Over the years we have had many stores, restaurants, and other service related businesses close their doors for some reason or another. Some we liked so much that it disturbed us greatly that the owners or the hierarchy of the business decided to close, downsize, or close in your state. Which ones do you all miss and think that they should have never closed?
I personally miss Bennigans and Steak & Ale Restaurants. They were not only icons, but they had a nice menu and good food to enjoy and were once part of Pillsbury.
Then Jack In The Box has me upset that on the East Coast they closed their stores, but in Texas they are practically on every street corner. I loved their tacos and their sides.
Pizza Hut too is not a wide spread as they once were. In Houma, LA they closed all the locations there, and in Florida I have seen many go, with mostly carry out stores only remaining. I think only two or three eat in stores remain.
Service Merchandise is another store I liked to shop at that I miss tremendously, as they had nice stereo equipment. However some here may argue that stereos went out in the 80's as people download music now, but I guess you can say I miss the old stereo components.
Oh yeah, add Technics brand of electronics to the list as I am somewhat upset that they stopped making.
Quote from Roadman65:
QuoteOver the years we have had many stores, restaurants, and other service related businesses close their doors for some reason or another. Some we liked so much that it disturbed us greatly that the owners or the hierarchy of the business decided to close, downsize, or close in your state. Which ones do you all miss and think that they should have never closed?
I personally miss Bennigans and Steak & Ale Restaurants. They were not only icons, but they had a nice menu and good food to enjoy and were once part of Pillsbury.
Then Jack In The Box has me upset that on the East Coast they closed their stores, but in Texas they are practically on every street corner. I loved their tacos and their sides.
Pizza Hut too is not a wide spread as they once were. In Houma, LA they closed all the locations there, and in Florida I have seen many go, with mostly carry out stores only remaining. I think only two or three eat in stores remain.
Service Merchandise is another store I liked to shop at that I miss tremendously, as they had nice stereo equipment. However some here may argue that stereos went out in the 80's as people download music now, but I guess you can say I miss the old stereo components.
Oh yeah, add Technics brand of electronics to the list as I am somewhat upset that they stopped making
I remember Service Merchandise. My father took me there frequently. The Jack-In-The-Box closest to me closed for no good reason, it was very busy. I like their tacos and curly fries. Their burgers give me the runs.
Pizza Hut wasn't the best pizza. It was often delivered cold.
The businesses I wish were still around is cafeterias. They were a good place to get a proper meal that was very much like home cooked, without waiting 30 minutes for it to be prepared. Now, no such place exists. Because I'm single, and have no woman to cook for me, I fell that cafeterias would be very beneficial to me, if they were still around.
Printer's Inc books in Palo Alto, CA. The first place I ever drew a paycheck.
Cody's Books in Berkeley, a great store for new books. Some of you might remember fortune files on Unix systems that would print a brief randomly-selected joke on your screen. One of them was "God is not dead! He's alive and well and autographing Bibles at Cody's." But Cody's closed in 2008.
Fischer's Hardware in Springfield, Virginia. It used to be independent. They had been open for 60 years and were known locally as "that hardware store that has everything," including lots of stuff you'd never find anywhere else. More importantly, you could buy small quantities of things like nails and screws. They closed two or three years ago while locked in litigation with Ace. I don't know the whole story, but the gist of it, from what I understand, is that the Fischers sold the store to someone who bought it and then joined the Ace Cooperative based on assurances from Ace about various things. The store promptly went downhill and the new owners were sued by Ace for not paying some sort of dues or something; they counterclaimed based on allegations of fraud. The store went into bankruptcy reorganization and their lender ordered them to close during the process. I believe they won some sort of victory over Ace, but I don't know the details, and their former space will become an Aldi grocery store that's opening next Friday.
An auto-parts chain I liked was Trak Auto. Their stores were cleaner and better-organized than Advance or Pep Boys, but they met their demise during the course of the various Haft family squabbles. I believe they were affiliated somehow with Crown Books.
Roy Rogers fast-food restaurants are still operating; I'm aware of three relatively close to where I live and at least two others in the DC area. But I was always disappointed the chain as a whole disappeared. Always liked them better than most of the other fast-food places, in part due to the "Fixin's Bar" concept because it meant you didn't have to "special order" (and wait all day) if you didn't want all the pre-designated schmeck on your burger because the burger came plain (excepting bacon and cheese if appropriate) and you then put what you wanted on it.
There are lots of Pizza Huts around here, so maybe their closure is a regional thing. That's not unusual. When I was in college, Safeway pulled out of the Central Virginia market, but they're still going strong in many other places.
Quote from: roadman65 on February 13, 2015, 01:40:26 PM
Bennigans
There was one item we always got there: Broccoli Bites. There's one franchised location near me still open that has broccoli bites on the menu, but they're from a different supplier and taste more like the cheap ones you can get at many local pizzerias.
Another place we miss: Chi-Chi's.
Quote from: roadman65 on February 13, 2015, 01:40:26 PM
Over the years we have had many stores, restaurants, and other service related businesses close their doors for some reason or another. Some we liked so much that it disturbed us greatly that the owners or the hierarchy of the business decided to close, downsize, or close in your state. Which ones do you all miss and think that they should have never closed?
I personally miss Bennigans and Steak & Ale Restaurants. They were not only icons, but they had a nice menu and good food to enjoy and were once part of Pillsbury.
Then Jack In The Box has me upset that on the East Coast they closed their stores, but in Texas they are practically on every street corner. I loved their tacos and their sides.
Pizza Hut too is not a wide spread as they once were. In Houma, LA they closed all the locations there, and in Florida I have seen many go, with mostly carry out stores only remaining. I think only two or three eat in stores remain.
Service Merchandise is another store I liked to shop at that I miss tremendously, as they had nice stereo equipment. However some here may argue that stereos went out in the 80's as people download music now, but I guess you can say I miss the old stereo components.
Oh yeah, add Technics brand of electronics to the list as I am somewhat upset that they stopped making.
We had a Bennigan's here. In fact, about three traffic lights from where I live. It later became a Hooters (which I haven't eaten at, though I've been to other Hooters locales). There was also a Steak & Ale, but it closed many years ago. In fact, it became a Perkins Family Restaurant, and that building was torn down to make way for a Fuddruckers/Luby's combo that's opening next week.
Pizza Hut is still widespread here. Never had a JacK In the Box, and don't really care to have one here. Closest ones here are in Baton Rouge.
I loved Service Merchandise. I used to buy headphone radios from there since they were reasonably priced.
A few - Borders, Royal Discount Booksellers, and that's for starters.
For me it would be Dominick's, a former grocery store chain in Illinois. I was saddened to hear that they went out of business late in 2013. My first job was as a bagger at store #117 at 580 S. Roselle Rd in Schaumburg, IL.
That particular location had an interesting history of its own-it was a Kohl's grocery store first, with the arched roof design. When Kohl's pulled out of Illinois Eagle took it over, and then Dominick's took the store over when Eagle bowed out.
From what I understand that after I left the Chicago area in '91 the old man died, and the rest of the family just didn't want to put up with running the company. So they sold out to Safeway who kept the Dominick's name in place, but tried to force it's California style on its Chicago clientele and ran the company into the ground.
Very few chains go under that are worth missing. Here it's the local businesses that tank steadily because rents are so damn high. We hardly have any plain old neighborhood bars anymore in this area–everything has to have a carefully marketed concept. Even the famous Irish pubs of Boston are increasingly shiny redone places pushing upscale dinner menus. Forget about pool tables, and most live music–both eat up too much floor area to cover their share of the rent.
Coffee shops fall like flies, too, yet people keep opening them.
And of course, there are the once-numerous record stores of Harvard Square, Newbury Street, and Kenmore Square, done in by their own shrinking market and waves of pricier stores.
Hardware stores, though that trend seems to have at least stabilized.
Smaller movie theaters keep failing, too, making going to first-runs ever more of an ordeal.
Krispy Kreme. While they still exist, they are significantly smaller than they were. They used to be everywhere in upstate NY, but now their locations in NY are reduced to a single store in Manhattan. Pretty much the only time I get to go to one is if I'm passing through Scranton for some reason.
It still feels weird to have Chase Pitkin (hardware store owned/operated by Wegmans) be gone.
I still feel sad that Fisherman's Wharf (motel in Alexandria Bay, NY) is gone. My family used to go there every year when I was young. Lots of memories. It was demolished a few years ago so that luxury condos that are WAY too tall for the aesthetics of the harbor could be put in.
Are there any Blockbuster Video stores still around?
Caldor and Ames
Steve & Barry's
Fazoli's is pretty much gone south of Tennessee; not really sure why they have retrenched, since the one location I do semi-regularly pass by (in Valdosta) is usually quite busy when I inevitably stop in to and from Florida.
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.
Quote from: roadman65 on February 13, 2015, 01:40:26 PM
Over the years we have had many stores, restaurants, and other service related businesses close their doors for some reason or another. Some we liked so much that it disturbed us greatly that the owners or the hierarchy of the business decided to close, downsize, or close in your state. Which ones do you all miss and think that they should have never closed?
I personally miss Bennigans and Steak & Ale Restaurants. They were not only icons, but they had a nice menu and good food to enjoy and were once part of Pillsbury.
Then Jack In The Box has me upset that on the East Coast they closed their stores, but in Texas they are practically on every street corner. I loved their tacos and their sides.
Pizza Hut too is not a wide spread as they once were. In Houma, LA they closed all the locations there, and in Florida I have seen many go, with mostly carry out stores only remaining. I think only two or three eat in stores remain.
Service Merchandise is another store I liked to shop at that I miss tremendously, as they had nice stereo equipment. However some here may argue that stereos went out in the 80's as people download music now, but I guess you can say I miss the old stereo components.
Oh yeah, add Technics brand of electronics to the list as I am somewhat upset that they stopped making.
There's a Bennigan's on International Drive just off the Beachline exit.
Agree with Service Merchandise-a good third of my original stereo system (first set of speakers, turntable, equalizer and CD changer) was bought from there, as well as several pieces of flatware and glassware; they along with Sam Solomon were my go-to spots for shopping. I still have my changer in the closet!
Also agree about Technics, that was one hell of a brand that Panasonic built and then they just capitulated...I have no idea why.
Krispy Kreme opened here in about 2003. Lines formed that required police details. In six months, people realized "They're just doughnuts" and after a year they started to close.
I didn't see the appeal. My image of KK will always be a sweltering late night in Pensacola twenty years ago, where grease and flies vied for airspace, and people too burnt out to wash sought solace in the only thing oilier than them.
(Dunkin' can suck it, too, lest anyone make this into part of that rivalry.)
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 13, 2015, 10:18:01 PM
Caldor and Ames
In 1997, the Boston area had the department retailers
Caldor
Ames
Bradlees
Ann & Hope
Lechmere
and neither Target nor Wal-Mart.
Now we have Target and Wal-Mart, and none of the others.
Somehow, we kept Kmart the whole time. Oblivion wouldn't accept it, despite our pleas.
Otasco. Before they went bankrupt I was still in school and drove every hoopty possible, and they did good, inexpensive mechanical repair. The store I frequented did good business and I was stunned when they closed.
Quote from: Brian556 on February 13, 2015, 01:47:12 PM
The businesses I wish were still around is cafeterias. They were a good place to get a proper meal that was very much like home cooked, without waiting 30 minutes for it to be prepared. Now, no such place exists. Because I'm single, and have no woman to cook for me can't be bothered to cook for myself, I fell that cafeterias would be very beneficial to me, if they were still around.
That was a thing? If it was like the dining halls at OSU, that would be cool.
PS– if you had a woman, she might not be cool with your assumption that she'll cook for you.
Quote from: vtk on February 14, 2015, 01:35:48 AM
Quote from: Brian556 on February 13, 2015, 01:47:12 PM
The businesses I wish were still around is cafeterias. They were a good place to get a proper meal that was very much like home cooked, without waiting 30 minutes for it to be prepared. Now, no such place exists. Because I'm single, and have no woman to cook for me can't be bothered to cook for myself, I fell that cafeterias would be very beneficial to me, if they were still around.
That was a thing? If it was like the dining halls at OSU, that would be cool.
PS– if you had a woman, she might not be cool with your assumption that she'll cook for you.
I remember briefly working in Downtown Boston in 1999, and eating at a fantastic place full of Big Dig and office workers lunching called Carl's Deli. I can't remember if it had a deli at all, but it had a steam table setup with trays and everything. Daily meals might include beans and kielbasa, various stews, macaronis, spaghetti... but only a few a day. The place was covered in light paneling and some framed old Boston photos and articles. It was cheap and amazing, and not just in hindsight.
It turned the corner to fresh-food-wrap cafe by the mid-200Xs, about when the Big Dig construction city cleared out. The Home Depot next to the Big Dig stopped being 24 hours at about the same time, and soon after that one of the two 24-hour diners in the thick of it (Blue Diner, next to the South Street Diner) closed. It was the end of a mini-economy.
K&B until they were bought out by Rite Aid in 1997 and now they all suck.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%26B
Quote from: roadman65 on February 13, 2015, 01:40:26 PM
Then Jack In The Box has me upset that on the East Coast they closed their stores, but in Texas they are practically on every street corner. I loved their tacos and their sides.
You
liked Jack In The Box tacos? Ug. I've had much better tacos elsewhere.
Two chains that I miss that aren't defunct, but have drastically scaled back operations and are no longer operating in my area to my knowledge include Rax Roast Beef and Golden Corral.
Places that are known defunct are:
- Local Internet Service Providers in general. There was excellent competition during the age of dial-up Internet, but high-speed Internet killed 'em all.
- Manteca Waterslides at Oakwood Lake (Closed 2004)
- Sam's Town in Cameron Park, CA (closed 2001)
- The Mineshaft Minature Golf Course in Rancho Cordova, CA. Although, for the Mineshaft, it was cool at the beginning, but then the owners let the place and the equipment run down.
- Marvac Electronics in Sacramento, CA on Del Paso Blvd. (closed November 28th, 2002). Especially going up to a second-floor room where all the "antiques" were.
- Ice Skating Rink and nearby arcade at Birdcage Walk in Citrus Heights. The skating rink turned into a REI store, but now is a parking lot.
- OK, neighborhood arcades in general
- Crestview Lanes, Cordova Lanes, and Birdcage Lanes - all bowling alleys. Birdcage and Cordova closed around 2000, Crestview closed in August, 2010. League bowling just became too expensive.
Quote from: lordsutch on February 13, 2015, 11:02:12 PM
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.
Quote from: vtk on February 14, 2015, 01:35:48 AM
Quote from: Brian556 on February 13, 2015, 01:47:12 PM
The businesses I wish were still around is cafeterias. They were a good place to get a proper meal that was very much like home cooked, without waiting 30 minutes for it to be prepared. Now, no such place exists. Because I'm single, and have no woman to cook for me can't be bothered to cook for myself, I fell that cafeterias would be very beneficial to me, if they were still around.
That was a thing? If it was like the dining halls at OSU, that would be cool.
PS– if you had a woman, she might not be cool with your assumption that she'll cook for you.
Yep, MCL is still around. (http://mymclmeal.com) There's one at Kingsdale, lovingly referred to by my family as 'MediCare Lounge.'
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 13, 2015, 10:18:01 PM
Caldor and Ames
Caldors was one of my favorite stores. I still remember when they closed down...and for several years after, the shopping center it was in basically remained empty. Many locals always blame the closing on the local town, area, etc, as if they are completely oblivious to the fact that Caldors went out of business nationwide. I'm sure the local store didn't affect the company *that* much! (This is pretty much true when any store shuts down chainwide - people blame their local area for it, failing to account for the rest of the company's closings)
Quotebowling alleys
My first job was at a bowling alley, and I held that job for 5 years between two places. The first one didn't have a liquor license, and the 2nd one did. The opinions of the 1st one were funny...some people liked the fact that there was no beer sold there and it was a family place; others like they fact that you could bring in your own beer and didn't have to pay the higher prices bowling alleys typically charged!
It is now closed, and is a fitness gym now.
The 2nd one is still going strong, although with different owners from when I worked there.
(Insert cute Valentine's Day story here): That location is where I met my wife. Plenty of good times there.
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.
Bowling alleys. The few new ones that open are dopey high-end night-out places more than they are anything to do with bowling.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: DandyDan on February 14, 2015, 06:54:09 AM
Quote from: lordsutch on February 13, 2015, 11:02:12 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: SteveG1988 on February 14, 2015, 01:54:40 PM
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Quote from: roadman65 on February 15, 2015, 02:42:40 PM
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.
Quote from: DaBigE on February 15, 2015, 03:28:41 PM
- 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.
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.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 15, 2015, 07:34:02 PM
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]
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 15, 2015, 07:35:32 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 15, 2015, 07:34:02 PM
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.
Quote from texasstateends:
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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.
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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.
Quote from: roadman65 on February 15, 2015, 02:42:40 PM
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.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mhodistributors.com%2Felbys.jpg&hash=e5fd92a0bf31c9158457ba5f5170953e036cf35e)
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.
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.
Frisch, not Frisk.
Where was Elias? Bob's has been mentioned, and in New England it was Abdow's.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 16, 2015, 08:46:35 AM
Where was Elias? Bob's has been mentioned, and in New England it was Abdow's.
Elias Brothers was originally the franchiser in Michigan. They bought the Big Boy chain from Marriott in 1987. It is now Big Boy Restaurants International, based in Warren Michigan. It runs Big Boy restaurants in Michigan, California, Ohio, Illinois, North Dakota and Japan. Frisch's Restaurants, based from Cincinatti, now runs Big Boy restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.
Quote from: tidecat on February 14, 2015, 10:43:44 PM
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
I haven't been to the beach in a couple of years, but isn't there still a Godfathers at Gulf Shores? It was on highway 59 in a shopping center with Bruno's.
Two businesses come to mind that I miss.
First off is the local neighborhood pharmacy. I can't recall the name of the one I used to go to as a kid, but it had cool toys, lots of unique gifts, cards, and even an old school soda fountain. I always remember being allowed to pick out a toy if I was waiting on a prescription. Alas, it seems nationwide these places are dying off and everything is either becoming a Walgreens or CVS.
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
5 & 10s. I still know a handful, and they are still reliable go-tos for socks, pot lids, thread, model airplanes, gum, plant food, safety pins, shelf paper...
However, their role has been replaced by the likes of CVS et al.
But CVS is far less thorough, and no CVS was ever fun to lose yourself browsing through.
I just thought of another one - anyone remember Ames? or Lechmere? Lechmere was where our first Windows PC was purchased, over in a branch in South Seekonk.
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Quote from: DandyDan on February 17, 2015, 03:37:32 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Wasn't half the fun of video stores versus Redbox or Netflix wandering through them, looking at the box to see if it might be worth a rent? It applied to video games too. I remember thinking the Back to the Future NES game would be every bit as cool as the movie based on the box. Boy, was I wrong!
Quote from: DandyDan on February 17, 2015, 03:37:32 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Family Video? They're very much still around, but I don't know how far outside of northern Illinois they exist.
Quote from: Brandon on February 17, 2015, 05:17:34 PM
Quote from: DandyDan on February 17, 2015, 03:37:32 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Family Video? They're very much still around, but I don't know how far outside of northern Illinois they exist.
Got 'em sprinkled around Wisconsin, many of which are adding/have added a pizza place within the store.
Quote from: Brandon on February 17, 2015, 05:17:34 PM
Quote from: DandyDan on February 17, 2015, 03:37:32 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Family Video? They're very much still around, but I don't know how far outside of northern Illinois they exist.
Many in the midwest and south: http://www.familyvideo.com/locations.php
Quote from: dcbjms on February 17, 2015, 03:17:47 PM
I just thought of another one - anyone remember Ames? or Lechmere?
Yup.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 13, 2015, 11:28:37 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 13, 2015, 10:18:01 PM
Caldor and Ames
In 1997, the Boston area had the department retailers
Caldor
Ames
Bradlees
Ann & Hope
Lechmere
and neither Target nor Wal-Mart.
Now we have Target and Wal-Mart, and none of the others.
Somehow, we kept Kmart the whole time. Oblivion wouldn't accept it, despite our pleas.
Quote from: golden eagle on February 13, 2015, 10:07:46 PM
Are there any Blockbuster Video stores still around?
Surprisingly, I saw a Blockbuster that was still in business last month. It was in Fort Pierce, FL...
I really miss Howard Johnson's restaurants. Grew up with them in both the service plazas, as well as highway locations, and of course, Times Square.
All you can eat clams or fish on Fridays was $6.95 back in the 1990's. Hot dogs grilled to perfection on a New England style bun available in Texas at midnight!
The ice cream wasn't bad, either. Not health food, but darn tasty.
Quote from: Brandon on February 17, 2015, 05:17:34 PM
Quote from: DandyDan on February 17, 2015, 03:37:32 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Family Video? They're very much still around, but I don't know how far outside of northern Illinois they exist.
There have been new Family Video stores opened in Kentucky.
iPhone
I think I've posted this before, but it's appropriate for this thread:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_retailers_of_the_United_States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_retailers_of_the_United_States)
The Long Island Motor Parkway.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 17, 2015, 05:34:09 PM
Quote from: dcbjms on February 17, 2015, 03:17:47 PM
I just thought of another one - anyone remember Ames? or Lechmere?
Yup.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 13, 2015, 11:28:37 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 13, 2015, 10:18:01 PM
Caldor and Ames
In 1997, the Boston area had the department retailers
Caldor
Ames
Bradlees
Ann & Hope
Lechmere
and neither Target nor Wal-Mart.
Now we have Target and Wal-Mart, and none of the others.
Somehow, we kept Kmart the whole time. Oblivion wouldn't accept it, despite our pleas.
According to this (http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/), Wal-Mart started popping up in New England in the early 90s. By 1997 they were just about to get the ten count on Ames, Bradlees, Caldor and the like. I worked at a Caldor store in 1996 and they were very worried about the new Wal-Mart that had opened in town.
I believe Target started to proliferate in the region in the late 90s/early 00s.
I think I've said this before on this forum, but it's been said that Sam Walton got the idea for his store from visiting an Ann & Hope store.
Levitz Furniture.
I tend to be a packrat, and I keep files for nearly everything. As I do every year around this time, I go thru those files and clean out last year's stuff. Some older files I save, which included Levitz as we had bought furniture from them when we first moved into our house. We had bought a nice set of couches and dining table and chairs; perfect for the new house. Since we have now gotten ride of all of it, I nearly got rid of the file, only to see that our mattress was purchased from Levitz as well. I'm not sure what good that receipt would be for though, as it's over 10 years old and the store doesn't exist. Thus is the life of a Packrat.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 18, 2015, 08:17:58 AM
Levitz Furniture.
I tend to be an archivist, and I keep files for nearly everything. As I do every year around this time, I go thru those files and clean out last year's stuff. Some older files I save, which included Levitz as we had bought furniture from them when we first moved into our house. We had bought a nice set of couches and dining table and chairs; perfect for the new house. Since we have now gotten ride of all of it, I nearly got rid of the file, only to see that our mattress was purchased from Levitz as well. I'm not sure what good that receipt would be for though, as it's over 10 years old and the store doesn't exist. Thus is the life of an Archivist.
FTFY
Two Guys is one that had Sam Walton's concept, but they were not into the game as Wal Mart is today. They had a grocery store within the Department Store and later closed the supermarket part of the store. Then of course Vernado, who owned Two Guys, began to take more part in Real Estate ventures and leased the stores out after deciding to close them and give up the hassles of trying to keep the ship afloat.
I believe now they still own the land that their former stores were on still to this day, but allowed new tenants to tear down their former buildings and put up their own.
I liked Two Guys and their commercials used part of Gillbert O Sullivan's Alone Again Naturally as their jingle only to add in "We save money for you at Two Guys" to it instead. They were the Wal Mart back then, except all departments were not under one roof though as when the store's expanded, they built new buildings outside of the store, generally across the parking lot, for the new departments. For example in Union, NJ, the Garden Department, and later on the Lumber and Hardware were not in the main store but in two separate other buildings. In Watchung, NJ the auto department was not only in the store, but not even across the parking lot as it sat on another location at the beginning of the long driveway that entered the store from US 22 with it fronting the US route directly.
Two Guys is actually a very interesting story about the changing face of American entrepreneurialism.
As noted, Two Guys From Harrison was a local New Jersey business that grew into a large chain around the New York metropolitan area. They acquired the one of their large vendors, the maker of Vornado fans, calling the combined company Vornado.
As real estate values in the metropolitan area skyrocketed and the stores became dated, it became clear that the land was worth more than the business upon it. Vornado Real Estate Trust is now a multibillion-dollar empire that still holds a lot of the Two Guys and Alexander's store sites (among many far more valuable properties). They nearly got the WTC lease Silverstein won, in fact.
From around Chicagoland (and I'm not mentioning Marshall Field & Company - that's a whole 'nuther ball of wax), I miss Wieboldt's the most. It was a nice department store with locations ranging from State Street all the way out to Joliet, Waukegan, and Carpentersville. They were a notch below Carson's (which was a notch below Field's), but distinctly above Sears and Penney's.
Quote from: dcbjms on February 17, 2015, 03:17:47 PM
I just thought of another one - anyone remember Ames? or Lechmere?
IIRC, most if not all of the Ames in (at least) eastern MA were originally Zayre's. Ames bought Zayre's out in 1989.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 18, 2015, 08:17:58 AM
Levitz Furniture.
In eastern MA, Levitz took over(?) J. Homestock sometime in the mid-to-late 70s. I know that the Levitz in Danvers (now a Home Depot) was originally a J Homestock. My parents bought a sofa & a loveseat there in early 1977 (when it was still Homestock's).
Remant of a Levitz Outlet Store in Claymont, DE (http://goo.gl/maps/RK5Id). It's still there & vacant today.
Wow, people are pissed about a lot of closed businesses.
Zayre is notable for two things: first, for being a disaster of an operation that sunk Ames. Second, for starting a subsidiary that I remember being just a local Worcester, Mass., area chain, which has since spread a bit–T.J. Maxx.
Quote from: PHLBOS on February 18, 2015, 12:04:21 PM
Quote from: dcbjms on February 17, 2015, 03:17:47 PM
I just thought of another one - anyone remember Ames? or Lechmere?
IIRC, most if not all of the Ames in (at least) eastern MA were originally Zayre's. Ames bought Zayre's out in 1989.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 18, 2015, 08:17:58 AM
Levitz Furniture.
In eastern MA, Levitz took over(?) J. Homestock sometime in the mid-to-late 70s. I know that the Levitz in Danvers (now a Home Depot) was originally a J Homestock. My parents bought a sofa & a loveseat there in early 1977 (when it was still Homestock's).
Remant of a Levitz Outlet Store in Claymont, DE (http://goo.gl/maps/RK5Id). It's still there & vacant today.
"You'll love it at Levitz!"
There was one Levitz I know of in our area. It was located at one end of a small strip mall that had a Best Products at the other end. Needless to say, that strip mall faded quite quickly in the 1990s. The Levitz is now a self-storage place and the Best is a Chinese supermarket. I think the Five Guys located between them may now be the busiest business there!
I might be in a small minority, but I miss Woolworth's. Growing up in northern NJ, they had everything a youngster could ask for. Candy, cheap toys, and a soda fountain with real food that would put most, if not all, current comparable restaurants to shame.
My favorite was the cluster of balloons over the horseshoe shaped counter service area. If you ordered a banana split, they would bring it to you, and you would pick out a balloon. The waitress (no "servers" back in the day,) would pop the balloon. Inside was a small curled up scrap of paper with a number written on it. The number was between 1 and 50. This was the price you would pay for the banana split, 50¢ being the full price. Once in a while, you would pick the right balloon and get your treat for < 10¢!
Quote from: Brandon on February 17, 2015, 05:17:34 PM
Quote from: DandyDan on February 17, 2015, 03:37:32 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Family Video? They're very much still around, but I don't know how far outside of northern Illinois they exist.
They have one in Bellevue, NE, but I'm not driving to the part of Bellevue it's in just to get a movie.
Quote from: djsinco on February 18, 2015, 02:27:05 PM
I might be in a small minority, but I miss Woolworth's. Growing up in northern NJ, they had everything a youngster could ask for. Candy, cheap toys, and a soda fountain with real food that would put most, if not all, current comparable restaurants to shame.
My favorite was the cluster of balloons over the horseshoe shaped counter service area. If you ordered a banana split, they would bring it to you, and you would pick out a balloon. The waitress (no "servers" back in the day,) would pop the balloon. Inside was a small curled up scrap of paper with a number written on it. The number was between 1 and 50. This was the price you would pay for the banana split, 50¢ being the full price. Once in a while, you would pick the right balloon and get your treat for < 10¢!
Dollar Tree is the new Woolworth.
However, yes the new $ stores do not compare to the original five and ten stores, and Woolworth used to have a lunch counter and very good quality bargain stuff.
Anyone remember Farm Shop in Connecticut? They were very like Friendly's (or rather, since this was the 1970s, Friendly). I can't remember the timing of the demise of the Waterbury (Exit 25) location, but a Friendly showed up around that time. The building is still a reataurant, and the setup was about the same when I last went in there in 2006.
The oddest thing about this story, to me, is how strange the idea of Friendly's expanding now seems.
Chesapeake Bay Seafood House. They were a chain that was in two completely different regional markets that all but one went under.
They had stores in the Philadelphia area as well as the VA suburbs of Washington. Only the one at Potomac Mills still exist, or did back in 09.
Vallies Steakhouse, big in Connecticut and Massachusetts and also had a second market in Virginia, was great as they had steaks and seafood and was famous for two large dining rooms.
I miss both of these bi regional chains.
Thread Title: Businesses that are defunct that you are pissed about closing.
While not one company/business per say but rather a type of business/venue: gas stations in Marblehead (my hometown) & Nahant, MA. If one runs out of gas inside either of those twos towns (especially Nahant); one's going to have a longer walk or wait to get gas from a neighboring town.
When my family first moved into Marblehead in 1963, there were about 14 gas stations located throughout the town (way too many IMHO even for then), including one Citgo situated at the mainland end of the Marblehead Neck Causeway.
The last one, a Citgo located along Pleasant St. (it was originally an Old Colony station), closed well over a decade ago.
Gifford's Ice Cream parlors in Maryland and Virginia, not a very large chain, but very, very good. Mismanaged into the ground by an heir to the business.
Hot Shoppes cafeterias (the business that started the Marriott empire long before anyone heard of hotel chains like Courtyard).
Little Tavern hamburger joints in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Open 24/7, a great place to go for some late-night "deathburgers" (why they were called deathburgers is left for the reader to ponder).
Sinclair and Phillips 66 gas stations (in the East), mostly because I liked their trademarks.
Chevron (also in the East), having left the east coast market twice now.
Washington Star and Baltimore Evening Sun newspapers, which were independent of their morning competition (though the Evening Sun was under the same ownership as its namesake morning operation).
Spag's (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spag's)
Quote from: dcbjms on February 17, 2015, 03:17:47 PM
Lechmere?
I really liked the Lechmere in Duluth, GA near Gwinnett Place mall the few times I went there. We moved to Florida not too long after it opened. I still have the nifty horizontally-oriented Canon scientific calculator I bought there, but I'm not sure where it is. Now I just use my smart phone.
Like other posters, I still miss Borders. It was a much better store than Barnes & Noble. I find B&N to be cluttered and crowded. Borders's layout was much more open. And I think their selection of books was better. Their CD prices always seemed kind of high, though.
Just after Christmas they would put calendars on sale at 50% off, so that's when I would by my calendars for the upcoming year. And they would put DVD's on sale buy 3, get 1 free.
Quote from: RG407 on February 23, 2015, 01:04:32 AM
Like other posters, I still miss Borders. It was a much better store than Barnes & Noble. I find B&N to be cluttered and crowded. Borders's layout was much more open. And I think their selection of books was better. Their CD prices always seemed kind of high, though.
Just after Christmas they would put calendars on sale at 50% off, so that's when I would by my calendars for the upcoming year. And they would put DVD's on sale buy 3, get 1 free.
2nd!
BAM! isn't as good either.
When I moved to Wakefield (MA) in 1990, there was a local two way radio installation shop called Air-Vue that also had a small retail store that sold electronic parts, as well as some Ham and CB gear and antennas. One of those fun places I could spend hours in going through the inventory.
In 1993, Air-Vue closed the retail shop, which was shortly replaced by a Chinese restaurant named Formosa. Although I love good Chinese food, I was so PO'ed at losing the radio shop that I couldn't bring myself to go to the new restaurant for almost two years. One Christmas, my oldest sister, who was even more of a Chinese food junkie than I am, convinced me to go there. Once I tried the food, which my sister proclaimed to be some of the best she'd ever eaten, my grudge about losing the radio shop immediately went away.
Unfortunately, in about 2004, Formosa was sold and a different Chinese restaurant, called Bamboo House, replaced it. Went there a couple of times and found the food, although passable if I needed a quick Chinese fix and other places were closed, to be far below the standard of Formosa. So first I lost a fun radio shop, then I lost a really good Chinese restaurant.
In 1985 Super America bought all the 7-11s in Minnesota. I couldn't get a slurpee after age 16. Now in Austin they are on every corner. I don't have them often but I sure enjoy the hell out of them.
How many of us who were boys in the 1960s and '70s remember hobby shops? Just about every community had at least one. Riding our bikes to the local hobby shop and spending hours looking at the plastic model kits and spending our allowances on them, as well as glue and paint for building them. Once we got our purchases home, we would try to piece together what was supposed to look like those nifty muscle cars or those cool new jet fighter planes pictured on the box. Of course our models rarely turned out the way they were supposed to, especially as beginners. Not a problem: we would take the glue-smeared model (with the big fingerprint in the paint job) outside and blow it up with a firecracker.
The vast majority of those hobby shops are gone now.
Quote from: hm insulators on February 24, 2015, 04:41:56 PM
The vast majority of those hobby shops are gone now.
They are? We have two in town; the same two we had when I was a kid in the 1980s.
The two I went to are gone.
It really depends on the town. Some towns are hobbies-and-interest towns, whereas now in others people only think about sports.
My home town still had one up thru the mid-late 1990s. It was the go-to place on Maxwell Street Day. There's still a few prominent HobbyTown USA stores around -- not quite the same thing as an independent hobby shop, but it's about as good as you'll find in most areas.
The Hobby Lobby stores I've been in lately have a fairly decent selection of model cars and accessories.
Quote from: hbelkins on February 25, 2015, 03:40:41 PM
The Hobby Lobby stores I've been in lately have a fairly decent selection of model cars and accessories.
I've been to one. I was disappointed that it was half stocked with very tacky home decorations.
Quote from: DaBigE on February 25, 2015, 12:43:06 AM
My home town still had one up thru the mid-late 1990s. It was the go-to place on Maxwell Street Day. There's still a few prominent HobbyTown USA stores around -- not quite the same thing as an independent hobby shop, but it's about as good as you'll find in most areas.
I worked at a HobbyTown for a year. It wasn't a bad job. I was an R/C Tech.
Borders
Quote from: Brandon on February 24, 2015, 05:34:32 PM
Quote from: hm insulators on February 24, 2015, 04:41:56 PM
The vast majority of those hobby shops are gone now.
They are? We have two in town; the same two we had when I was a kid in the 1980s.
In my home town, the couple hobby stores (places that sold model kits, model train sets, model airplane and rocket parts) that once existed were gone by the end of the '90s, I believe.
Quote from: hbelkins on February 25, 2015, 03:40:41 PM
The Hobby Lobby stores...
Despite the name, I wouldn't consider Hobby Lobby to be a "hobby store" . It's more of an arts and crafts store–heavy on the tacky Middle American crafts–attracting a more housewife-y audience. Closer to Michaels or A.C. Moore...rather than a place where middle school-aged geeks and grrls would buy Estes rocket kits to blow up in the back yard.
Some of my favorites now in that retail shopping center/mall in the sky:
- Zayre's -- One of my favorite discount stores in Northern Ohio, along with Uncle Bill's and Gold Circle -- also long gone. I loved their long glass enclosed storefronts with the giant individual neon letters spelling out their name on top.
- Circuit City -- Not as caffeinated and hyper as Best Buy.
- Camelot Music -- For the most part, a very reasonably-priced record store back in the day. Yes, I worked for them for two stints, but they were still much better than Musicland and National Record Mart.
- Under the neighborhood pharmacy umbrella, any drugstore affiliated with Rexall -- I loved the old purple-on-orange signs!
- Many of the mall-based Woolworth's (at least in NE OH) had not only a lunch counter, but a Harvest House Cafeteria connected to the store for more relaxed dining.
- And finally, for you Canadian residents or visitors -- Mother's Pizza...Worth the trip over from Detroit.
Big Nick's burger & pizza joint at 77th and Broadway. Absolutely livid.
Colony Music, 49th and Times Square. Extremely chagrined.
Quote from: vdeane on February 14, 2015, 02:06:04 PM
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.
Borders used to actually carry USGS topos. But another reason for their supremacy was simply existing in the area before B&N ever even appeared.
More than Borders specifically, I lament the closing of brick-and-mortar map stores in general. In Rochester, Scrantom's was another great source for these, as was the Map Source, which moved around a bit before shutting down. World Wide News too, although they're still open and I haven't been inside recently to see how their selection is.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 23, 2015, 12:59:47 AM
Spag's (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spag's)
My brother was telling me about that place when he first moved to central MA circa 1991. Unfortunately, I was already living in PA at the time; so I never had the chance to check it out during family/holiday visits.
I didn't realize that it was sold to the Building #19 chain (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_19) (filed for bankrupcy in 2013).
Speaking of which, a friend of my mother's misses the old
Building #19 stores; particularly the Lynn one (#19-7/8). That one closed nearly a decade ago.
Quote from: thenetwork on February 25, 2015, 11:48:45 PM
- And finally, for you Canadian residents or visitors -- Mother's Pizza...Worth the trip over from Detroit.
Wow, do I ever miss that place!
Quote from: Big John on February 17, 2015, 05:25:21 PM
Quote from: Brandon on February 17, 2015, 05:17:34 PM
Quote from: DandyDan on February 17, 2015, 03:37:32 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Family Video? They're very much still around, but I don't know how far outside of northern Illinois they exist.
Many in the midwest and south: http://www.familyvideo.com/locations.php
Family Video is big in Michigan.
My hometown used to have a Big Boy and it actually did well. I have a feeling there would still be one if the owner didn't lie. The plot where it was is now home to Walgreen's and during this whole time, the owner said she was going to put in a replacement location on some land she owned (and may still own) a little bit down the road. Turns out it never came and we're still waiting for Big Boy to return eight years later. In fact, its last day was the top story on one of the local news stations.
Quote from: DandyDan on February 19, 2015, 05:44:23 AM
Quote from: Brandon on February 17, 2015, 05:17:34 PM
Quote from: DandyDan on February 17, 2015, 03:37:32 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on February 17, 2015, 11:18:57 AM
I saw Blockbuster mentioned here, and while I liked that place, I much preferred the "mom and pop" type of video store. There was one near me that used to host Nintendo tournaments, always had a few games popped into a console I could try out while my parents looked for movies, and even had an infamous "back room" my friends and I would attempt to peek in as kids. Ha ha ha.
I am in agreement there. There used to be one here called Couch Potato Video which had as good a selection as Blockbuster, but then Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed them off. Now that Blockbuster is gone, there's really no good place around here to rent old movies, because it seems like Redbox has only the most current movies.
Family Video? They're very much still around, but I don't know how far outside of northern Illinois they exist.
They have one in Bellevue, NE, but I'm not driving to the part of Bellevue it's in just to get a movie.
Just to follow up, I just noticed this weekend the old Blockbuster I used to go to, in La Vista, NE, is now a Family Video.
In our childhood Connecticut town, a Dairy Queen (of which there was only one) closed, replaced by a bank (of which there were already approximately 6.02 x 10^23).
Back when I lived in Anaheim, CA, there were some cool department stores: Zody's, The Treasury, and Gemco. Also... Fed-Mart, Alpha-Beta (a grocery store), and Skaggs drug store.
Restaurants, I remember Chubby Burger (which turned into a Wienerschnitzel) and trampolines were behind the restaurant. Also remember Bobs Big Boy.
The Buena Park Mall used to have the May Company, which is now occupied by a Wal-Mart supercenter :P, Where JCPenney was is now a movie theater.
When my family moved to Arkansas, I remember a Tasty-Freeze. Never been to one though. Also, Minuteman and Andy's
Taverne Magnan, widely considered to have served the best roast beef in Montreal.
Its Dec. 2014 closing had to do with falling sales, apparently caused by incessant road work in the area, its location in a lower working class / industrial neighbourhood and the fact that millenials are looking for something classier and more modern than a "tavern" (i.e. yuppies who think that a good dinner can only be found in a fancy and/or creative restaurant). The fact that it was one of the most well known restaurants in the city didn't seem to help that much. It's a shame, their food was excellent and I already miss that place.
Shoney's (Before it retreated down south)
Borders - I loved the book stores. There was one in Hagerstown, MD that I liked thanks to the cafe to buy food, lie on chairs, and read books. We still go to Hagerstown (only a 20 minute drive - not too bad) for the movies now. Bummer. Fun fact: While my dad was living in Dearborn, Michigan (he was a student in Detroit's schools for a master's degree), he actually went to the first Borders. It opened in the mid 80's (I think 1986 - my dad was still in Dearborn).
Quote from: noelbotevera on May 27, 2015, 11:45:57 PM
Borders - I loved the book stores. There was one in Hagerstown, MD that I liked thanks to the cafe to buy food, lie on chairs, and read books. We still go to Hagerstown (only a 20 minute drive - not too bad) for the movies now. Bummer. Fun fact: While my dad was living in Dearborn, Michigan (he was a student in Detroit's schools for a master's degree), he actually went to the first Borders. It opened in the mid 80's (I think 1986 - my dad was still in Dearborn).
The original Borders on South State Street in Ann Arbor dated from the early 70s and occupied several small two-story storefronts, all linked together via doorways cut into the walls. You had to be careful walking around on the second floor, since the floors didn't line up exactly. I remember they had a very large collection of topo maps in large pull-out drawers. I miss that place a lot.
During the expansion era, they moved around the corner to the vacated Jacobson's department store on Liberty Street, but it was just like any other of the newer stores after that, full of stationery, cards, trinkets, games and not so many books. I don't miss that place as much.
Taco John's. They still exist as a company, but the closest one to me now is in Mountain Home, over 60 miles away. Maybe I'll stop by when I drive through there, but oh well. Cheap food (even compared to Taco Bell and similar) and a bit better than other Mexican Fast Food places. I'd say they're similar to Taco Time, but Taco Time is more expensive. http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/12/15/3543394/taco-johns-in-nampa-closes-its.html They had a student deal where I could get two burritos for $1.29 (and the normal price was $0.99 for one which is still good).
Decathlon Sports. Still in business with hundreds of stores on four continents, but closed in the US in 2006. Great selection of reasonably-priced sporting goods of all kinds, including a pole-less tent that unfolded erect that I'm still annoyed I didn't buy.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on August 28, 2015, 07:32:51 PM
Decathlon Sports. Still in business with hundreds of stores on four continents, but closed in the US in 2006. Great selection of reasonably-priced sporting goods of all kinds, including a pole-less tent that unfolded erect that I'm still annoyed I didn't buy.
Given the, um, predilections of a certain Olympic decathlon winner, the use of the word "erect" in this post.....ummm, well, never mind.
I made it clear there was no tent pole involved.
Closures I miss in Coos Bay-North Bend:
1-A&W had two places here. Now the nearest ones (real ones too!) are 45 miles north and 30 miles south. Love the root beer!
2-Black Knight Pizza did not last long but when it was here it was the best this area ever had. You paid a premium price but you got what you paid for and then some.
3-Carl's Jr. picked the worst possible location for traffic flow and wound up going down the drain. Prior to them it was a Rax and after that an Arby's, both of which also failed for the same reason.
4-Our local Pontiac-Buick-GMC-Opel-International dealer was the easiest of all the GM dealers we had to work with and the owner was quite the cool car collector. Now we just have one GM dealer and no more Pontiacs, little Opels or big Cornbinder pickups, Travelalls or Scouts.
5-Independent locally owned radio stations have shrunk down considerably.
6-Local weekly papers disappeared in the Eighties.
7-We used to have two bowling alleys, one with 14 lanes and the other had 24. Both did well. The 24-lane place burned down in the Eighties. Given the amount of league play here it was missed.
8-A local golf course got bought up for wetlands mitigation and is now closed. It's the only place I ever went golfing and was quite popular (and affordable) amongst the locals.
9-Losing the Subaru, Mazda, Nissan, Volvo and Volkswagen/Porsche/Audi dealerships.
10-The Catholic Church's presence in terms of schools, hospitals and old age care facilities has all disappeared. I am not Catholic by any stretch of the imagination but they did quite well here when they were a major player in those areas.
Honorable mention: No more radio/TV repair shops exist here. The last one closed in 2014.
Rick
Borders - Frequently have books on sale. I remember walking out the store with a huge stack of books a few times.
Circuit City - I have a very limited memory of that chain, as toddler me didn't care at all about electronics. All I remember is that my parents much preferred them to Best Buy, and we still have an old camera my parents bought from Circuit City.
Toys R Us - I lost track of how many of my Christmas presents were bought from Toys R Us.
Toys R Us was sad to watch go under. I remember going in there all the time. The one nearest to where I live became a PGA Store. There is still a hint of the former rainbow tiles on the outside now painted over in dark blue.
Several people have mentioned Circuit City. I was never a big fan. Maybe it was because I was younger when they were still operating and so they thought I would be easy to push stuff on, but I recall they were always hyper-aggressive about pushing extended warranties even on cheap products like a $20 Walkman competitor. It was annoying.
The Circuit City nearest our house was replaced by an HH Gregg. They didn't last long in the DC market and they weren't here long enough for me to "miss" them, but we did buy two appliances from them (a refrigerator and an oven/range) and we were very satisfied with the experience both times. That store location has now been divided between a Marshalls and a Party City, neither of which I've ever visited (though I do periodically go to the Bed Bath & Beyond next door, usually for electric toothbrush heads to take advantage of the ubiquitous 20% off coupons).
Quote from: slorydn1 on February 13, 2015, 05:24:14 PM
For me it would be Dominick's, a former grocery store chain in Illinois. I was saddened to hear that they went out of business late in 2013. My first job was as a bagger at store #117 at 580 S. Roselle Rd in Schaumburg, IL.
That particular location had an interesting history of its own-it was a Kohl's grocery store first, with the arched roof design. When Kohl's pulled out of Illinois Eagle took it over, and then Dominick's took the store over when Eagle bowed out.
From what I understand that after I left the Chicago area in '91 the old man died, and the rest of the family just didn't want to put up with running the company. So they sold out to Safeway who kept the Dominick's name in place, but tried to force it's California style on its Chicago clientele and ran the company into the ground.
Honestly I was surprised that Dominick's closed like they did especially how big of a chain they were in the Chicago area. It seems like Safeway had a lack of interest in the Chicago market too and as a result some of the stores were looking run down.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 08, 2022, 08:27:29 AM
Several people have mentioned Circuit City. I was never a big fan. Maybe it was because I was younger when they were still operating and so they thought I would be easy to push stuff on, but I recall they were always hyper-aggressive about pushing extended warranties even on cheap products like a $20 Walkman competitor. It was annoying.
The Circuit City nearest our house was replaced by an HH Gregg. They didn't last long in the DC market and they weren't here long enough for me to "miss" them, but we did buy two appliances from them (a refrigerator and an oven/range) and we were very satisfied with the experience both times. That store location has now been divided between a Marshalls and a Party City, neither of which I've ever visited (though I do periodically go to the Bed Bath & Beyond next door, usually for electric toothbrush heads to take advantage of the ubiquitous 20% off coupons).
They once tried to sell me an extended warranty on a $3 CD single. I don't remember the cost because I don't think I let them get that far. I had many regular CDs in that $10-$15 range also have such an offer for the warranty and I think it was $2.99 for it. This started happening 2006-ish (I remember because it mostly occurred in the Leominster Mass one when I had moved to Fitchburg), two years before they went belly up, so the signs were there of the trouble.
That said, I liked them better than Best Buy, but Lechmere was better than all of them, and that is the one place that is gone that I wish I could will back into existence.
Quote from: catch22 on May 28, 2015, 09:32:24 AM
Quote from: noelbotevera on May 27, 2015, 11:45:57 PM
Borders - I loved the book stores. There was one in Hagerstown, MD that I liked thanks to the cafe to buy food, lie on chairs, and read books. We still go to Hagerstown (only a 20 minute drive - not too bad) for the movies now. Bummer. Fun fact: While my dad was living in Dearborn, Michigan (he was a student in Detroit's schools for a master's degree), he actually went to the first Borders. It opened in the mid 80's (I think 1986 - my dad was still in Dearborn).
The original Borders on South State Street in Ann Arbor dated from the early 70s and occupied several small two-story storefronts, all linked together via doorways cut into the walls. You had to be careful walking around on the second floor, since the floors didn't line up exactly. I remember they had a very large collection of topo maps in large pull-out drawers. I miss that place a lot.
During the expansion era, they moved around the corner to the vacated Jacobson's department store on Liberty Street, but it was just like any other of the newer stores after that, full of stationery, cards, trinkets, games and not so many books. I don't miss that place as much.
I remember when they opened one in downtown Detroit in the Compuware Building when it was first built about 20 years ago. Also had a Hard Rock Cafe in there too.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 08, 2022, 08:27:29 AM
Several people have mentioned Circuit City. I was never a big fan. Maybe it was because I was younger when they were still operating and so they thought I would be easy to push stuff on, but I recall they were always hyper-aggressive about pushing extended warranties even on cheap products like a $20 Walkman competitor. It was annoying.
The Circuit City nearest our house was replaced by an HH Gregg. They didn't last long in the DC market and they weren't here long enough for me to "miss" them, but we did buy two appliances from them (a refrigerator and an oven/range) and we were very satisfied with the experience both times. That store location has now been divided between a Marshalls and a Party City, neither of which I've ever visited (though I do periodically go to the Bed Bath & Beyond next door, usually for electric toothbrush heads to take advantage of the ubiquitous 20% off coupons).
Circuit City never appealed to me all that much despite the fact that I live in that store's hometown. I preferred Best Buy in about 99% of situations - they had better prices and much better customer service. The only time I bought anything significant from Circuit City was during their liquidation sale (I bought a $999 camera lens for $170).
The Circuit City locations in Short Pump and near Chesterfield Towne Center became hhgregg, which might fit the bill as the worst store I've ever shopped in for anything ever. No selection, high prices, and if you wanted to buy something that needed to be removed from a locked cage (like computer equipment), you had to wait an absolute eternity. The Short Pump location is now The Container Store, and the Chesterfield Towne Center location was recently demolished and will likely be replaced with a strip mall.
I was pretty sad to see Martin's close their stores in the Richmond area when Royal Ahold merged with Food Lion (the merged company closed all the stores and some Food Lion stores as "redundant"). They carried over decent prices, excellent food varieties, and good customer service from when they were Ukrop's (another beloved Richmond product) and I preferred them over Kroger. Of course, now the Richmond grocery store market has Kroger, Food Lion, Publix, and Wegmans, with Weis Markets slowly making their way south along I-95 (they opened a store in Spotsylvania a few years ago).
Wow, this guy's very first post on the forum was an off-topic 6½-year necro-post?
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 09:56:27 AM
Wow, this guy's very first post on the forum was an off-topic 6½-year necro-post?
It seems like an AI-generated spambot to me. (Notice how it's not entirely on topic, and there's a link to a company.)
That said, some of my first 50 posts or so were reviving old threads.
Quote from: 1 on April 08, 2022, 10:03:01 AM
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 09:56:27 AM
Wow, this guy's very first post on the forum was an off-topic 6½-year necro-post?
It seems like an AI-generated spambot to me. (Notice how it's not entirely on topic, and there's a link to a company.)
If by "it's not entirely on topic" you mean "it has nothing at all to do with the quote it is supposed a reply to", then I agree.
Also, "United states" as his location–
without capitalizing the second word?
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on April 08, 2022, 08:57:28 AM
I was pretty sad to see Martin's close their stores in the Richmond area when Royal Ahold merged with Food Lion (the merged company closed all the stores and some Food Lion stores as "redundant"). They carried over decent prices, excellent food varieties, and good customer service from when they were Ukrop's (another beloved Richmond product) and I preferred them over Kroger. Of course, now the Richmond grocery store market has Kroger, Food Lion, Publix, and Wegmans, with Weis Markets slowly making their way south along I-95 (they opened a store in Spotsylvania a few years ago).
Anybody remember the days when you had to make "straight A's" in high school to get a part-time job at Ukrops? Kids were fighting to get those jobs, and the customer service was spectacular (to the point of being annoying at times). Pretty much every aisle in the store had someone begging to help you get something down from the top shelf.
I see that Marshall Field's got lots of love, but let's not forget another department store that has its own Windy City roots, Montgomery Ward. Many a childhood was spent looking through its annual Christmas catalog, and my brother and I were no exception. Plus our parents were very loyal customers right up to the very end.
Quote from: Henry on April 08, 2022, 10:22:40 AM
I see that Marshall Field's got lots of love, but let's not forget another department store that has its own Windy City roots, Montgomery Ward. Many a childhood was spent looking through its annual Christmas catalog, and my brother and I were no exception. Plus our parents were very loyal customers right up to the very end.
I grew up hearing the nickname
Monkey Ward's (with the erroneous possessive that I hate so much). Did anyone else?
Quote from: Henry on April 08, 2022, 10:22:40 AM
I see that Marshall Field's got lots of love, but let's not forget another department store that has its own Windy City roots, Montgomery Ward. Many a childhood was spent looking through its annual Christmas catalog, and my brother and I were no exception. Plus our parents were very loyal customers right up to the very end.
Is Sears defunt now too? I haven't been keeping up.
Quote from: SkyPesos on April 08, 2022, 10:27:34 AM
Quote from: Henry on April 08, 2022, 10:22:40 AM
I see that Marshall Field's got lots of love, but let's not forget another department store that has its own Windy City roots, Montgomery Ward. Many a childhood was spent looking through its annual Christmas catalog, and my brother and I were no exception. Plus our parents were very loyal customers right up to the very end.
Is Sears defunt now too? I haven't been keeping up.
No, but it is on life support.
Didn't RadioShack go out of business? Or are there still some left in existence.
For those missing Toys 'R' Us, take a trip up to Canada. I have one 10 minutes from my house. :)
This thread led me to dive into the history of Future Shop (electronics store) and Zellers (budget retailer), two Canadian retailers that have gone defunct since my childhood. Turns out Future Shop was bought by Best Buy in 2001, though remained under the Future Shop name until it was discontinued in 2015. Likewise, Zellers was bought by HBC in 1978 and kept the Zellers name until stores closed between 2011 and 2020.
It's pretty sneaky that these large corporations will deceive you into thinking you have choices between different retailers and it turns out several of them are actually the same company, just with different branding. :pan:
I didn't go to Future Shop much as a kid (and I always thought it was similar enough to Best Buy anyway, now I know why!). But I have lots of memories going to Zellers. I've also heard that the diners in the stores had great food, but I can't remember going there myself. It's a bit sad that Walmart has such a monopoly on the budget retail sector in Canada with Zellers now gone.
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on April 08, 2022, 10:38:53 AM
Didn't RadioShack go out of business? Or are there still some left in existence.
They emerged from bankruptcy in 2018 and are now owned by a company that owns a bunch of defunct store brands (Linens 'N Things, Dress Barn, Pier 1, Modell's, etc.). RadioShack is the only one of them that still has brick-and-mortar locations.
RadioShack recently got into the whole crypto (i.e. imaginary internet money) scheme so I can't see them lasting much longer.
Quote from: 7/8 on April 08, 2022, 10:42:32 AM
It's pretty sneaky that these large corporations will deceive you into thinking you have choices between different retailers and it turns out several of them are actually the same company, just with different branding.
This is news to you? Car brands do it, restaurants do it, grocery stores do it, all sorts of industries do it.
And it isn't really deception, because you do still have a choice. Jeep and Chrysler, for example, aren't exactly the same product.
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 09:56:27 AM
Wow, this guy's very first post on the forum was an off-topic 6½-year necro-post?
There's a button you can press for that. ;-)
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 10:09:37 AM
Quote from: 1 on April 08, 2022, 10:03:01 AM
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 09:56:27 AM
Wow, this guy's very first post on the forum was an off-topic 6½-year necro-post?
It seems like an AI-generated spambot to me. (Notice how it's not entirely on topic, and there's a link to a company.)
If by "it's not entirely on topic" you mean "it has nothing at all to do with the quote it is supposed a reply to", then I agree.
Also, "United states" as his location–without capitalizing the second word?
Not related to the thread title either.
However.. I'm actually surprised no one bumped it sooner. It's probably one of the longer/more interesting threads I had never read or clicked on at all, and it seems to be a topic that a lot of users are interested in and/or have something to contribute. There's also plenty of businesses that have gone defunct in the past 7 years that can now be discussed.
Quote from: empirestate on April 08, 2022, 11:06:21 AM
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 09:56:27 AM
Wow, this guy's very first post on the forum was an off-topic 6½-year necro-post?
There's a button you can press for that. ;-)
Well, I initially meant that it was in the Off-Topic board. It hadn't yet sunk in that the reply itself was off-topic relative to the quoted material. So I didn't think it was report-worthy.
Payless Shoes. Sure, there's a revival, but the revival is online-only, and I'm not interested in buying shoes (or other clothing items) that I can't try out first, or dealing with the whole hassle of returning items that don't work out or need a different size.
Quote from: vdeane on February 13, 2015, 08:12:31 PM
I still feel sad that Fisherman's Wharf (motel in Alexandria Bay, NY) is gone. My family used to go there every year when I was young. Lots of memories. It was demolished a few years ago so that luxury condos that are WAY too tall for the aesthetics of the harbor could be put in.
And those condos never even finished building because they can't find buyers, so there's a small block of tall condos and a lot of still vacant land where the hotel was. I think they only built on a third of the area the hotel occupied.
Russo's in Watertown, MA. Started as a produce stand, but became a giant specialty market with lots of baked goods, meats, dairy, and especially fruits and vegetables of a quality that can't be found anywhere else.
Sprouts, a grocery store chain, just closed its Wichita location, and that has my wife and me bummed. We've been able to find an alternate source for most of the things we used to buy there, but not everything. Also, their meat was of excellent quality for not much more money.
Pre-pandemic: I'll second Borders. The selection was basically the same as Barnes & Noble, but I liked the vibe better.
That said, I really missed Earthling Books in Santa Barbara when I was living there. Almost as large as those two, but independent and local. Barnes & Noble came in a few blocks away, then Borders came in a few years later. No way three large bookstores could exist within five blocks. All of them are long gone from State Street now.
Post-pandemic: Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation. I totally understand that the self-serve buffet concept suddenly felt very unsafe, but their selection and quality was consistent, and my kid could eat a lot of reasonably healthy food there for a good price.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 08, 2022, 08:27:29 AM
Several people have mentioned Circuit City. I was never a big fan. Maybe it was because I was younger when they were still operating and so they thought I would be easy to push stuff on, but I recall they were always hyper-aggressive about pushing extended warranties even on cheap products like a $20 Walkman competitor. It was annoying.
To their credit, they actually honored the extended warranties without question, and you could get the same/similar product or even a
complete refund if the item failed and you didn't want another one. I think the most expensive item I bought with the warranty was about $200 (a car audio amplifier), so maybe there was a limit. So I took advantage of those.
With that post deleted, now it makes it look like that I was the one that unnecessarily necroposted here :-D
As far as grocery stores go, I'm kinda sad that Bi-Lo is gone. They were SC-based and for a while had pretty nice stores, and had locations in NC, GA, AL, and TN, getting as far west as the outskirts of Nashville. I even lived a couple of miles from a new (at the time) location in Murfreesboro in the early 00's and went there all the time. I think their primary downfall was Ahold (pre-Delhaize merger) selling them to Lone Star Funds, and them basically running them to the ground. By the time Southeast Grocers had ownership of them, they appeared to be more interested in keeping Winn-Dixie going and eventually all remaining Bi-Lo stores were either closed, sold to Food Lion, or sold to others.
Perhaps the real issue with Bi-Lo was being in a very competitive grocery store region, competing with the likes of Food City, Ingle's, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, and Lowe's Foods, in addition to Kroger and Publix. I guess I have nostalgia for them because that old Murfreesboro location I went to all the time was pretty nice (it's now a Publix).
Quote from: Flint1979 on April 08, 2022, 08:34:58 AM
Quote from: slorydn1 on February 13, 2015, 05:24:14 PM
For me it would be Dominick's, a former grocery store chain in Illinois. I was saddened to hear that they went out of business late in 2013. My first job was as a bagger at store #117 at 580 S. Roselle Rd in Schaumburg, IL.
That particular location had an interesting history of its own-it was a Kohl's grocery store first, with the arched roof design. When Kohl's pulled out of Illinois Eagle took it over, and then Dominick's took the store over when Eagle bowed out.
From what I understand that after I left the Chicago area in '91 the old man died, and the rest of the family just didn't want to put up with running the company. So they sold out to Safeway who kept the Dominick's name in place, but tried to force it's California style on its Chicago clientele and ran the company into the ground.
Honestly I was surprised that Dominick's closed like they did especially how big of a chain they were in the Chicago area. It seems like Safeway had a lack of interest in the Chicago market too and as a result some of the stores were looking run down.
Eagle also existed in the Chicago area. I believe they were based out of the Quad Cities. My first job was the Eagle Country Market in St. Charles. My job highlight was having my break with Ernie Banks, aka Mr. Cub. I don't know if I can say I am passed about them closing, though.
One store I am now passed about seeing it closed is Shopko.
During a few prior visits to DC and for the year we lived there, my favorite restaurant was the Brickskeller. It was standard (but very good) pub food, with an amazing atmosphere and an almost-endless beer list. Dozens on tap and over 1000 bottled.
Sometime after we left DC and moved back to Indiana, the Brickskeller closed, with the owners reopening in Chinatown with more of a sports bar atmosphere. That place eventually closed as well.
Quote from: SkyPesos on April 08, 2022, 05:52:42 PM
With that post deleted, now it makes it look like that I was the one that unnecessarily necroposted here :-D
It's been a surprisingly successful bump - you might as well take the credit. :D
Borders is probably the one business I wish was still around.
Quote from: DandyDan on April 09, 2022, 10:29:20 PM
Eagle also existed in the Chicago area. I believe they were based out of the Quad Cities. My first job was the Eagle Country Market in St. Charles. My job highlight was having my break with Ernie Banks, aka Mr. Cub. I don't know if I can say I am passed about them closing, though.
There is still an Eagle store in Dubuque, but it's under different ownership. I drove by it last fall and the "SINCE 1893" on the old signs have been painted over, while their house brands are now Best Choice and Always Save instead of Lady Lee and Harvest Day.
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on April 08, 2022, 01:19:04 PM
Russo's in Watertown, MA. Started as a produce stand, but became a giant specialty market with lots of baked goods, meats, dairy, and especially fruits and vegetables of a quality that can't be found anywhere else.
Unparalleled combination of price and selection. I don't think we'll see anything like them anytime soon because I suspect they were able to leverage their buying power as a food service wholesaler to bring an incomparable variety of produce at very reasonable prices.
I never went during the closing frenzy because I just didn't want to see that place in any kind of decline. What a loss. But the $30 million or whatever it was they were offered for the plot is hard to pass up.
Just remembered a couple of other chains I'm not happy about their closing...
Media Play - Nashville had three locations, and I think two of them used to be Central Hardware so they were HUGE! Of course Amazon ruined them as well as nearly the rest of the music store and book store industry.
Phar-Mor - It was like a Walgreens on steroids. So many health and beauty items, and a small music section in one corner among other things. They didn't last very long in Nashville at all, with maybe two locations that were open less than a year. Mismanagement was their downfall.
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 10:51:12 AM
Quote from: 7/8 on April 08, 2022, 10:42:32 AM
It's pretty sneaky that these large corporations will deceive you into thinking you have choices between different retailers and it turns out several of them are actually the same company, just with different branding.
This is news to you? Car brands do it, restaurants do it, grocery stores do it, all sorts of industries do it.
And it isn't really deception, because you do still have a choice. Jeep and Chrysler, for example, aren't exactly the same product.
I think there is a significant difference between auto companies where the brands are something they created themselves and have had for a long time that are used as market segmenting tools, and companies that buy up old brands and pass them off as their own.
One musing idea I once had was to prohibit the use of a brand once it is no longer owned by the original company to prevent what is essentially false advertising. Example would be old people buying RCA televisions because they used to be good quality, not knowing that the brand has been sold off and is now owned by some no-name firm that acts as a holding firm. Or Craftsmen tools now that they are no longer owned by Sears, same issue.
Quote from: HighwayStar on April 13, 2022, 11:21:29 PM
...companies that buy up old brands and pass them off as their own.
One musing idea I once had was to prohibit the use of a brand once it is no longer owned by the original company to prevent what is essentially false advertising
Excuse me, but that kind of anti-corporate and anti-capitalistic thinking will land you into one of our American Re-education Centers, which consists of a large dark room with only talk radio blaring from Chinese-made speakers.
Quote from: wriddle082 on April 13, 2022, 09:55:22 PMMismanagement was their downfall.
Specifically, they were moving inventory from store to store in the middle of the night to make it look like the company had more inventory than it did and, consequently, that it was on stronger financial footing than it was.
Kmart, pretty soon.
Good riddance, Kmart.
Sears. No reason it couldn't have thrived even today, but blunders made by management in the 1980s/1990s/early 2000s led to Eddie buying it and destroying it.
Quote from: I-39 on April 16, 2022, 03:57:43 PM
Sears. No reason it couldn't have thrived even today, but blunders made by management in the 1980s/1990s/early 2000s led to Eddie buying it and destroying it.
No, Sears could not have lived to today. It was a mid market retailer in a world of falling real wages, a collapsing manufacturing base, a declining middle class, and a race to the bottom on price. Sears was a retailer for the middle class, once the middle class started to disappear there was no future for the company as it existed. Management was not really at fault, it was an organization built for a particular purpose and short of destroying it and building something new that only had the same name it was going to die. The policies which did Sears in go back to the 40's in some cases, and by the 1970's their future was largely sealed. Eddie was a symptom, if not him it would have been some similar fate.
Sears had the infrastructure to be Amazon before Amazon existed, but whether it would have been successful had they gone that route is an open question. My guess is probably not, since a lot of Amazon's success is due to opening up their infrastructure to third-party vendors.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 16, 2022, 05:12:40 PM
Sears had the infrastructure to be Amazon before Amazon existed, but whether it would have been successful had they gone that route is an open question. My guess is probably not, since a lot of Amazon's success is due to opening up their infrastructure to third-party vendors.
I think the issue is much more fundamental than that. Sears was a company that, fairly late in the game, was still giving generous benefits packages to front line retail workers. It had a massive pension plan liability as well. The discounters, Target, Kmart, Ames, Walmart that rose starting in the 70's and continuing into the 80's were new companies with none of that baggage. You can find signs from the era of Walmart's expansion boasting how they had non union labor to give customers lower prices. Basically the discounters were racing to the bottom and Sears, as an organization built for a different era, could not compete. Corporate culture matters, and Sears was not founded on the race to the bottom everything else be damned.
And while I agree that Sears had excellent infrastructure to one day be Amazon (if the organization had otherwise been capable of such a thing), the truth is Sears was not killed by the internet or Amazon, it was in decline long before e com sales were enough to even track.
I mean, just because there's a race to the bottom doesn't mean that you have to participate in it. Sears could have kept all of their union labor and front-line benefits packages and done just fine if they had marketed themselves appropriately so that customers had a perception they were getting added value out of the higher prices. They could have put added emphasis on customer service. "If you want to buy the wrong item for cheap, go to Walmart; if you want the right item at a fair price, come to Sears and we'll take care of you." Basically they needed to take the reputation for quality and service that the Craftsman brand had at the time and find a way to expand it store-wide, and most critically, walk the walk they were talking.
The problem was that Sears kept the high prices but did absolutely nothing to justify them. I remember in the late 90s we bought a Craftsman mower and ran into problems with it, and getting Sears to make it right required jumping through all sorts of hoops. If you're going to have to deal with the same shoddy products and customer-service rigamarole that you do at Walmart, there's absolutely no reason to spend more money at Sears.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 16, 2022, 05:54:04 PM
I mean, just because there's a race to the bottom doesn't mean that you have to participate in it. Sears could have kept all of their union labor and front-line benefits packages and done just fine if they had marketed themselves appropriately so that customers had a perception they were getting added value out of the higher prices. They could have put added emphasis on customer service. "If you want to buy the wrong item for cheap, go to Walmart; if you want the right item at a fair price, come to Sears and we'll take care of you." Basically they needed to take the reputation for quality and service that the Craftsman brand had at the time and find a way to expand it store-wide, and most critically, walk the walk they were talking.
The problem was that Sears kept the high prices but did absolutely nothing to justify them. I remember in the late 90s we bought a Craftsman mower and ran into problems with it, and getting Sears to make it right required jumping through all sorts of hoops. If you're going to have to deal with the same shoddy products and customer-service rigamarole that you do at Walmart, there's absolutely no reason to spend more money at Sears.
The race to the bottom is tied to the collapse of American industry, the decline of the middle class, and falling real wages. You cannot market your way out of this, the customer segment it is aiming at has shrunk so dramatically to no longer be viable on scale. I think it was in
The Betrayal of the American Dream that someone was quoted as saying that anyone with an income less than 200k no longer mattered to Madison Avenue. That is not 100% correct, since it ignores the low end, but the gist was right.
Sears did have a reputation for good service and good products, but when customers become budget constrained it does not matter, they buy what they can afford. The perception of Sears having the same low quality goods comes from long after this era passed. Walmart's innovative strategy was to import cheaper goods rather than buying in the US, ie. other firms were not doing it on the scale they did. A severe drop in middle class purchasing power cannot be solved by any means except catering up or down market. And doing either of those is difficult, and essentially impossible for a store like Sears.
And on the cost side there was nothing to do. Sears could not shed its pension plan liability or cut the pay of its workforce, meaning that no matter how it marketed itself it would still have much higher costs than Walmart. And one of the problems of high costs is that you have less margin for things like quality goods or customer service.
Imagine entering a market where no matter what you do you pay double what your competitor does in costs. Clearly it is very dubious you will ever compete with them.
When you refer to the late 90's mower incident, that was some time after this problem had started (probabally by a decade at minimum). By that point, Sears had high costs which made offering the same customer service as even Walmart uneconomical. Its cash was going to high costs that Walmart did not have to pay, so Walmart could easily eat a return and not care.
One of the very difficult problems in understanding the collapse of retail is the time delay between cause and effect. That is why the mainstream media always gets the story wrong, they blame "Amazon" for killing retail, even though most of these firms were obviously in decline before Amazon even existed. The date a firm finally files for Chapter 7 is not that relevant, and for a store like Sears the decline can take decades due to sheer inertia.
The thing that put my family off of Sears wasn't the price, it was the fact that the price and the product provided no longer matched. Dad was a well-paid civil servant who was willing to spend the extra money if there was a reason to do so, so there was no budget constraint in our family. Sears just stopped providing a rational reason for choosing to pay the premium, so we stopped going there.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 16, 2022, 07:21:39 PM
The thing that put my family off of Sears wasn't the price, it was the fact that the price and the product provided no longer matched. Dad was a well-paid civil servant who was willing to spend the extra money if there was a reason to do so, so there was no budget constraint in our family. Sears just stopped providing a rational reason for choosing to pay the premium, so we stopped going there.
This type of "budget constraint" is not something people are usually conscious of, its not always "oh, I only have X dollars in my wallet" but more of a gradual decline in what is considered "reasonable" to spend on something. Or equally often, its prices remaining the same or even falling, but the quality of goods and services declining as well.
That said, your experience sounds like it was more influenced by the era after that had taken its effect, when the high costs relative to competitors made the firm unable to compete.The intersection of macro and micro economics is not always tidy and clean, and what is easy to see on a large scale can be hard to find on a micro scale.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 16, 2022, 07:21:39 PM
The thing that put my family off of Sears wasn't the price, it was the fact that the price and the product provided no longer matched. Dad was a well-paid civil servant who was willing to spend the extra money if there was a reason to do so, so there was no budget constraint in our family. Sears just stopped providing a rational reason for choosing to pay the premium, so we stopped going there.
Where did you go, then? You seem like the kind of person who would avoid Walmart at all costs.
Quote from: 1 on April 16, 2022, 08:30:43 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 16, 2022, 07:21:39 PM
The thing that put my family off of Sears wasn't the price, it was the fact that the price and the product provided no longer matched. Dad was a well-paid civil servant who was willing to spend the extra money if there was a reason to do so, so there was no budget constraint in our family. Sears just stopped providing a rational reason for choosing to pay the premium, so we stopped going there.
Where did you go, then? You seem like the kind of person who would avoid Walmart at all costs.
Well, I was like, 12 at the time, so I didn't really have much of a choice in where we shopped. (And this was also before I was old enough to realize exactly why Walmart sucked.) That being said, I have no idea where Dad gets his lawnmowers and such now. Possibly Lowe's.
In the '90s if you say the average Sears was 100,000 square feet by 2005 other stores were selling 1,000,000 square feet of the same type of stuff Sears was within a one-mile radius of most Sears stores. Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, Menard's, AutoZone, Best Buy, Harbor Freight. All of which didn't exist or were small regional chains when Sears had a death grip on retail in the '70s.
Quote from: HighwayStar on April 16, 2022, 05:23:01 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 16, 2022, 05:12:40 PM
Sears had the infrastructure to be Amazon before Amazon existed, but whether it would have been successful had they gone that route is an open question. My guess is probably not, since a lot of Amazon's success is due to opening up their infrastructure to third-party vendors.
I think the issue is much more fundamental than that. Sears was a company that, fairly late in the game, was still giving generous benefits packages to front line retail workers. It had a massive pension plan liability as well. The discounters, Target, Kmart, Ames, Walmart that rose starting in the 70's and continuing into the 80's were new companies with none of that baggage. You can find signs from the era of Walmart's expansion boasting how they had non union labor to give customers lower prices. Basically the discounters were racing to the bottom and Sears, as an organization built for a different era, could not compete. Corporate culture matters, and Sears was not founded on the race to the bottom everything else be damned.
And while I agree that Sears had excellent infrastructure to one day be Amazon (if the organization had otherwise been capable of such a thing), the truth is Sears was not killed by the internet or Amazon, it was in decline long before e com sales were enough to even track.
Amazon was gonna be what it is today even if Sears had reinvented themselves. Sears could've reinvented themselves and occupied the segment of the market Target occupies today, a step or two above the likes of Walmart and Lowes.
Yes, there were problems going back to the 50s, but the downfall began in earnest in the mid-70s during the recessionary/inflation period of that time. I think they were already cutting back on hours and benefits by the 80s.
Sears had been very innovative for most of its history, but by the mid-70s, they were so full of themselves that they failed to see the transition to the discount/big box retailer, thus by the 80s while they were distracted chasing customers with their "Sears Financial Network" trifecta of Coldwell Banker, Dean Witter and All-State, the likes of Walmart, Target and Home Depot were encroaching on their terf.
Another issue, and this was probably one of the most fundamental factors, was they failed to embrace IT early on, which was revolutionizing supply chain and cost accounting control measures by the 1980s. Walmart was so successful because it embraced IT far ahead of the game (this was a reason for them blowing past Kmart as well, which had similar issues with Sears long before they merged).
The time to save Sears was in the 1990s. After Walmart surpassed them, they should have focused on simplifying their operations, modernizing their infrastructure with state of the art IT and getting off the mall and into big box strip centers. They failed to do that until it was too late and so it died off.
Quote from: I-39 on April 16, 2022, 09:32:59 PM
Quote from: HighwayStar on April 16, 2022, 05:23:01 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 16, 2022, 05:12:40 PM
Sears had the infrastructure to be Amazon before Amazon existed, but whether it would have been successful had they gone that route is an open question. My guess is probably not, since a lot of Amazon's success is due to opening up their infrastructure to third-party vendors.
I think the issue is much more fundamental than that. Sears was a company that, fairly late in the game, was still giving generous benefits packages to front line retail workers. It had a massive pension plan liability as well. The discounters, Target, Kmart, Ames, Walmart that rose starting in the 70's and continuing into the 80's were new companies with none of that baggage. You can find signs from the era of Walmart's expansion boasting how they had non union labor to give customers lower prices. Basically the discounters were racing to the bottom and Sears, as an organization built for a different era, could not compete. Corporate culture matters, and Sears was not founded on the race to the bottom everything else be damned.
And while I agree that Sears had excellent infrastructure to one day be Amazon (if the organization had otherwise been capable of such a thing), the truth is Sears was not killed by the internet or Amazon, it was in decline long before e com sales were enough to even track.
Amazon was gonna be what it is today even if Sears had reinvented themselves. Sears could've reinvented themselves and occupied the segment of the market Target occupies today, a step or two above the likes of Walmart and Lowes.
Yes, there were problems going back to the 50s, but the downfall began in earnest in the mid-70s during the recessionary/inflation period of that time. I think they were already cutting back on hours and benefits by the 80s.
Sears had been very innovative for most of its history, but by the mid-70s, they were so full of themselves that they failed to see the transition to the discount/big box retailer, thus by the 80s while they were distracted chasing customers with their "Sears Financial Network" trifecta of Coldwell Banker, Dean Witter and All-State, the likes of Walmart, Target and Home Depot were encroaching on their terf.
Another issue, and this was probably one of the most fundamental factors, was they failed to embrace IT early on, which was revolutionizing supply chain and cost accounting control measures by the 1980s. Walmart was so successful because it embraced IT far ahead of the game (this was a reason for them blowing past Kmart as well, which had similar issues with Sears long before they merged).
The time to save Sears was in the 1990s. After Walmart surpassed them, they should have focused on simplifying their operations, modernizing their infrastructure with state of the art IT and getting off the mall and into big box strip centers. They failed to do that until it was too late and so it died off.
Nope, the market segment Target occupies is nothing like what Sears occupied. Being above Walmart does not make you a middle class retailer. Target employees are more or less the same cost as Walmart, and none of them have a pension plan I guarantee that. It sells the same Made In China goods you buy at Walmart at a slightly higher price. Its not fundamentally different, and most of that perceived difference is the advertising induced hallucination at work.
This is a very common trope about business, whenever a company fails the usual approach is to say "they did not keep up with the times" or some similarly platitudinous statement. The problem with these tautologies is that they ignore the bigger picture.
Suppose you consider the firm making horse carriages in 1900, by 1925 they are bankrupt. You say "they did not keep up with the times" or "its their fault" which is obviously true in a sense, but the cause of every business failure then boils down to identically "they did not keep up with the times" which is a hollow and meaningless answer.
The real problem for our buggy manufacturer is that the horseless carriage, which would be "keeping up with the times" is a fundamentally different product than what they make. It requires a knowledge of mechanics and electronics that our firm has zero experience with. Sure, they could fire most of the staff and hire an all new group of people with the right skills and get a different factory to produce these new goods, but then fundamentally its not the same organization, it only has the same name.
Companies are, on some level, organic and human enterprises with cultures, values, and social positioning that precludes rapid realignment, and any significant realignment is generally the end of that company in practice, if not in name. So while it is perhaps always true that a company "could have" or "should have" or "would have" worked if it had done X, I find that an uninteresting answer, because the real cause of failure for a successful enterprise is almost always a change in conditions exogenous to the firm.
This change can be one of simple technological shift, like the internal combustion engine displacing the horse, in which case we need not be too concerned with the destruction wrought.
However in the case of Sears, and similar firms, the cause is not technological but an economic shift caused by bad policies put in place over a period of time. This type of failure is one that is intrinsically worth understanding on its own terms, and blaming Sears because it did not transform itself into Walmart misses the point. Even if somehow it had, we would still end up with the same impacts.
I don't buy the IT explanation, Walmart was a leader in that, but it was a secondary consideration to their use of imported goods, low cost labor, and other race to the bottom tactics. In some respects, Sears was far ahead of Walmart, such as its very early e commerce work which was years ahead of the competition.
The 90's was not the time to save Sears, for anyone. Sears needed saving in the 40s, 50s, 60's, and 70's, and not in the boardroom in Illinois, but in the Capitol and White House in Washington, District of Columbia.
Quote from: HighwayStar on April 16, 2022, 09:59:10 PMNope, the market segment Target occupies is nothing like what Sears occupied. Being above Walmart does not make you a middle class retailer. Target employees are more or less the same cost as Walmart, and none of them have a pension plan I guarantee that. It sells the same Made In China goods you buy at Walmart at a slightly higher price. Its not fundamentally different, and most of that perceived difference is the advertising induced hallucination at work.
This is a very common trope about business, whenever a company fails the usual approach is to say "they did not keep up with the times" or some similarly platitudinous statement. The problem with these tautologies is that they ignore the bigger picture.
Suppose you consider the firm making horse carriages in 1900, by 1925 they are bankrupt. You say "they did not keep up with the times" or "its their fault" which is obviously true in a sense, but the cause of every business failure then boils down to identically "they did not keep up with the times" which is a hollow and meaningless answer.
The real problem for our buggy manufacturer is that the horseless carriage, which would be "keeping up with the times" is a fundamentally different product than what they make. It requires a knowledge of mechanics and electronics that our firm has zero experience with. Sure, they could fire most of the staff and hire an all new group of people with the right skills and get a different factory to produce these new goods, but then fundamentally its not the same organization, it only has the same name.
Companies are, on some level, organic and human enterprises with cultures, values, and social positioning that precludes rapid realignment, and any significant realignment is generally the end of that company in practice, if not in name. So while it is perhaps always true that a company "could have" or "should have" or "would have" worked if it had done X, I find that an uninteresting answer, because the real cause of failure for a successful enterprise is almost always a change in conditions exogenous to the firm.
This change can be one of simple technological shift, like the internal combustion engine displacing the horse, in which case we need not be too concerned with the destruction wrought.
However in the case of Sears, and similar firms, the cause is not technological but an economic shift caused by bad policies put in place over a period of time. This type of failure is one that is intrinsically worth understanding on its own terms, and blaming Sears because it did not transform itself into Walmart misses the point. Even if somehow it had, we would still end up with the same impacts.
I don't buy the IT explanation, Walmart was a leader in that, but it was a secondary consideration to their use of imported goods, low cost labor, and other race to the bottom tactics. In some respects, Sears was far ahead of Walmart, such as its very early e commerce work which was years ahead of the competition.
The 90's was not the time to save Sears, for anyone. Sears needed saving in the 40s, 50s, 60's, and 70's, and not in the boardroom in Illinois, but in the Capitol and White House in Washington, District of Columbia.
And I don't buy the "external conditions" argument.
Just because a company doesn't have knowledge with a fundamentally different way of doing things doesn't mean one can't adapt and learn it. Plenty of companies have adapted to "changes in conditions exogenous to the firm." See Disney for example.
You're last point is exactly the mentality Sears had in the 70s, it's everybody else's fault but ourselves. Regardless of the hand dealt to them by the powers that be in D.C, you adapt or die, and Sears didn't properly adapt when they should have in the 80s and 90s. You can't blame the "bigger picture" for that. They could have made the transition from a mid-level retailer to an upscale discounter with hardlines a la Target (which was essentially what their Sears Grand concept was), but they didn't because they were too busy making excuses and doing side projects that were detrimental to the bottom line.
I had stumbled upon an article that said Kmart (whats left of it) just hit their 60th anniversary, and on the day of their 60th, their big news was Eddie Lampert announced was stepping down from his post. Class act....NOT!
Quote from: thenetwork on April 17, 2022, 10:03:52 PM
I had stumbled upon an article that said Kmart (whats left of it) just hit their 60th anniversary, and on the day of their 60th, their big news was Eddie Lampert announced was stepping down from his post. Class act....NOT!
"It's dead, JIm."
Quote from: wriddle082 on April 13, 2022, 09:55:22 PM
Phar-Mor - It was like a Walgreens on steroids. So many health and beauty items, and a small music section in one corner among other things. They didn't last very long in Nashville at all, with maybe two locations that were open less than a year. Mismanagement was their downfall.
Phar-Mor was poised to be the next Wal-Mart, especially because they chose areas which didn't have them. The story goes that they expanded too quickly, but also funneling profits into a start-up minor league basketball league is one of the fastest ways to hemorrhage all sorts of resources.
In their heyday, they were stupid cheap and tough to resist if you had few brand loyalties. (https://www.google.com/amp/s/tedium.co/2021/05/14/phar-mor-retail-history/amp)
Quote from: formulanone on April 18, 2022, 07:25:00 AM
Quote from: wriddle082 on April 13, 2022, 09:55:22 PM
Phar-Mor - It was like a Walgreens on steroids. So many health and beauty items, and a small music section in one corner among other things. They didn't last very long in Nashville at all, with maybe two locations that were open less than a year. Mismanagement was their downfall.
Phar-Mor was poised to be the next Wal-Mart, especially because they chose areas which didn't have them. The story goes that they expanded too quickly, but also funneling profits into a start-up minor league basketball league is one of the fastest ways to hemorrhage all sorts of resources.
In their heyday, they were stupid cheap and tough to resist if you had few brand loyalties. (https://www.google.com/amp/s/tedium.co/2021/05/14/phar-mor-retail-history/amp)
What did them in was their shady accounting practices. Literally, external auditors would count the inventory at Store A and, in the middle of the night, they'd move some of that inventory to Store B before the auditors went to count the inventory at Store B, and so on.
I remember Phar-Mor. They used to have these snocaps my dad would always buy. There were two locations in Saginaw. One in the now demolished Fort Saginaw Mall and the other one where Hobby Lobby on TIttabawassee is.
Quote from: Flint1979 on April 21, 2022, 08:23:58 PM
They used to have these snocaps my dad would always buy.
Best movie theater candy ever.
Quote from: kphoger on April 21, 2022, 08:47:47 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on April 21, 2022, 08:23:58 PM
They used to have these snocaps my dad would always buy.
Best movie theater candy ever.
Oh yeah for sure.
Phar-Mor was the best place to rent videos.