What stores that were in your area in days gone by no longer exist?

[Different Drummer]

From my area:

Zayre
Treasure Island
Gibson's
Phar-Mor
Sky City
TG&Y
Heilig-Myers
Grant's
Montgomery Ward
Service Merchandise
Turtles Records and Tapes
Blockbuster
Radio Shack
B Dalton
Waldenbooks
Bookland
Books-a-Million
K Mart
Eckerd/Rite Aid
Ben Franklin
Buy Wise
Big Apple (grocery store chain)
Woolworth
Sears
Camelot Music
Tower Records and Tapes

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Listening Booth, Sam Goody, E.J. Korvette

[Meadowoak]

2. Korvette's

[Meadowoak]

3. JL Hudson, Crowley's

[ProudMNDemocrat]

4. I can recall...

K Mart
Red Owl
Piggly Wiggly
Montgomery Ward
Woolworth
Musicland
Sam Goody
Sears
Osco Drugs
Dayton's
Rexall Drugs
Radio Shack

I know there are more.

[CurtEastPoint]

5. Rich's. A sad day when Macy's took it over.

[Glorfindel]

61. Also Davison's

As a child, my idea of heaven was the bookstore on the mezzanine of the downtown Atlanta Davison's store.

[happybird]

6. Penguin Feather

[debm55]

7. Different Drummer, adding to your list-----

Hornes
Kauffmann
Murphy's
Ames

Are you from the western PA area?

A & P
Krogers

[Different Drummer]

9. No, I'm from GA.

DD

[GP6971]

8. Crazy Eddie's

in the Northeast.

[rogerballard]

10. Winklemans

Grants
Sperrys
The Fair
Kresge

[Different Drummer]

15. I forgot about Kresge.

We had that, too.

[Scrivener7]

28. I was the lunch counter cook as a part time job in high school.

[rogerballard]

37. Counter service

Decent food, was always fast and hot. Ate there many times as a kid.

[Mr.Bill]

30. Didn't Kresge

become K-Mart?

[Different Drummer]

35. Yes, according to this reference I found.

In 1977, nearly 95 percent of S.S. Kresge Company sales were generated by Kmart stores. To reflect this dramatic impact, the company officially changed its name to Kmart Corporation. Ten years later, Kmart sold the remaining Kresge stores to fully concentrate on discount merchandising.

Source: transformco.com

[rurallib]

41. I think Kresge's started opening their Kmart stores @1962

We had our first Kmart @1963 or 64. Hard to imagine they were around that early.

[Mr.Bill]

46. I do remember Kresge stores

in the early 60s in Maryland. I can't remember when I saw my first Kmart. It sounds like the two names existed at the same time for awhile. Is that correct?

[rurallib]

48. Yes, correct - Kresge's were usually in the old center of town

downtown districts.

Kmart was one of the first to move stores to the growing city edges. So there would frequently be a Kresge's downtown and a Kmart on the edges.

I think in my town Kresge's hung on until the middle 70s when downtown urban renewal killed a bunch of retailers in the downtown. Between that and the malls at the edge of town, the downtown slowly changed to a campus town.

So between 1963 and 1977 when the company renamed themselves to Kmart and basically abandoned downtowns, there were several towns that had Bothe stores at the same time.

[Mr.Bill]

49. Thanks for the info. n/t

[Freethinker65]

11. Art Van, Border's, Jacobson's, RevCo, AL Price,

Circuit City, Carson Pirie Scott, Dominick's, Marshall Field's

[Different Drummer]

36. Didn't Revco rebrand as CVS?

[Freethinker65]

53. Possibly? I moved from the Detroit area in 1999.

I think most RevCo had become Rite-Aids by then?
F & M became AL Price which was also Perry's?

[Different Drummer]

66. We had both Revco (CVS) and Rite Aid.

Walgreens eventually bought Rite Aid and, while they left some stores open, they closed the one in my area. An Ace Hardware is now located where Rite Aid used to be.

[electric_blue68]

71. I loved Border's esp because of special memories...

I love visiting DC. I've been there about 20xs divided almost half between Fun visits, or for Marches & Rallies since very late '60s as a late teen
Actually visited first w family as a tween in '64 when we visited relatives right outside of DC.

For fun visits I always kept an eye on the weather so it would be low - mid 80°Fs, maybe once 90°F but most importantly dry, lowish humidity! 👍

As a teen w/o my parents I first went w my sis, and a cousin, then my sis, and a friend of mine.

But visiting solo and staying two nights either first or second time for fun in a nice hotel I wandered around that area a bit. I found a Border's Bookstore a store
not yet in NYC; so I as a book lover had to go in.

So besides being a nice bookstore, it's holds
special 🥰 travel memories!

[Tom Kitten]

12. At the corner strip mall half a mile away

Zody's was the anchor, closed in '86. Across the street is a Target, but it used to be a Gemco.

[bottomofthehill]

13. a few more

peoples drug
Heckingers home improvement
Caldors
Bradleys
Track Auto

[Bristlecone]

14. Mervyn's

Yellow Front
Alpha-Beta Grocery Stores

Many, many more

[bucolic_frolic]

16. Hanover Shoes, Thom McAnn, Johnston & Murphy, Two Guys (of Harrison), Bambergers

Johnston & Murphy were at one time separate, I think.

Hanover were in business during the Civil War, it was one thing CSA sought by going to Gettysburg

[thatcrowwoman]

17. Off the top of my head

Woolworth’s
Piece Goods Shop
Eckerd Drugstore
Radio Shack
Sky City
Doc’s Rock Shop

[thatcrowwoman]

22. Oh!

How about the Green Stamp redemption store?
I saved my stamps and got a crank ice cream maker for our first wedding anniversary, 1981.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

18. From Phoenix...

Smitty’s
Smith’s
Skagg’s
Gemco
Federated
Long’s Drugs
Alpha Beta
AJ Bayless
Borders Books
Fresh and Easy
Mervyn’s
Goldwater’s
Diamond’s
Chart’s Records
Circles Records
Bill’s Records
Thrifty

[jaxexpat]

19. J J Newberry, Thom McCann, A & P, , W T Grant, fast photo, Bonanza and Ponderosa steakhouse

Arthur teachers fish and chips, Macatees, Earl Scheib, AMC motor sales

[AZSkiffyGeek]

20. Arthur Treacher's!

I loved that as a kid. There was one about a mile away from my house…
When I lived in DC I also loved Burger Chef and Roy Rogers.

[jaxexpat]

23. Burger Chef: best double cheeseburger ever

[rogerballard]

24. My sister managed one...

Loved that place, Cooley Lake Road Union Lake, Michigan

[rogerballard]

21. Federals

Michigan (Detroit)

[Freethinker65]

55. For some reason this reminded me of Joshua Doore and the theme song

you've got an uncle in the furniture business...

Great Scott, Handy Andy, Farmer Jack, ...

[Atticus]

25. Ace's Cow Shed Lounge, Jitter's Beer and Ammo and The Gizzard Palace. nt

[Scrivener7]

27. Lord & Taylor, Wanamakers, Gimbals, Genungs, Kresges, Floyds, Caldors, Alexanders, Grants,

Altmans, Best and Co

[electric_blue68]

68. You're taken care of most of the other NYC flagship, or branches of stores...

Gerungs? Floyds? I don't recognize those two at all.

[Scrivener7]

75. Genungs was in Danbury, CT. Floyds was in Yonkers.

I'm not sure if either had many branches, but they were big stores.

[electric_blue68]

78. Ah, got it. Ty.

[Pinback]

29. Fry's Electronics.

That store was wonderful. I would drive all the way to Norcross, GA (Atlanta suburb -- a long hike for me) just to go there. It was like a combination of the old Radio Shack, MicroCenter, Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit City, all under one roof. They even had a sandwich shop in the middle, so you could shop for a couple of hours, eat something, and go back to wandering through the vast wonderland of technological marvels.

[marked50]

43. CompUSA is kaput too

[Pinback]

45. Yep, squandered a few paychecks there. :) (nt)

[gibraltar72]

31. My wife managed catalog department in our town of two of the

giants on your list.

[LakeArenal]

32. Rexall Drug Stores. Robert Hall. Pranges. Treasure Island.

[DBoon]

33. Licorice Pizza, The Warehouse, Music+

and Pickwick Books

[rogerballard]

34. Cunningham Drug

Perry Drug

[ProfessorGAC]

38. You Hit Several Of Ours

I'll add:
Topps (like Zayre's)
Eagle & Dominic's (Grocer)
Boston Store, Goldbladt's, Weiboldt's, & Venture (Department Stores, the first was a local chain of 3)
Kinney & Thom McAnn (shoes)
That's enough. I'm getting bummed out

[wcmagumba]

39. Many already mentioned but three more...

Western Auto (Bought a nice bike there as a kid, sold all kinds of stuff)
Gambles
Peter Pan Ice Cream (made great burgers too)

[Different Drummer]

40. We had Western Auto, as well.

DD

[Different Drummer]

42. Left one off my list that I forgot about.

McCrory's. We had it when I was in high school and a friend of mine had an after school/summer job there. I remember him saying it was a shoplifter's paradise.

[rurallib]

44. One of the biggest to disappear here in Iowa was Yonkers

we had many other midwest chains that have melted away:

Schultz Brothers
Shopko
Scotts 5 & 10 cent store
Aldens
the A&P groceries are long gone from here don't know if they are still alive anywhere else.

I mean to say, the rural midwest is a real shopping desert anymore

[Pinback]

47. How could we forget...

Wegner's?

[Tree-Hugger]

50. So many (Philadelphia)

Wanamakers
Strawbridge and Clothier
Clover
Bradlees
Hancock Fabrics
Woolworth
Thrift Drug
New York and Company (Lerners)
Rave
G&G
Bakers shoes
Joyce Leslie
Coconuts (music)
Accent on Animals
The Fudgery
IGA
A&P
O&O
BASCO (later become BEST, also gone)
Shoneys
Caldor
Gaudios
Silo
Spivack's 4th Street fabric
Sears
Nabisco (still exists, but the factory left Philly)
NoName
Charlotte Russe
Tower Records
Condom Nation
Borders
Waldenbooks
B.Dalton
Kristie's Korner
Kinneys Shoes
Fayva shoes
Buster Brown
Kiddie City
Kay Bee Toys
Computer City
Phar-Mor
49th Street Galleria
Carrefour
Dots
Eckerd Drugstore
Drug Emporium
.......and so many more

[Different Drummer]

51. I loved Drug Emporium!

Forgot about it on my list.

[bahboo]

52. Wieboldts, Carson, Pirie, Scott and Co.

Chicagoland....

[Fla Dem]

54. Jordan Marsh, Filenes, Raymonds, Parke Snow, Cummings, Rexall Drug Sores.

[Mousetoescamper]

56. DC metro area and elsewhere...

Washington, DC metro area
Little Tavern Shops
Hot Shoppes
Tops Drive-In
Dart Drug
Peoples Drug
Woodward & Lothrop
Hecht’s
Garfinckel's
McBrides
Super Giant
Hechinger

Elsewhere
Montgomery Ward
A&P
Red Barn
Burger Chef
Pappy’s
Bi-Lo
Riverside
Hills
Ames
Zayre
Ben Franklin
McCrory’s
Woolworth’s
Grant’s
G.C. Murphy
Kresge
Peebles
Merry-Go-Round
Robert Hall

[Different Drummer]

65. We had Bi-Lo.

I forgot about that one. I also forgot about Winn Dixie.

[Lars39]

57. Topps

[LudwigPastorius]

58. Too many for me to list, but...

I will mention Peaches Records.

It was probably 30,000 - 35,000 square feet and it was just awesome.

And, Leonard's Department Store which had its own 1 mile subway from a remote parking lot to the store.

[Trueblue1968]

59. Milwaukie Oregon ........ TEENIES and The Gay Blade in downtown Milwaukie.

[HoosierDebbie]

60. Department Stores

L.S. Ayres & Co.
Blocks
Lazarus
Wasson's

Paul Harris

[Rhiannon12866]

62. The Boston Store, I loved going there when I was a kid and riding on the escalator

We also had a Grant's (bought my pet mouse there), Montgomery Ward (I worked in their former building, still had a MW mat in the vestibule), K-Mart, Woolworth, Sears, there's still a Radio Shack in one of the local plazas, but it looks empty - but the Rite Aid store downtown is still in business, stopped in last week.

[Wicked Blue]

63. Hechinger's - hardware store

Hechts
Woodward & Lothrop
Radio Shack
Circuit City
Montgomery Ward
Toys R Us
JC Penney
Sears
Ames
Ben Franklin
Kmart
Borders
Crown Books
Waldenbooks
Upton's
Bed Bath and Beyond
Magruder's Supermarkets
A&P
Shoppers Food Warehouse
Payless Shoes
KB Toys
Babies R Us
Sports Authoority
Herman's Sporting Goods
CompUSA
Macy's (closing in March)
Value City (the department store)
Nordstroms
Party City
Tuesday Morning
Regal Cinema
Pier 1
Hancock Fabrics
People's Drug
Blockbuster

This is in Montgomery County, Maryland. I probably missed quite a few, but was amazed at how many retail stores we've lost.

[Niagara]

64. From my homestate and my current sate:

Grocery Stores:
A&P
Farmboy
Sutton's


Clothing:
Bugle Boy
Esprit
Rave
Fashion Bug


Music & Electronics:
On Cue
Musicland which eventually became Sam Goody
Radio Shack


Department with Misc:
The Disney Store
Big Wheel
K-Mart
Marshal Field's
Schultz's
Warner Bros. Studio Store
Bon Ton


As a teenager I also remember shopping at Claire's, it was inexpensive accessory store aimed towards teenage girls

I also remember Fotomats, or any 1-hour picture processing film store.

Speaking of photos, I remember photo booths too.

[IcyPeas]

67. Few more -- possibly only east coast stores

Last edited Wed Feb 22, 2023, 04:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Ohrbachs
Fortunoffs
Sharper Image
Sterns
Gertz
Loehmanns
Lamstons
Lechters
Pathmark
John's Bargain Stores

[electric_blue68]

69. Different Drummer & Wicked Blue you named the majority of stores gone from NYC...

though not everything on your list had a NYC presence.

[rogerballard]

70. Bonwit Teller

Troy Michigan

[electric_blue68]

72. This goes waaaay back; no one's mentioned Tandies Art & Crafts Store

This was in NYC; I don't know how wide spread they were. Mid- late '60's. My mom and I were Crafters. I still am.

Eventually it became Tandies/Radio Shack, then just Radio Shack.

[electric_blue68]

73. When I worked at Izod's ( clothes - little Alligator logo) HQ one of interesting things being in...

Co-op advertising (you buy x $s of product, you get x % of advertising dollars) was seeing different stores.

I did most of the caculations for subtracting dollars spent, and dollars added from the co-op percentages for Men's, Women's, and Children's depts.

At that point this was still done on card stock cards with the biggest stores having a few clipped together

What was fascinating to me was seeing for the first time - big Regional chains that didn't have a presence here in NYC.
Some would arrive later, this was ?'83.

[Texasgal]

74. Winns

Gibsons

Kash N' Karry

UTotem

KMart

[rogerballard]

76. Chatham Grocery Store

Franks Nursery and Crafts

Hamady Brothers Grocery

[Emile]

77. Zayre, Sears, Woolworths, Kmart, Montgomery Wards,

Sportsmen Warehouse, Target, Kays Jewelry, Big R, etc etc etc

[Trailrider1951]

79. I have three to add to the list

Big Bear grocery store, Columbus, OH. Mom used to shop there all the time.
Sound Warehouse, a great place for used vinyl and CDs.
And back in the 50's and 60's, Singer stores that sold both sewing machines and fabric. They were everywhere. My mother used to make most of our clothes on her old black Singer machine.

[rogerballard]

80. Kessel Food Markets

Grand Blanc, Flint, Saginaw Michigan

[3catwoman3]

81. Marshall Field -open from 1887-2004. The flagship store...

…in downtown Chicago was very impressive. You could have spent days just in the shoe department, which took up a whole floor.

I was not happy when Macy’s bought Field’s, and have never shopped there. They kept the famous clock that marks the site of the flagship store, but that was all. I thought they should at least have somehow honored the long history of the company, and called th downtown location either Marshall Field at Macy’s or Macy’s at Marshall Field.

I grew up in Rochester NY, and there were 4 major department store chains - Sibley’s, Edward’s McCurdy’s, and Forman’s. They were all quality stores. All are gone.

Sibley’s - 1868-1990
McCurdy’s - 1901-1994
Edward’s - 1905-1972
Forman’s - 1911-1994

Sibley’s and Forman’s joined forces, to no avail, and were bought by a hair called The Bon-Ton. There was no comparison in the quality of the merchandise. Bon-Ton is now on-line only.

[Auggie]

82. Lawson's, Higbee's, Halle's, Dogs 'n Suds (Northeast Ohio)

Burger Chef
Shakee's Pizza
Tokyo Shapiro (stereo electronics)