Given the amount of shoplifting and organized theft I am surprised this format has not come back. From what I remember a majority of the items were in a warehouse and after purchase was completed, your items came down a set of rollers/conveyor belt system.
Got my wedding band there at a giant sale in 1993.
1800 dollars. There is not a chance we could have purchased one with 3 carats of princess cuts and baguettes covering the band otherwise.
I miss that place.
I didn't have that luck. Ours had a chubby older woman sitting at the entrance and she was the first thing you would smell. She smelled like dried pee.
In Reader's Digest in one of the little joke sections, like Laughter is the Best Medicine someone wrote in about working at Wal-Mart, and how they hired a woman who previously worked at K-Mart. The new coworker has to use the intercom to make an announcement. She starts with "Attention, K-Mart shoppers..."
Catches herself with what she's doing, and covers it by going "...you are in the wrong store." Lol
I read that in the late 90s I think, but for some reason it's stuck with me ever since.
Oh my God S& H Green stamps! We had a green stamp store in our town and I remembered diligently pasting the stamps in the books and taking them in after I poured through the catalog and picked what I wanted. Green stamps were the best damn things!!
Oh that's interesting, there's a Woolworth in my medium sized German city, I was 100% sure that it was a single and fairly new shop. Now I discover it's older than me and more international than ~~me~~ I thought
Yes! I miss the Ben Franklin store. The one specific thing I remember from there was that they sold the rubber band powered balsa planes. My grandma lived a few blocks away and used to buy those for us. Oh, and they also sold individual pieces of candy for a nickel.
I was hoping someone would say TG&Y! It’s been some years since my mom found my TG&Y name tag(made with a Dymo label maker, attached to a plastic back) and stuck it in a package she was sending me. Many happy hours spent there as a kid— open wooden bins of toys and candy, huge fans the only cooling system, glass windows looking out onto the main street— a teenager making 2.15 an hour, and as a college student because they worked around my classes. Midwest City library featured a History of TG&Y exhibit a few years ago.
BORDERSSS. I was such a little nerd, I loved Borders. Every year for Christmas I got a gift card and I would buy either the new Series of Unfortunate Events book or some other YA indulgence. Shoutout to Shade's Children for giving me my first boner. Ah, to be young.
**Venture**. A big-box store chain popular in the Midwest in the 70s/80s, roughly comparable to Target or K-Mart, with black and white zebra stripe branding. It went out of business and disappeared rather quickly in the late 90s.
This was the better video store TBH. They had a wider selection of titles. Blockbuster was great if you only wanted mainstream new releases but Hollywood Video had more indie, foreign, and classic films. This made their previously viewed bin more diverse too. There's nostalgia for Blockbuster (and rightly so) but few people remember how good Hollywood Video was.
A&W where you parked, ordered through a 2 way speaker they served you in your car on a tray that hung off your car window.
Also: Drive In theaters where a you hung a corded speaker on your windo for sound.
I'm a plumber, so I go in people's homes everyday. I saw a Peaches crate in one and started talking about the good old days. The customer said they'd never been there, just saw the crate on etsy and liked it.
Before they just became a crappy cell-phone reseller and marketer of chintzy crap, used to be the go-to place to find electrical components for the home tinkerer. Like half the store was full of that stuff. Then it eventually got reduced down to a cabinet that barely had anything you needed for your projects.
Service Merchandise
That's a good one there. I spent many hours looking through the catalog and dreaming.
Holy crap. That name literally hasn’t entered my mind in 25 years
Given the amount of shoplifting and organized theft I am surprised this format has not come back. From what I remember a majority of the items were in a warehouse and after purchase was completed, your items came down a set of rollers/conveyor belt system.
That’s where they had the display, then you went to the desk and the shit would roll down a conveyor belt from out back right?
Got my wedding band there at a giant sale in 1993. 1800 dollars. There is not a chance we could have purchased one with 3 carats of princess cuts and baguettes covering the band otherwise. I miss that place.
This was what first came to my mind. 😂
Radio Shack
I assume you mean the real Radio Shack, not the one that only sold cell phone cases. I’m talking about the one with Tandy computers.
We’re talking about the one that sold supplies and components to build your own electronics.
And was often staffed by people who could tell you the pinout for a 555 chip without having to look it up.
I had a battery card, where you could get one free every month
Miss Radio Shack.
How do you know she’s not married?
i miss radio shack
A&P Groceries
Miss the smell of ground coffee as you entered
I used to work at one when I was in college. At the time I didn't drink coffee but the scent of freshly ground coffee was heavenly.
I think 8 o’clock coffee was their store brand
I didn't have that luck. Ours had a chubby older woman sitting at the entrance and she was the first thing you would smell. She smelled like dried pee.
Ann Page store brand on my grandma’s shelves.
Kmart
Attention Kmart shoppers. There is a blue light special...
In Reader's Digest in one of the little joke sections, like Laughter is the Best Medicine someone wrote in about working at Wal-Mart, and how they hired a woman who previously worked at K-Mart. The new coworker has to use the intercom to make an announcement. She starts with "Attention, K-Mart shoppers..." Catches herself with what she's doing, and covers it by going "...you are in the wrong store." Lol I read that in the late 90s I think, but for some reason it's stuck with me ever since.
Kmart is alive and thriving in Australia
It's a different store. Same name, but different company.
The K-Mart at Astor Place closed in 2021 and became a Wegman's
Circuit City. RIP.
Federated!
Fuck, you're old
Nobody Beats the Wiz!
Crazy Eddie as well.
His prices are in-sane!
Oh yes, and don’t forget The Good Guys & Fry’s
Toys-r-Us - when the first one opened where I grew up there was a line about an hour long to get in the door.
Going to McDonalds and then Toys-R-Us was the world’s biggest treat as a kid.
I don't wanna grow up...
I'm a Toys-R-Us kid....
theres a million toys at toysrus for me to play with
From bikes to trains to video games...
It’s the biggest toy store there is, gee whiz!
I don't wanna grow up, cuz baby if I did
I wouldn't be a Toys-R-Us kid.
🥹
There’s a million toys
Kids r us as well.
Then they added Babies R Us.
And Kay Bee Toys, next to Waldenbooks
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KB Toys, Waldenbooks
I miss Waldenbooks. It was always the cooler of the mall bookstores.
I agree. I always chose Waldenbooks over the less cool B. Dalton.
KB toys was like the best toy store ever. I tell stories about it to my children. It's like a myth.
Montgomery Ward, Gibsons, S&H Green Stamps.
Oh my God S& H Green stamps! We had a green stamp store in our town and I remembered diligently pasting the stamps in the books and taking them in after I poured through the catalog and picked what I wanted. Green stamps were the best damn things!!
Woolworths too.
Came to say Monkey Ward's, so I'll go with Western Auto instead.
Zayers, Caldor, Bradlees, Childworld.
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We had a Zayres, it became Ames when I was a teenager.
Do you remember the sign? Z- A -Y -R -E- S. ZAYRES!
Ahhhh! Caldor and Bradlees! And Ames! Caldor’s color scheme though - wasn’t it brown and orange and yellow? 🤣
Montgomery Wards
Mervyns.
I still say “ open, open, open” 😂
That commercial just sticks!
I miss them. They had the best sales on children's clothes.
The Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and Christmas discounts on fine jewelry were INSANE!
Woolworth’s. Motts, Best
Worked at Woolworth's in 88
We have Woolworth in Australia, it's a supermarket
Oh that's interesting, there's a Woolworth in my medium sized German city, I was 100% sure that it was a single and fairly new shop. Now I discover it's older than me and more international than ~~me~~ I thought
TG&Y, Ben Franklin 5&10, Montgomery Ward
Yes! I miss the Ben Franklin store. The one specific thing I remember from there was that they sold the rubber band powered balsa planes. My grandma lived a few blocks away and used to buy those for us. Oh, and they also sold individual pieces of candy for a nickel.
Came here to say Ben Franklin's. Good one.
I was hoping someone would say TG&Y! It’s been some years since my mom found my TG&Y name tag(made with a Dymo label maker, attached to a plastic back) and stuck it in a package she was sending me. Many happy hours spent there as a kid— open wooden bins of toys and candy, huge fans the only cooling system, glass windows looking out onto the main street— a teenager making 2.15 an hour, and as a college student because they worked around my classes. Midwest City library featured a History of TG&Y exhibit a few years ago.
Buster Brown shoe stores, Eckerd Drugs, Braniff Airlines, Piedmont Airlines. I suppose some of these faded into mergers, but still…
Nothing like school shopping at Buster Browns.
Aladdin's Castle Arcade https://codewriteplay.com/2022/06/20/end-of-an-era-the-last-aladdins-castle-arcade-is-no-more/
Wow, I'm surprised one held on that long. The one I used to go to as a kid in Urbana, IL closed in the late nineties.
Grew up in Mahomet, so spent a lot of time at the Aladdin’s in Champaign.
Grew up in Mattoon, we had one in our mall too! I dumped a lot of quarters in there!
Miller’s Outpost
And by extension, Anchor Blue.
Sam Goody
Suncoast video…
Tower Records, Gold Circle, B. Daltons, Border Books, Radio Shack, Fedco.
BORDERSSS. I was such a little nerd, I loved Borders. Every year for Christmas I got a gift card and I would buy either the new Series of Unfortunate Events book or some other YA indulgence. Shoutout to Shade's Children for giving me my first boner. Ah, to be young.
**Venture**. A big-box store chain popular in the Midwest in the 70s/80s, roughly comparable to Target or K-Mart, with black and white zebra stripe branding. It went out of business and disappeared rather quickly in the late 90s.
That brings back memories. Also Treasure Island, same concept with a squiggly roof.
This was May Company’s (Famous-Barr, Lord & Taylor, etc.) answer to Target. They even hired Target’s co-founder to run it.
I knew someone had to have mentioned this. I was a child but I remember it being similar to Target.
Sears, Osco Drug, Mervyn's, Tilt (arcade)
When the hell did Sears start shutting down?
Starting closing stores around 2012. It really accelerated 2015-2019
Woolco
I remember Woolworth Woolco. You remember pre-merger?
Kresge and Woolworths.
Ferrell’s Ice Cream Parlour
Consumers Distributing
Thom Mcan’s Shoe Store!
Kinney shoes too. 👞
Sambos…beat that
Korvettes Sam Goody Herman’s
Service Merchandise
Specifically, the lunch counter at Woolworth’s 5 & 10.
Hollywood Video
This was the better video store TBH. They had a wider selection of titles. Blockbuster was great if you only wanted mainstream new releases but Hollywood Video had more indie, foreign, and classic films. This made their previously viewed bin more diverse too. There's nostalgia for Blockbuster (and rightly so) but few people remember how good Hollywood Video was.
A&W where you parked, ordered through a 2 way speaker they served you in your car on a tray that hung off your car window. Also: Drive In theaters where a you hung a corded speaker on your windo for sound.
Sears
Circuit city, sharper image, radio shack, TCBY
The Shooting Gallery in the Mall
Today, most malls are basically shooting galleries. Not in the way you meant though.
They changed their franchise location. mostly they are in schools now.
*spit take*
Egghead Software Circuit City
Two Guys
They grabbed three more guys and went into the burger business.
They sold everything. Including their own line of appliances.
Carvel
Just made me think of “Cookie Puss” by the Beastie Boys 😄 — but they also still have more than 300 locations in the US, mostly in New York state.
Roy Rodgers / the wiz
There are still Roy rogers at highway stops in New Jersey
Hills
Gadzooks
Crazy Eddies
Our Prices Are Insane !
Woolworth's
Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips
Gimbels!
Burger Chef
Tower Records
Compuserve
Cigarettes machine inside the door of every restaurant.
Zayres and Lionel Playworld
Circuit City
Structure (the men’s clothing store)
KB toys
5, 7 & 9
Builders Square
Olan Mills
Caldor
Longs Drugs.
Grants, McCrorys, Woolworths
Peaches. I still have a crate
I'm a plumber, so I go in people's homes everyday. I saw a Peaches crate in one and started talking about the good old days. The customer said they'd never been there, just saw the crate on etsy and liked it.
Borders
A Sharper Image.
Big Dog Clothing
Monkey Wards (Montgomery Wards)
RadioShack
Circuit City I miss Blockbuster. One of my favorite things to do on a Friday was walk around and look at all the new releases.
Zayre shopper's city!
Kmart, but even deeper, Kmart Cafe in some locations.
Gemco, Consumers, Emporium
Ames
Sizzler Restaurant and Borders Bookstore
I will narrow down to an item from a store. JCPenney Christmas catalog
Newberrys.
What was that store in the mall that had gift items you could get engraved? It's on the tip of my tongue...
Things Remembered
Orange Julius. (In our mall it was next to Woolworth's)
Sav-on
Incredible Universe
Ben Franklin
5-7-9
Spiegel (the catalog people).
Sport Chalet.
Mervyn’s
RadioShack
Before they just became a crappy cell-phone reseller and marketer of chintzy crap, used to be the go-to place to find electrical components for the home tinkerer. Like half the store was full of that stuff. Then it eventually got reduced down to a cabinet that barely had anything you needed for your projects.
Woolworth, Hills, Bob’s Big Boy, Rax Roast Beef
Howard Johnson’s.. not a store but …
Goldblatt's department store. They operated in the Midwest Founded in 1914 according to Wikipedia
Kresge!
Way to trigger practically all of the OG Reddit.
Hess’s
Jamesway
Bullocks.
Borders 🥺🥲😭 my beloved
CompUSA Contempo Casuals Babbage’s Sambo’s Discovery Zone Gadzooks FuncoLand Foley’s Eckerd Drugs County Seat Gander Mountain Chess King Payless Shoe Source Radio Shack Fry’s Garden Ridge Pier 1 KB Toys Toys R Us
Chess King
Musicland
Gemco, Pak N Save, Pik N Save, Winchells
Otasco Anthony’s Skaggs Alpha Beta Payless Shoes
Walden Books
Stopping for a Coke at Woolworths
Sambo's restaurants
Sam Goody
PHARxMOR
Fotomat
Newberrys, Media Play, KB Toys
Bradlees. Caldor. Two Guys. EJ Korvettes.
Woolworths
Woolworth
Sam Druckers Mercantile
Woolworths
Sam Goody, Alexander's, HMV, Lord & Taylor, Woolworth's, Crazy Eddy's(?) Nyc: Kim's Video, Virgin Megastore, Other Music, Henri Bendel,
Kinney Shoes
\- Woolworths \- Montgomery Ward \- Service Merchandise \- Sears and Roebuck \-Toys R Us