Spinoff: Defunct Stores

[tvguy]

White Front.
CBSS
Best Products
Gemco

 

[Kennywood]

Kaufmann's

If you wanted to meet up in downtown Pittsburgh, all you had to say was, "I'll meet you under the clock."

 

[Lynne G]

Filene’s Basement. Years ago, got a great coupon and bought my mom a leather jacket for 90 percent off.

Horn and Hardart— loved as a kid when my Parents let me and my younger brother pick a pie slice from the rotating vending machines.

 

[RamblingMad]

Zales.

 

[NAB]

Zellers
Towers
Woolco
Kmart
Sears
Simpsons
Eatons


Now we only have:
Walmart
Giant Tiger
The Bay

 

[Kennywood]

You could get some really good clothes for dirt cheap prices.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Great thread idea, RedAngie

Kmart most of all.
I also miss a smaller chain of One Dollar Bookstores, what fun going there always was!
As a kid, my family and I loved shopping at a placed called Quigley's. Local to our neighborhood, I believe.
I also miss more physical shoe stores.
Dad misses Tower Classical Music a lot.
I definitely well remember Mervyns!

 

[amcnj]

I am sure I am forgetting many but here goes:

Woolworth’s
Bambergers (but name only, rebranded as Macy’s)
Alexanders
Two Guys
Channel
Rickels
Grand way
E.J. Korvette
Gimbels
Kmart
Caldor
Crazy eddie
Sam Goody
Circuit city
Franks nursery and crafts
Pier 1
Linens and things
Sports authority
Payless
Modell’s

 

[shh]

I'm from the East Coast!
Also:
Weathervane
D&L
5/7/9
Merry-Go-Round

Merry Go Round! Forgot all about that store - used to pop in all the time - fun stuff.

I also liked contempo casual and petite sophisticate for affordable work clothes back when suits were the norm

Stride Rite was the shoe place for kids when I was little.

Florida peeps: anyone remember Peaches Records and Tapes?

 

[Christine]

Oh how I remember E.J. Korvettes--definitely my go-to for the latest albums for the best price.
Zayre's
Woolworths
K-Mart

Non-discount:
I used to shop at Casual Corner for all my work clothes. It was anything but casual.
I do remember Merry Go Round--I think was for a lot of party-type clothes.
Frederick's of Hollywood was always good for a snicker when you walked by.

 

[BayouQueen]

I liked The Akron, which I guess was just in California. I outfitted my first apartment very affordably from that store.

 

[bcla]

Mervyn's, KMart, Woolworth. Heck - maybe throw in Price Club. Also clothing or shoe retailers like Miller's Outpost and Shoe Pavilion. Once I went to Shoe Pavilion and just bought three pairs of Bally shoes for $99 each. They were pretty pricey for a guy with my first real job out of college, but the full retail price of just one pair would have been about what I paid for three. I asked an employee where they got them, and he said that they bought them straight from Bally as overstock/discontinued. I showed them to my father, and he asked why I didn't buy more.

 

[mom2rtk]

Kresge and Venture.

 

[bcla]

Some of what I'm discussing has already been mentioned.

I remember we had some regional department stores. The Broadway Stores group had multiple brands that they kept with separate names including The Broadway, Weinstocks, Emporium, and Capwell's. There were also other high-end department stores like Liberty House (based in Hawaii) and the competing brands I Magnin and Joseph Magnin (founded by the son of Isaac Magnin).

And then there were regional and national catalog retailers like Consumers Distributing, Best Products, and Service Merchandise. I originally only heard of Service Merchandise because getting a gift certificate from them (or Abercrombie & Fitch) was what one would get on Wheel of Fortune with any leftover funds that weren't enough to claim a prize.

And early warehouse/membership stores like Gemco and Fedco. I was in Southern California when I got to got to Fedco with a relative who had a membership. That place was crazy cheap.

And as a guy working in electronics, Fry's Electronics. It was weird and sometimes the employees seemed a bit indifferent, but man they had almost everything one would need for home. I'm not a lab electronics guy, but once we were in a hurry and I went there to get some discrete resistors that we needed in the lab.

 

[barkley]

here's an obscure one-


anyone remember self service furniture?

 

[princesscinderella]

Lionel Playworld
Phar-mor
Zaks (craft store)

 

[bcla]

here's an obscure one-


anyone remember self service furniture?

Not really. I do remember Levitz. Once I needed a desk and they had a special in the newspaper for maybe $30. My dad took me there and we got it, but it was more or less unassembled in a box and similar to what one might get a Ikea today. But they had lots of assembled furniture that generally required professional delivery.

We also had a regional furniture chain called Breuners. That was back when lots of furniture stores also sold some electronics like home stereos and console TVs.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Steinmart (now online only)
Kmart
Alpha Beta
Woolworth's
Waldenbooks
B. Dalton Books

 

[Lynne G]

John Wanamaker. At least Macy’s still has the light show, organ, and the Eagle statute in the Philly center city store.

Korvette’s department store, Lit Brothers, Strawbridge’s and Clothier, Bambergers, Clover, Bonwit Teller, Fashion Bug, and Heckingers are some more i remember.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

W.T. Grants
Woolworth
Alpha Beta (supermarkets)
Montgomery Ward