Names other than the actual one for a business you have worked for or patronize

[US71]

I used to refer to K-mart as "Kresge's".

The "K" in Kmart stands for Kresge.  And there was a five and dime store called Kresge.

Lots of people didn't know that.

Oh yeah: there was Pizza Sinn, also

[thenetwork]

In the Northern Ohio area about 20-30 years ago there were was a C-store chain called Open Pantry Food Mart, and a restaurant chain called Dutch Pantry.

We'd call the places Open Panties and Dutch Panties.

[US71]

anyone mention Taco Hell yet?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

anyone mention Taco Hell yet?

At least twice.

[hotdogPi]

Global, Lawrence MA: "The station on 114". It's unambiguous to our group because it is (or was, they've changed some) so much cheaper than other stations, sometimes even 30¢ cheaper. They always have a long line, though.

Similarly, this gas station (Super Petroleum) in Salem NH is "the station on 28"; also cheap, although not as much.

This restaurant in Methuen is simply "the golf course" or "the country club". Interesting note: From the road, if you look along the golf course, you can see several mountains 39-48 miles away, including Mount Monadnock. I think the City of Methuen should put permanent binoculars on the railing.

MalWart – I might have mentioned this earlier in the thread.

I think of the Elixir Hookah Lounge in Methuen as the Hookup Lounge, although I don't say this out loud. While it isn't one yet, it's probably a good location for one. As long as both sides are paying customers and the business is the only one receiving the money, it should be legal under current law. Some states would probably ban them as soon as the first one opened; Massachusetts is not one of those states. As for its location, it's isolated (some people would probably want to avoid going near it), and it's walkable and has easy bus access (not everyone in the target demographic drives a car).

I actually distinguish "Dunkin'" and "Dunkin' Donuts" by whether that location has remodeled or not.

I actually don't have a name for Chick-fil-A, even though I've boycotted it.

Showcase Cinemas in Lawrence MA (it's been closed for years) is "Future Costco", despite that being only my personal idea. (The nearest Costco is over 30 minutes away.)

Tacos Lupita (a local chain) is Tacos Lupitas, just to make the grammar correct.

Sometimes I legitimately confuse Salvatore's (one location, Lawrence MA, full restaurant) with Sal's Pizza (chain, more of a takeout place).

Not a business, but this bridge is the failing plank bridge. Some of the planks aren't quite in place, and when I saw that some were visually off about a month and a half ago, I decided to avoid that bridge entirely.

I might have mentioned this before, but this restaurant (Miller's Tavern right now) is the Defence Against the Dark Arts Restaurant. It's changed three times so far in my lifetime. (I hope that's not a spoiler.)

Hanscom Field in Bedford MA is "the military base".

Lahey Hospital is still Lahey Clinic to me, as if the name change never happened.

IHOP becomes iHop in texts.

Overnight PC and Gaming in Methuen MA is "The Magic: the Gathering store". Despite their name and external advertising, they do much more Magic than computer repair.

Cambridge College (in Lawrence MA), while not having a consistent nickname, is thought of as being fake, as it pretends to be Harvard, MIT, or Cambridge University in England while being nowhere near the prestige of any of those three in reality.

ATCK Fitness in Methuen MA is pronounced "Atsk" as if it was Cyrillic.

LA Fitness is pronounced "La Fitness" as if it was "The Fitness" in Spanish, French, or Italian. The hair product LA Looks, which was sold at Stop & Shop when I worked there, is the same.

[kevinb1994]

Lawrence Lexus is now part of the Haldeman family of dealerships. I still call it Lawrence Lexus.

Their sibling Toyota dealership, OTOH, is now the bland/generic Team Toyota. I guess being part of a team doesn't hurt...I still call it La-La-La-La Lawrence Toyota. Just like that old commercial. No more deals to sling about!

[hotdogPi]

More places I walk by but (mostly) don't patronize:

Quasquidollar Tree (Dollar Tree; name comes from items being $1.25 now)
Biden Music (Bider Music, Lawrence, MA)
New York Area Code Car Repair
Room of Requirement (somehow I was able to find a swinger club via detective work – just to clarify, I am not a member)
Any of five (or more!) places in Lawrence that begin with "D'" followed by a consonant: you don't know how to use apostrophes
Advertisement for current mayor car repair
Advertisement for current mayor plaza
The non-demonational church (their own typo, but the typo is too hard to see in Street View)
Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School is called "Three languages, two words each, three different meanings"
Jimmy K's in Haverhill: no name, but mocked for serving "breakfast all day" and closing at 2 PM
Mr. Mike's in Haverhill: "Turkey" (we always get the same thing)

[DTComposer]

For a while in my youth, Jack in the Box was the closest and 'best' option for late night food, and we started referring to it as JBox. Not sure if we picked that up elsewhere or not.

Whole Foods: Whole Paycheck

There are/were a few restaurants in SoCal that was not a renaming so much as a deliberate mispronunciation: Phuket Thai.

[Katavia]

Pardon, bump.

Cashion's (local gas station chain): Cash-ins, due to years of marked up prices back in my younger years

Carolina Panthers: Painthers (Sell the team Tepper!)

The Vive at Kellswater (former residence, apartment complex): The Slive (high rent, most of the amenities never worked)

Lastly, a local specialty - Bruton Smith Boulevard, near Charlotte Motor Speedway: BS Boulevard

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Then there are the former names of businesses still widely used. There's a grocery chain local to me that is still widely known as "Aldi" despite not having had that name for 20 years now and not having relation with the German chain either.

Due to this, I know the German chain as "Fake Aldi", as I don't recognize it to be the real one.

Also in Germany there are two unrelated chains named Netto. One, Danish in origin, is widely known as "Dog Netto". The other, Netto Marken-Discount, is known as "Dog-less Netto", but I prefer to refer to it as "Cat Netto" because of this ad :
https://youtu.be/iNtYHswzFzM?si=HB8Swr0UL0We3SMF

To further conplicate things, in France there is a third chain also called Netto. Since it was introduced by Les Mousquetaires while they owned Cat Netto, I refer to this one as "Faux Cat Netto". And I've been to one location of this chain.

[Hunty2022]

I have never worked at any of these:

McDonald's —> Mickey D's
- a lot of people I know call it this.

Walmart —> Wally World
- I personally don't like this nickname, but again, lots of people I know call it this.

[Big John]

I have never worked at any of these:

Walmart —> Wally World
- I personally don't like this nickname, but again, lots of people I know call it this.

Have you ever seen the movie National Lampoon's Vacation?

[Hunty2022]

I have never worked at any of these:

Walmart —> Wally World
- I personally don't like this nickname, but again, lots of people I know call it this.

Have you ever seen the movie National Lampoon's Vacation?

I might have, but it would be years ago. If I did watch it, I don't remember anything from it.