Old "National" five-and-dime stores? (with pic)

[Kniwt]

Very off-topic, but tangentially related to travel and roadtripping, so help me out here, kids.

I recently saw an old "National" storefront in Calexico, Calif. (Street View image below). I've seen a very few of them elsewhere, with the distinctive big blue N, and I wanted to read more about the chain and what happened to it ... but the internets haven't yielded anything useful.

The best guess I've found is that this is "National Stores Inc.," which now does business as Fallas (Paredes), but even Wikipedia doesn't seem to acknowledge any past existence as just "National," let alone the logo ... so I'm thinking that might not really be it.

Any info welcome. Thanks!

[Scott5114]

1) Bring up the address of the store on the relevant county assessor's website, and it should tell you the name of the legal entity that owns the store. This may not be very helpful if the store rents the location.
2) Try to do a search on the website of whatever government organization manages business filings in CA. (In Oklahoma, this is the State Department.)
3) The store does appear to be in business. Go in and ask?

That is a pretty cool logo (I like how the N appears to be made out of a circle). I wonder if this is an example of a brand that has changed their name but keeps one store with the old logo/name, like Standard.

[kphoger]

Unfortunately, the list of National Stores Inc locations that closed with Chapter 11 back in 2018 does not include Calexico.  My guess is that it hasn't actually been a National-branded store in a long time.

I give up on the research, but my best guess is that the store relocated to another address in Calexico and is currently called Fallas Paredes.  Then another store moved in but left the 'National' name on the storefront.

[Kniwt]

I give up on the research, but my best guess is that the store relocated to another address in Calexico and is currently called Fallas Paredes.  Then another store moved in but left the 'National' name on the storefront.

Thanks for trying. Yes, it looks like the storefront is currently occupied by a local no-name grocery store. But even the Wikipedia page for National Stores Inc. seems to suggest they've always been known as Fallas (and variants), and never actually just "National."

I'm still baffled that the old "National" logo -- which I've definitely seen elsewhere and absolutely oozes nostalgia from every pore -- doesn't seem to have any significant online presence.

[hotdogPi]

There was a Fallas in Methuen until about a year ago. However, "fallas" means "you fail" in Spanish, and Methuen has a high number of Hispanics (not as high as Lawrence though), which is a possible reason why the store closed.

[kphoger]

There was a Fallas in Methuen until about a year ago. However, "fallas" means "you fail" in Spanish, and Methuen has a high number of Hispanics (not as high as Lawrence though), which is a possible reason why the store closed.

Locals were probably afraid the building would collapse on them.  (Translate the whole name.)

[Kniwt]

Solved! The chain was "National Dollar Stores," founded in 1903 in San Francisco with locations in California, Arizona, Texas, and Hawaii. No relation at all to "National Stores Inc." dba Fallas.

National Dollar Stores went out of business in 1996:
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/National-Dollar-s-last-discount-3151603.php

But one location in Oakland is still open (apparently as "National Bargain Store"), with the same logo as the storefront in Calexico:



Once upon a time, they apparently had a larger footprint (37 stores as far east as Kansas City), according to this 1938 report from Time magazine:
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,759404,00.html