Jamesway was a completely nondescript mid-Atlantic chain for which I
: cannot offer much information. Ames was a dump, clearly catering to
: the public transportation crowd. Caldor was the chain that took over
: the particular Grant's building that I mentioned above, and my one
: positive recollection of them was that they devoted a lot of square
: footage to record albums and similar merchandise.
I never remember a Grant's,but definitely Jamesway (most of the local
one is now a movieplex) as well as Caldor's and Barkers->King's->Ames.
: Hechinger's still has a website, but as far as I can tell they pulled
: the plug on their stores with a bankruptcy filing around 1999.
:
: E.J. Korvettes -- my mother used to tell me (when I was but a
: youngster) that the name was derived from the fact that it was founded
: by "Eight Jewish Korean (War) Veterans". I have no idea if she was
: being serious or truthful. Has anyone else ever heard this?
I was told "Eleven..." but it's equally false.
As far as Hudson Valley chains go,were you in the right place
or time to remember Genung's (later absorbed into Howland and
then closed)?
Louis Epstein
: As a lifelong Southern California resident, I remember three chain
: department stores.
:
: White Front
Not to be confused with the NY-area "White's" that merged
with Modell's to become White Modell,and then UNmerged,
and then folded.Jesse White appeared in their commercials
but as far as I know was unrelated to the ownership.
: TG&Y
: Two Guys
A New Jersey chain,no?...
"Two Guys from Harrison"?
: Oh, and a local (San Diego) one as well.
:
: Walker Scott
:
: Cheers,
: Chuck Kopsho
: Oceanside, California
-=-=-
Louis Epstein
: On Jun 11, 9:14 am, wboenig <wboe...@aol.com> wrote:
:> A few other names that come to mind:
:>
:
:> E.J. Korvettes -- my mother used to tell me (when I was but a
:> youngster) that the name was derived from the fact that it was founded
:> by "Eight Jewish Korean (War) Veterans". I have no idea if she was
:> being serious or truthful. Has anyone else ever heard this?
:
: Worked in their store in Paramus the next to last summer it was in
: business. Had my car broken into, all there was to take was the spare
: tire. Otherwise a nice place to work.
:
: Might have stayed in business longer ,but had just been sold to a
: French company, who decided that a store that made its money in small
: appliances and records would become a fashion icon. So the phrase "the
: OTHER Korvettes" was the slogan during that painful period. I think
: the Paramus store kept the chain afloat the last year or two.
Hmmm...which chain was it that was owned by Vornado,
which is basically a real estate company?
Louis Epstein
Pier One and Color Tile and Tandy Leather were all corporate
siblings of Radio Shack,cut adrift in the dissolution of Tandy
Corporation.
Louis Epstein
Not to be confused with Woodward & Lothrop,
an independently-dead (IIRC) mid-Atlantic chain.
So Hudson's Bay Co. is still retailing?
: wd43
VUU Athletics
R H Draney
Observation: I bought my TV at Best here in Phoenix (after newcomer "Best Buy"
chased me out of the store for taking notes on which model had which
features)...the loading-dock door had a still *older* store name painted on the
inside of it...anybody remember LaBelle's?...r
--
"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!"
"You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!"
R H Draney
>
>Squib <cg...@zwovsk.net> wrote:
>
>: S.S Kresge - this "sort of" lives on, several executives from Kresge
>: started the K-Mart chain in the 1960s, but the Kresge stores are all
>: bye-bye.
>
>K Mart (now part of Sears Holdings) was a tail-that-wagged-the-dog
>at S.S. Kresge...it was not a chain started independently by people
>who worked for the company,but a new company-owned division that
>eventually completely crowded out the company's original business.
Back in college when I worked for them, the orientation mentioned that the same
chain was called K-Mart, Kresge, and "Jupiter" in various parts of the
country....
(Did anyone else know TG&Y as the place that sells "turtles, girdles and
yo-yos"?)...r
Rick B.
XCYfPbnZ2dn...@velocitywest.net:
> Hmmm...which chain was it that was owned by Vornado,
> which is basically a real estate company?
That was Two Guys. They used the Vornado name on their house-brand electrical
appliances.
mack
"VUU Athletics" <jsj...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1181679345.1...@d30g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
>I used to work at a Zayres while in college...didn't they become Ames?
>
Anybody recall Zody's and White Front...and Pacific Stereo (which CBS
owned)?
Charlene
>
> So Hudson's Bay Co. is still retailing?
Under three names: The Hudson's Bay Co. (aka The Bay), Zellers, and
HBC Home Outfitters.
wd43
Randy S. Borland
kaj
I remember LaBelle's, but I can't remember which city I was living in when
I went to LaBelle's. It might have been Sacramento. I used to shop at
a department store there that was like a Target, only it was called Gold
Circle.
I don't know if this would qualify as a department store, but who remembers
getting school clothes at Robert Hall? I hated going there, the salespeople
seemed skeevy to me.
Brad Ferguson
wrote:
> I don't know if this would qualify as a department store, but who remembers
> getting school clothes at Robert Hall? I hated going there, the salespeople
> seemed skeevy to me.
Oh, dammit. "School bells ring and children sing/It's time for Robert
Hall again." Now it'll be running through my head all night.
I remember going to Best & Co., a clothing place, for my First
Communion suit. Fifth Avenue in Manhattan somewhere, I think. That
was in 1960. I gather Best & Co. specialized in First Communion suits
and so forth.
There was also S. Klein, a germ-ridden dive of a dump on Union Square
that sold crap which they would never take back. I got a watch from
there as a gift once, and brought it in for repair a month before the
warranty expired. The punk behind the counter wouldn't take it, saying
that all the under-warranty watches had already been shipped out and he
wasn't taking any more. Jeez, it's only been about forty years; I'll
get over it any decade now.
Mays was across Union Square in the building that had housed the
original Ohrbach's, which itself moved up to 34th Street onto a lot
where my grandparents owned a bar about a hundred years ago.
aka Bob
<thir...@frXOXed.net> magnanimously proffered:
>In article <X6ednZqQK6N16_Lb...@giganews.com>, kaj <k@j>
>wrote:
>
>> I don't know if this would qualify as a department store, but who remembers
>> getting school clothes at Robert Hall? I hated going there, the salespeople
>> seemed skeevy to me.
>
>Oh, dammit. "School bells ring and children sing/It's time for Robert
>Hall again." Now it'll be running through my head all night.
Oh nooooo ... "Mother knows for better clothes/It's back to Robert
Hall again."
Thanks a load, Brad ...
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hyfler/Rosner
"aka Bob" <bobf...@surfwriter.net.not> wrote in message
news:fp0v63dhcc39qgbo3...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:19:32 -0400, Brad Ferguson
> <thir...@frXOXed.net> magnanimously proffered:
>
>>In article
>><X6ednZqQK6N16_Lb...@giganews.com>, kaj <k@j>
>>wrote:
>>
>>> I don't know if this would qualify as a department
>>> store, but who remembers
>>> getting school clothes at Robert Hall? I hated going
>>> there, the salespeople
>>> seemed skeevy to me.
>>
>>Oh, dammit. "School bells ring and children sing/It's
>>time for Robert
>>Hall again." Now it'll be running through my head all
>>night.
>
> Oh nooooo ... "Mother knows for better clothes/It's back
> to Robert
> Hall again."
>
> Thanks a load, Brad ...
>
And where are we doing our Christmas shopping this year??
Brad Ferguson
<rel...@rcn.com> wrote:
Oh, cripes, I forgot that one. Aaaargh. Okay, you people asked for it:
<http://sportsinteractiongames.com/classic_jingles/Robert%20Hall.mp3>
At least it's a classier version than the one with the screechy kids.
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Charlene <charlene...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > So Hudson's Bay Co. is still retailing?
>
> Under three names: The Hudson's Bay Co. (aka The Bay), Zellers, and
> HBC Home Outfitters.
Oldest company in continuous existence in the New World, I believe,
isn't it?
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
danny burstein
>> Hall again."
>>
>> Thanks a load, Brad ...
>>
>And where are we doing our Christmas shopping this year??
It's the middle of summer. The temperature
is sweltering. THe air is hot and humid.
That means it's time for Crazy Eddie's Christmas Sale!
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dan...@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
Chuck Kopsho
clothing stores. Does anyone here remember C&R Clothiers?
wboenig
> It's not a department store chain, But they were a chain of men's
> clothing stores. Does anyone here remember C&R Clothiers?
>
Or Anderson-Little, which I believe was owned by Woolworths? I did a
lot of shopping for budget-conscious work clothes there in the
mid-80's.
aka Bob
magnanimously proffered:
For sure, although I haven't thought of it for many, many years. How
about Zachary All?
"My friends all ask me, 'Eddie, are you kidding?' And I tell them no,
my friend, I am not kidding."
http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-california-metro-areas/443937-1.html
The owner, Edward Nalbandian, became on-topic on 22 February 2006.
BTW - I never shopped there, but I was tempted to go into the store
and ask for a Cadet suit (I'm almost 6'3").
bx...@yahoo.com
> It's amazing the number of department store chains, some quite large,
> that have come and gone over the years. Remember these?
>
> Ames
> Bradlees
> Grants
> Hills
> Montgomery Ward
>
>
> Zayre - this store was big east of the Mississippi in the 1960s
> and 1970s before K-Mart got really big. I don't know if they were
> ever any Zayres out west, though. Ironically they were bought out
> by Ames, who later went under themselves.
>
> Federals - this was a Detroit based chain located in the midwest
> area that went under in the mid-1970s.
>
> Woolworth's - the company that was Woolworth's still exists and
> was renamed Venator Group (who operate the Foot Locker chain) but
> the old Woolworth stores are long gone.
>
> Fishers Big Wheel - a somewhat obscure chain, but there were quite
> a few of these stores in the Great Lakes states of Indiana, Ohio,
> Michigan and possibly Wisconsin. Went under in the early 90s.
>
> S.S Kresge - this "sort of" lives on, several executives from Kresge
> started the K-Mart chain in the 1960s, but the Kresge stores are all
> bye-bye.
>
> owned by Jewel Foods. Jewel would later drop the department stores
> and concentrate on it's grocery business, the Turn Style stores
> were sold to another defunct chain, Venture Stores.
>
> At the rate things are going the only department stores that will
> be around in a few years will be Target and Wal-Mart, K-Mart/Sears
> will likely go belly-up before long.
I don't know if anyone mentioned the following ones in the New York
area:
Mays
Alexander's
and for appliances, Newmark and Lewis
Brooke
bx...@yahoo.com
R H Draney
>
>For sure, although I haven't thought of it for many, many years. How
>about Zachary All?
>
>"My friends all ask me, 'Eddie, are you kidding?' And I tell them no,
>my friend, I am not kidding."
>
>http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-california-metro-areas/443937-1.html
>
>The owner, Edward Nalbandian, became on-topic on 22 February 2006.
And when I heard about it here, I was the one who requested "Eddie, Are You
Kidding?" to be played on the Dr Demento show....
I get my name mentioned periodically on the show, usually for requesting a song
I consider appropriate to commemorate a notable death...Jerry Mahoney singing
"When You Come to the End of a Lollipop" when Paul Winchell checked out was one
of the better ones....r
Louis Epstein
:
:> > So Hudson's Bay Co. is still retailing?
:>
:> Under three names: The Hudson's Bay Co. (aka The Bay), Zellers, and
:> HBC Home Outfitters.
:
: Oldest company in continuous existence in the New World, I believe,
: isn't it?
But formally headquartered in London until 1970!
They weren't a retailer for most of their history,either
(unless you count frontier trading posts).
Louis Epstein
I mentioned Mays
("...these days,remember this little phrase,every day's a sale day at
May's!") since the president lives in my town and his business was a
customer of mine for a while...
: Alexander's
...not Alexander's...but while on that subject,
their former White Plains neighbors B. Altman & Co.
are also gone and haven't been mentioned on this thread
to my recollection.
: and for appliances, Newmark and Lewis
Not sure we want to get into all the specialty chains!
: Brooke
Strawberry
@hotmail.com says...
> Here in California, I recall Grants (long gone now) and Montgomery-
> Wards, gone now too.
I used to shop at Grants a LOT back in the early 70s. They had a little
bit of everything there.
> I believe there are still some K-Marts, but not sure about Sears-
> Roebuck's.
There is still a Sears around, but they've closed all the K-Marts around
here (San Jose, CA).
> For nostalgia buffs, I remember a chain called "White Front" back in
> the 1960s-'70s.
I remember that store! Vaguely ... The name is VERY familiar, but I
can't remember the store itself.
> They too, were quite vast chains about 20-30 years ago. So was Gemco,
> but I believe that is gone as well. It may have merged with one of the
> current chains, like Target or K-Mart.
When I was a child in the early sixties, there were "Gem" stores, then
they became "Gemco". Virtually ALL the Gemco buildings around here were
eventually converted to Target stores. Now most of the old K-Mart
buildings have been converted to Kohl's. Several of the old Montgomery-
Ward buildings in Santa Clara Valley have been converted to Target stores.
All the Emporium/Capwell stores disappeared, too, as did I.Magnin stores.
Back in the late 60s Lucky grocery stores started popping up in CA. Many
of them were replaced by Alpha Beta stores. Then they turned back into
Lucky's (which was almost ALWAYS associated with a connected Sav-On drug
store). Then the Lucky buildings were mostly converted to Albertson's. I
went into the local Albertson's last week and saw a sign informing people
that they are turning it back into a Lucky again. Sheesh! I wish they'd
pick a name and STICK with it!
Strawberry
bobf...@surfwriter.net.not says...
> Since we're no longer limited ourselves to department stores, there
> was a great chain of places in Southern California in the 50's & 60's
> that specialised in imports from Asia. Things like complete flatware
> sets from Thailand (totally impractical, but beautifully made of
> copper and ebony), Sake sets, statues from Africa, ceramics from Japan
> and China, seagrass matting, rattan blinds, etc. Pier One?
Pier One is still around on the West Coast. Back in the 70s I used to
like to go to a store on Steven's Creek Blvd in Santa Clara called "The
Akron". It was a lot like Cost Plus, with lots of odd imported stuff.
Was that a chain?
When I was a kid, we had little neighborhood stores called Speedee Marts,
but then they started staying open from 7am to 11pm and eventually changed
their names to 7/11.
cat
> bobf...@surfwriter.net.not says...
>> Since we're no longer limited ourselves to department stores, there
>> was a great chain of places in Southern California in the 50's & 60's
>> that specialised in imports from Asia. Things like complete flatware
>> sets from Thailand (totally impractical, but beautifully made of
>> copper and ebony), Sake sets, statues from Africa, ceramics from Japan
>> and China, seagrass matting, rattan blinds, etc. Pier One?
> Pier One is still around on the West Coast. Back in the 70s I used to
> like to go to a store on Steven's Creek Blvd in Santa Clara called "The
> Akron". It was a lot like Cost Plus, with lots of odd imported stuff.
> Was that a chain?
Pier One has about 1260 stores in the US. Doesn't sound defunct to me.
PirateJohn
> In article <jl4s639f5nfel3tbk7faque323ot40k...@4ax.com>,
> bobfei...@surfwriter.net.not says...
>
> > Since we're no longer limited ourselves to department stores, there
> > was a great chain of places in Southern California in the 50's & 60's
> > that specialised in imports from Asia. Things like complete flatware
> > sets from Thailand (totally impractical, but beautifully made of
> > copper and ebony), Sake sets, statues from Africa, ceramics from Japan
> > and China, seagrass matting, rattan blinds, etc. Pier One?
>
> Pier One is still around on the West Coast.
Pier One is still around here in Florida, and from what I have seen
lately they are pretty healthy financially.
angela copus
Gold Circle
Hills
angela
Charlene
wrote:
> In the previous article, Charlene <charlene.vick...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > So Hudson's Bay Co. is still retailing?
>
> > Under three names: The Hudson's Bay Co. (aka The Bay), Zellers, and
> > HBC Home Outfitters.
>
> Oldest company in continuous existence in the New World, I believe,
> isn't it?
> --
I believe so, and the once-owner of Rupert's Land, a perfectly huge
area that included everything from southern Baffin Island to northern
Minnesota to southern Alberta.
wd43
bx...@yahoo.com
>
> - Show quoted text -
Just curious--
I recall reading that the late Linda McCartney's family (I believe it
was her mother's family) owned department stores in or around
Cleveland.
Whatever happened to that chain?
Brooke
R H Draney
>
>Just curious--
>
>I recall reading that the late Linda McCartney's family (I believe it
>was her mother's family) owned department stores in or around
>Cleveland.
>
>Whatever happened to that chain?
Wikipedia says her mother's family owned the Linder Department Store chain,
which leads me to the name "Sterling-Linder-Davis", and there I pretty much lose
the trail....r
Strawberry
> bx...@yahoo.com filted:
> >
> >Just curious--
> >
> >I recall reading that the late Linda McCartney's family (I believe it
> >was her mother's family) owned department stores in or around
> >Cleveland.
> >
> >Whatever happened to that chain?
>
> Wikipedia says her mother's family owned the Linder Department Store chain,
> which leads me to the name "Sterling-Linder-Davis", and there I pretty much lose
> the trail....r
Hmmm, would the fictional Louder Department Store from the Drew Carey Show
be based on that chain?