Defunct restaurant chains and retailers

[LM117]

Schottenstein's/Value City also left discount retail for real estate. The Value City Furniture stores have remained active though.

When I moved to Danville, VA in 2011, I was told there used to be a Value City here at the Danville Plaza shopping center on US-58 Business (Riverside Drive). The space is now Dan River Church. The only other tenant left there is the Salvation Army. The empty space to the right of it was a Harris Teeter until it closed in 2010.

Given that the Dan River is literally right behind the shopping center, it's no mystery why the place is dead.

[GCrites]

Wow, I didn't know Value City had locations that far from the Columbus HQ. I can't recall their footprint.

[D-Dey65]

Slightly OT, where's that thread on defunct gas stations, and restaurants, and what not? Because I swear I spotted an OTB in Wikimedia Commons that looks like it used to be an old Howard Johnson's.

Okay, this is the thread I was looking for.

Is it just me or does this OTB in Louisiana look like an old Howard Johnsons?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KennerLAFairGroundsOTB.JPG

[briantroutman]

Okay, this is the thread I was looking for.

Is it just me or does this OTB in Louisiana look like an old Howard Johnsons?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KennerLAFairGroundsOTB.JPG

Because of its orange-ish roof and cupola, it does have a bit of that look, but I'm pretty confident that it was never a Howard Johnson's.

Howard Johnson's restaurant layouts were quite standardized, either being the early colonial type, the '50s/'60s Nims type (by far what most people remember), the rare "Concept '65"  type, or the late mansard type. The OTB has some flavors of a few of Howard Johnson's different design eras, but it doesn't really fit into any of them.

The rather authoritative America's Landmark Howard Johnson's history website lists that Louisiana only had two standalone restaurants (i.e. not attached to a motor lodge), and both of those were in New Orleans.

[D-Dey65]

Nice site. I wish all the links worked. They've even got the one in Medford, New York which was converted into an IHOP, although I actually know the fate of that one.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8224087,-72.9973072,3a,75y,100.78h,99.46t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4ZbEUh0Wdbam-e68yai-4w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D4ZbEUh0Wdbam-e68yai-4w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D278.46545%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

As you can see, it's a mini-mall containing a Starbucks, a subshop, a hookah den, a frozen yogurt shop, etcetera.

[sbeaver44]

Not a chain, but definitely defunct.  For those of you who drove NY 17 through Orange County, NY probably remember the historic Red Apple Rest.
http://roadarch.com/05/5/rest3.jpg

There's a book about the Red Apple Rest in my Kindle queue.

[roadman65]

Stuckeys with their $1.99 breakfast!  They were still around here in Florida as late as 1994 in Sanford, Florida.

[briantroutman]

Stuckeys...  They were still around here in Florida as late as 1994

While the company is certainly well off its peak of 350+ locations in the late '60s, Stuckey's isn't defunct, having over 100 locations still in operation–several in Florida.

[ftballfan]

Stuckeys...  They were still around here in Florida as late as 1994

While the company is certainly well off its peak of 350+ locations in the late '60s, Stuckey's isn't defunct, having over 100 locations still in operation–several in Florida.

Including a boat load along the I-75 corridor in southern Georgia

[Rothman]

There was one on US 13 north of the CBBT.

But I think the one in Breezewood is no longer.  It was part of a gas station.

[US71]

Stuckeys...  They were still around here in Florida as late as 1994

While the company is certainly well off its peak of 350+ locations in the late '60s, Stuckey's isn't defunct, having over 100 locations still in operation–several in Florida.

A lot seem to be sharing space with DQ's.

[dlsterner]

There was one on US 13 north of the CBBT.

But I think the one in Breezewood is no longer.  It was part of a gas station.

The one on US 13 is still there (near Mappsville VA).  Usually stop there when I travel that way; as recently as a few months ago.

It's for old time's sake.  When a kid in the early 1970's on family vacations we always stopped at Stuckey's since back then it was usually the only restaurant right at the interstate, and Dad didn't want to wander more than a quarter mile or so from the interstate.  Plus since they all were similar, we knew what we were getting.

[cwf1701]

Wow, I didn't know Value City had locations that far from the Columbus HQ. I can't recall their footprint.

Most of the Value City stores in Detroit was former Crowley's Dept. stores. Crowley's was a competitor to Hudsons in Detroit.

[thenetwork]

Wow, I didn't know Value City had locations that far from the Columbus HQ. I can't recall their footprint.

Most of the Value City stores in Detroit was former Crowley's Dept. stores. Crowley's was a competitor to Hudsons in Detroit.

Value City, especially in their later years when they were mostly clothing, are like what Ross Stores are today. 

And like Value City, I never shop at Ross because most of the product (at least at my local store) are styles and sizes I wouldnt wear, and the store itself is so messy, with boxed iteams and shoes picked thru and mismatched.

[US71]

Spe-Dee Mart c-stores (based in Johnson, AR). When the owner died, they were assimilated by EZ Mart. EZ Mart has been sold to GPM, but still retain the old name

[roadman65]

Zayre I remember but where they were I cant recall.

Its odd them and Jamesway both went out almost together. Jamesway was NY area with warehouse and distribution in Cranbury, NJ seen from the NJ Turnpike.

[Rothman]

There was a Zayre in Hadley, MA.

[1995hoo]

I recall there being at least one Zayre in Northern Virginia. I believe it was at the Eden Center near Seven Corners. There may have been another on Edsall Road where the Sullivan Place condos are now, just off I-395.

I recall the Jamesway chain roadman65 mentions (and the warehouse visible from the Turnpike). As I recall, their TV jingle went "At Jaaaameswaaaay, we care about YOU!" One of those ubiquitous annoying jingles you heard constantly.

[KEVIN_224]

I want to say that Zayre was based in Rocky Hill, CT. They more or less were Ames later on. Ames was definitely based there! My mother once worked part time at an old Zayre store in Biddeford, ME (1985-86 or so).

[jp the roadgeek]

I want to say that Zayre was based in Rocky Hill, CT. They more or less were Ames later on. Ames was definitely based there! My mother once worked part time at an old Zayre store in Biddeford, ME (1985-86 or so).

Ames bought Zayre's from TJX, the parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshall's, and Home Goods.  Their headquarters, as it is today, was in Natick right off the Pike Exit 13 (future 117).  Most of the Zayre's locations did become Ames.  I know the one on Queen St in Southington did (which is now mostly Bob's Furniture and a portion of Bed Bath & Beyond), as did one on East Main St in Meriden (now a defunct Lowe's).  Pretty sure there was also one in Copaco Shopping Center in Bloomfield, because I remember having to go there to get my first real bike as a kid because Southington didn't have it in stock.

Ames' problem was they expanded too fast when they bought Hills.  I remember watching a postgame wrap up from the RCA Dome in Indy and seeing an Ames billboard behind the announcers.  I also went to one in Timonium, MD.  Little by little, they started closing from the nether regions in toward CT, and by 2002, they were gone.

[Rothman]

The Zayre closed in Hadley, MA.  It was at one end of a strip mall and Stop & Shop was at the other.  Stop & Shop turned Zayre's space into a Super Stop & Shop and Stop and Shop's old space became mostly a liquor store (Liquor 44).

[catch22]

Art Van Furniture, which started in Detroit with a single store in 1959 and eventually grew to 200 stores in Michigan and several other states, is shutting down operations. Liquidation sales begin March 6.

The original owner's family sold the company to an equity firm in 2017.  I guess they got out at the right time.

https://wwjnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/art-van-going-out-business-liquidation-sales-to-start-friday

[RobbieL2415]

AFIAK there was never a Zayre in CT, only Ames.

[Life in Paradise]

Art Van Furniture, which started in Detroit with a single store in 1959 and eventually grew to 200 stores in Michigan and several other states, is shutting down operations. Liquidation sales begin March 6.

The original owner's family sold the company to an equity firm in 2017.  I guess they got out at the right time.

https://wwjnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/art-van-going-out-business-liquidation-sales-to-start-friday

Apparently some Art Van stores will remain open.  I was expecting to see the Evansville, IN  store announce their closing, but the reports yesterday afternoon were that it would remain open.  It is supposedly one of a couple of dozen franchise stores.

[roadman65]

Speaking of defunct, I saw a Radio Shack still open in Southwest Florida.  Even though the parent corporation went under, private owned franchises still remain in few places.

Benningans did that one when the parent company of Steak & Ale and Benningans filed for bankruptcy had franchises issued, but the one in Lake Buena Vista, FL still closed a few years later.  Do not know if Benningan franchises are still around elsewhere as in Central Florida that was the only one that was after going under.