Businesses that are defunct that you are pissed about closing

[roadman65]

I forgot about Morrison's that used to be big in Orlando (and the south) that used to offer what is said here.  I never patronized them, but I imagine that they were close to home cooked as is Buddy Freddie's in Plant City, FL that I did eat at a few times.

Buddy Freddie's is one of the last of the trend, that still lives.  I guess cause Plant City is still traditional in culture, and the market there still supports it.

[Pete from Boston]

Bowling alleys.  The few new ones that open are dopey high-end night-out places more than they are anything to do with bowling.

[roadman65]

Yeah, the Bowling Allies.  What a shame.  I liked them so much and such a great game to play.

The same goes for roller rinks too!  They used to be big back in the 80's, then later got stereotyped for little kids only to go to, and then closed.

[formulanone]

I miss Circuit City - especially the cheap CDs, you could bargain a bit, and a no-questions return policy. Sound Advice (a local South Florida electronics mini-chain) was also pretty good, and they did whatever it took to keep your business.

Border's bookstores seemed to thrive alongside Barnes & Noble in South Florida, too. I guess they weren't doing so well financially. Both seemed to be one-stop gift shopping for lots of family and friends.

Can't think of other well-known retail operations that I mourn the loss of. Many didn't have anything to distinguish themselves by, in my opinion.

Plenty of local restaurants...too many to name; I don't miss too many of the national/regional brands. Central Florida had a chain called "Cookers" which always had good food and service - a pity they'd disappeared around 2001.

[roadman65]

Clock Restaurant and Wags were good eateries in Florida that vanished over time.

Scotty's was a Florida lumber and hardware chain.  They unfortunately could not keep up with Home Depot that just started growing at the time, but they were good that is a shame is now gone.

[SteveG1988]

Jamesway a NJ based store like Ames.

A local store, Gregory's think of it as a local five and dime, it lasted until the early 2000s in Mt Holly NJ.

Strawbridge and Clothier, they could have kept the name but Macy's wanted to have a unitized brand. Was nice to have a local name on a store.

[roadman65]

I miss Pharr More, as they had great prices for personal hygiene products.

Piggly Wiggly, I miss as they were all over Florida.  When I first moved down here you could always say that you were living in Florida because Piggly Wiggly was one of your local supermarket chains.

[vdeane]

Not sure I really miss many of the retailers that have disappeared, although I certainly did spend an absurd amount of money at Borders back in the day.

Borders is my number 1 business I wished was still open.  They always had a much better selection than Barnes and Noble. 

Around Rochester, NY it was the opposite, with one exception: road maps.  This was a natural consequence of Barnes and Noble having stores that were physically twice as big.  What's also interesting is the different expansion strategies: Barnes and Noble would saturate an area and be very common, while Borders would have only one store per area but cover more areas.  In many towns, Borders was the only large bookstore around, but they always played second fiddle to Barnes and Noble in the larger markets.

[roadman65]

That is like Sams and Costco.  Sams likes the local market while Costco likes regional.  In Orlando we have more Sams verses Costcos because the former places them in all areas around Orlando, while the latter places one in select areas to cater to all miles around.

[1995hoo]

Jamesway a NJ based store like Ames.

....

I remember their insipid TV jingle. "At Jaaaaamesway–we care about YOU!" sung in the same kind of sing-song female voice many radio stations seem to use use for their station ID.

[tidecat]

Godfather's Pizza - once the fifth largest chain in the country, but since disappeared from many markets (including Mobile)

Delchamps - was acquired by Jitney Jungle, then both brands failed.  There was a void in the grocery business in many markets in Alabama until Publix entered the market, although Mobile was one of the first markets with Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market.

K&B and Harco >>> Rite-Aid and Walgreen's


iPhone

[Pete from Boston]

Bluecanoe, the convenience store at Irving gas stations, was clean, well-organized, nicely signed, and generally run well.  Irving turned the stores over to Circle-K in 2009, and they've been pretty average since.

[roadman65]

Big Boy, which I see Cincy and Michigan STILL have. 

In Florida Frisks, which had the franchise name also here as it still does in Ohio and Michigan, along with Bob's which was Marriot's name for their Big Boy franchises in the Mid Atlantic States which dumped them with Roy Rogers Hamburger stores, are now gone on the east coast.

In addition, Shoney's Restaurants used to operate under the Big Boy banner in the Carolina's, was part of their chain for many years up along the I-95 corridor selling their menu favorites, is no longer as they have their own menu with limited stores (in Orlando only one remains in operation as all the rest closed after their stock plummeted).

I do not know about Elby's in Pennsylvania as they held the name there if any still exist, but they had an awesome breakfast buffet back in the 80's, but nonetheless still not like it used to be outside of the Ohio and Michigan markets.

[DaBigE]

Since becoming an adult, the only business that's closed that I even somewhat miss is Borders. But since the closing, Barnes and Noble has filled in the gaps in selection that made me prefer Borders over them.

I have to go back to my childhood for places that closed that truly pissed me off:

• Children's Palace (known as Child World elsewhere) -- the best selection/widest range of toys at a great price.
• Kay-Bee Toys -- not nearly as good as Children's Palace nor not even close to as large, it's what made going to the mall with my mom tolerable. Just about any indoor mall that was much of anything had one. I remember digging through the bins of Matchbox and Hot Wheels when they used to run buy one get one sales.
• Dunkin' Donuts -- most if not all their Wisconsin-area shops closed in the 90s. A lot of new one's have opened around the state lately, but the product just isn't the same. I remember the good ole munchkins (doughnut holes) by the box the most fondly. With their current doughnut size and recipe, they might as well have gone out of business in my book.
• Kohls Department Store -- similar to Dunkin' Donuts, yes, this business is still around, but not in the same form they once used to be. Back when they were Kohls Department Store (to differentiate themselves from the food store started by the same family), they used to have the best toy department of the area department stores. Back in the good ole days, they had aisle after aisle of toys, year-round (compared to the little corner they're stuffed into today)...they always had the latest and largest Lego selection. Prices were also very competitive (without the perennial "sales"). They also used to carry furniture, electronics, and lawn/garden stuff. This was all in addition to what they carry today

[roadman65]

Oh yes you mention Dunkin Donuts, also they used to have waitress service at the one's that existed in the 1970's and well into the 80's back in New Jersey.

I am sort of mad that you cannot sit at a counter anymore and have a waitress serve your coffee and doughnuts as its Burger King style now.  Buy your food and then take it to a table yourself.

[DTComposer]

There's perhaps no need for their business model anymore, but Tower Records provided hours of browsing pleasure and exposed me to a lot of music I never would have found pre-internet.

I'll agree with Borders, but what I actually miss more are the large local bookstores that Borders and Barnes & Noble largely put out of business. The Earthling in Santa Barbara is a good example. For used books, Acres of Books in Long Beach was awesome.

[6a]

Big Boy, which I see Cincy and Michigan STILL have. 

In Florida Frisks, which had the franchise name also here as it still does in Ohio and Michigan, along with Bob's which was Marriot's name for their Big Boy franchises in the Mid Atlantic States which dumped them with Roy Rogers Hamburger stores, are now gone on the east coast.

In addition, Shoney's Restaurants used to operate under the Big Boy banner in the Carolina's, was part of their chain for many years up along the I-95 corridor selling their menu favorites, is no longer as they have their own menu with limited stores (in Orlando only one remains in operation as all the rest closed after their stock plummeted).

I do not know about Elby's in Pennsylvania as they held the name there if any still exist, but they had an awesome breakfast buffet back in the 80's, but nonetheless still not like it used to be outside of the Ohio and Michigan markets.

Oh man, Elby's...there's a blast from the past. There are a handful of Frisch's Big Boys left here but their number is quietly shrinking. I love their chili & spaghetti and breakfast buffet.

[sbeaver44]

• Kay-Bee Toys -- not nearly as good as Children's Palace nor not even close to as large, it's what made going to the mall with my mom tolerable. Just about any indoor mall that was much of anything had one. I remember digging through the bins of Matchbox and Hot Wheels when they used to run buy one get one sales.

K-B was the best.  That was my childhood.  Toys R Us was okay, but usually more expensive, and I liked the cozy layout of K-B and yet somehow it seemed to have everything.  I could spend hours in a store.

Also, as others have mentioned, Ames, Bradlees, Jamesway, and the other 90s retailers that weren't Walmart, Target, or Kmart (Although I love Target).  Also not mentioned was Hills, which was the best of any of them.

Hot N Now - I never went there, but I was always curious.  Now it's gone, although you can tell a Hot N Now former location if the building hasn't been redone completely.  (There's one that's a drycleaner on US 11/15 in Lemoyne, PA)  Also, at least around here, they always seemed to be adjacent to Taco Bell.

Taco Maker - very hard to find now, but better than Taco Bell from what I recall.

I miss Blockbuster in a "it was a nice option" sort of way and I liked the store itself, but don't really miss their business model if that makes sense.  See also Radio Shack.

Babbage's was absorbed into the EBGames/Gamestop union, but I think it was the best of the bunch.

[txstateends]

I might forget a few, but here goes nothin':

* Winn-Dixie - no longer in TX but still around, not pretentious or crowded, great canned-goods sales

* Bennigan's - coming back but I haven't seen any new ones yet...could go for a Monte Cristo right now

* Borders - was nice to have a chain bookstore choice besides B&N, too much snob appeal here though

* Tower Records - amazing selection for a chain, they should definitely still be around

* Sanger Harris - Dallas-based department store chain that had a long history (longer than Neiman Marcus) and good reputation, one of my first credit cards, was a previous Federated division that merged with Foley's (which eventually was Macyed like other chains)

* Marshall Field's - had a Dallas location for several years but was predominantly Midwestern, good sales, great Frango chocolates, sadly was Macyed also

* Rand McNally stores - couldn't let a missed-store list on a roads forum go by without mentioning them....was neat to see the fold-out maps of all 50 states available in a store, more country fold-outs than bookstores had, I could have loitered all day and stared, and let my mind wander off to places I'd like to go but had (and still have...) nowhere near the travel budget for


BTW, Brian, there are still a very few Luby's and Furr's cafeterias around DFW, you really have to keep from blinking to miss them, plus a relaunched local called Highland Park Cafeteria off Buckner and Garland Road in the Casa Linda area (once part of a chain that poofed a few years ago, and someone that missed the chain came along a few years later, got the rights to the name and reopened the Casa Linda location).

Wow, RoadHog, haven't thought of Otasco in a while. To the unfamiliar, it was kind of like a Western Auto or White's Auto when they were around.

[jp the roadgeek]

In 1997, the Boston area had the department retailers
Ann & Hope

There are a couple of Ann & Hope stores left. They rebranded themselves as a home & bath outlet.  There's a couple in Newington and Vernon, CT
[/quote]

[Pete from Boston]

In 1997, the Boston area had the department retailers
Ann & Hope

There are a couple of Ann & Hope stores left. They rebranded themselves as a home & bath outlet.  There's a couple in Newington and Vernon, CT

Yes, but they are a small part of Ann & Hope stores used to be. The store in the in the Arsenal Mall in Watertown, Massachusetts, for example, took up the full area of what is now a large Home Depot, along with an adjoining big-box store that was a Linens 'n' Things and now is something else. It was a mammoth, full department store.

[Brian556]

Quote from texasstateends:

I might forget a few, but here goes nothin':

* Winn-Dixie - no longer in TX but still around, not pretentious or crowded, great canned-goods sales

* Bennigan's - coming back but I haven't seen any new ones yet...could go for a Monte Cristo right now

* Borders - was nice to have a chain bookstore choice besides B&N, too much snob appeal here though

* Tower Records - amazing selection for a chain, they should definitely still be around

* Sanger Harris - Dallas-based department store chain that had a long history (longer than Neiman Marcus) and good reputation, one of my first credit cards, was a previous Federated division that merged with Foley's (which eventually was Macyed like other chains)

* Marshall Field's - had a Dallas location for several years but was predominantly Midwestern, good sales, great Frango chocolates, sadly was Macyed also

* Rand McNally stores - couldn't let a missed-store list on a roads forum go by without mentioning them....was neat to see the fold-out maps of all 50 states available in a store, more country fold-outs than bookstores had, I could have loitered all day and stared, and let my mind wander off to places I'd like to go but had (and still have...) nowhere near the travel budget for


BTW, Brian, there are still a very few Luby's and Furr's cafeterias around DFW, you really have to keep from blinking to miss them, plus a relaunched local called Highland Park Cafeteria off Buckner and Garland Road in the Casa Linda area (once part of a chain that poofed a few years ago, and someone that missed the chain came along a few years later, got the rights to the name and reopened the Casa Linda location).

Wow, RoadHog, haven't thought of Otasco in a while. To the unfamiliar, it was kind of like a Western Auto or White's Auto when they were around.

Report

As of 2010, there was still a Luby's in N Dallas. I dunno if it's still there.
As for Winn-Dixie, noticed one recently on SR 50 in Orlando.
Didn't know there were Rand McNally Stores.
I do miss the Mapsco Store in N Dallas. It had everything, including USGS Topo Maps, and TxDOT County General Highway Maps. Also, this store was in an old bank, and the vault, including the door, was still intact.

I just wish they could bring back the Texas Hamburger Factory in Lewisville. Best BBQ sandwiches ever.

[briantroutman]

Big Boy, which I see Cincy and Michigan STILL have. 
...
I do not know about Elby's in Pennsylvania as they held the name there if any still exist, but they had an awesome breakfast buffet back in the 80's, but nonetheless still not like it used to be outside of the Ohio and Michigan markets.

I grew up with Elby's in my hometown, but for all of my lifetime, anyway, it was strictly "Elby's"  with no hints of "Big Boy"  in the name, anyway. Perhaps that has something to do with territorial rights, but what I've read has indicated that Central PA would have been Elby's territory anyway. We didn't have any other Big Boy franchisees.

Here's a menu cover (that I actually remember) from about 1990. The Williamsport Elby's looked almost exactly like the illustration shown on the menu, suggesting to me that it was purpose-built as an Elby's.



All of the locations near me (Williamsport, Lycoming Mall, and Susquehanna Valley Mall) closed simultaneously around 1993 or 1994. The Williamsport location reopened as a Denny's and the Susquehanna Valley Mall location as a Friendly's; Elby's former space inside the Lycoming Mall has been mostly vacant for two decades now.

[roadman65]

Come to think of it, when I ate at the Elbys in Altoona on US 220 (now Business US 220) it had already dropped the Big Boy.  It was about the same time that Shoney's dropped the Big Boy name.  I assumed that Big Boy was no longer, but I read in Wikipedia that Shoney's dropped the Big Boy franchise in 1984 so they could expand into other states that had Big Boy's by another company.

It is coincidental that both retailers changed over at the same time so you would assume that was the case.  Even in Florida Frisks closed in the early 80's and Bobs Big Boy still remained until the mid 80's in New Jersey, and remained on the toll roads even into the 90's as Marriot did not sell them because they turned a profit over the independent locations.  So you could assume that Big Boy went under.

When I went to Michigan in 08, is when I learned that they still do exist and on a link posted here just today of a road scene in Cincy showing the Frisk's name still with the Big Boy.   It gets you upset that they are not in your area anymore and more upset that you believed the company was gone altogether.

[Pete from Boston]

Frisch, not Frisk.

Where was Elias?  Bob's has been mentioned, and in New England it was Abdow's.