Businesses that are defunct that you are pissed about closing

[hotdogPi]

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.

[kphoger]

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?

[Dirt Roads]

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.

[Henry]

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.

[kphoger]

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?

[SkyPesos]

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.

[Henry]

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.

[MATraveler128]

Didn't RadioShack go out of business? Or are there still some left in existence.

[7/8]

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.

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.

[WillWeaverRVA]

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.

[kphoger]

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.

[empirestate]

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.

[webny99]

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.

[kphoger]

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.

[vdeane]

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.

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.

[Ted$8roadFan]

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.

[kphoger]

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.

[DTComposer]

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.

[formulanone]

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.

[SkyPesos]

With that post deleted, now it makes it look like that I was the one that unnecessarily necroposted here 

[wriddle082]

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).

[DandyDan]

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.

[NWI_Irish96]

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.

[webny99]

With that post deleted, now it makes it look like that I was the one that unnecessarily necroposted here 

It's been a surprisingly successful bump - you might as well take the credit. 

[ran4sh]

Borders is probably the one business I wish was still around.