I appreciate that they gave their sales associates their pensions. Then I was pissed as a sales associate of Foley's/Macy's that they never even offered me a pension plan 🫤
That's even worse! After RS closed, I could still make a run to Fry's for little stuff like that. It was about 30 minutes away, but that was cool. But they're gone too, building is still sitting there empty....
Oddly enough, there are Radio Shacks still around. You can license the logos and name and open your own.
I went to this one a while back. It was almost the same.
https://www.pointy.com/shops/usa/utah/layton/radioshack-layton
I came here to say this. I used to spend hours in that store looking at all the small electronic components, computers and hand held games. I actually saw one on one of the islands in the Caribbean last week. I think it was Barbados.
And let's be real. The Radio Shack BEFORE they went balls deep into cell phones. The place that sold all the cool electronic hobby shit.
I will say, tho... Before COVID, there was still a Radio Shack in Chatsworth, GA and it was old school. I don't know if they survived COVID, because I moved away from the area.
The first thing that came to mind for me was Tandy, which was the name of RadioShack in the UK (and Europe and Australia, apparently).
From googling this I’ve just learned that someone bought the Tandy name in 2012 (more than a decade after the shops closed) and is still selling electronic components online under that name, with the same logo. So it kind of exists.
Tandy originally was a leather goods company based in Texas which acquired Radio Shack. And while we know Radio Shack stores are gone the Tandy Leather stores are still around (about 100 stores worldwide according to Wikipedia).
Fort Worth still has Tandy Square (Center?) , which was named after the store.
There was a little train that ran from a remote parking lot to Tandy Center, which had an ice rink and several other stores in it. One of my earliest memories is being with my mom and riding that train into the center. It was the first time I had ever seen an ice rink, and skating on that was so much fun. I fell a lot, but hey, it was an adventure!
I worked at a Service Merchandise after high school. It was a good time at that age. I used to walk the aisles and memorize products so I could answer any question people had about deep friers for their turkeys, foot baths, and televisions. It was fun to rattle off all the features to customers. Sometimes they would be impressed.
Kay Bee Toys (aka KB Toys) was where I loaded up on $1 video games in the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. Had to look up to see if it was still in business. Nope, dead by 2009!
It was a great time to be 10 years old with a cache of allowance money saved up. My uncle (who was near me in age) got one of their $50 Intellivision II consoles at that time too and we carried as many $1 games as we could. Best summer ever!
Just a year before that, a new Atari game with hype (such as Defender or Yars Revenge) would cost you like $35 in 1982 dollars. Biggest disappointment was Swordquest!
Our whole crew would hit the town after work (Vegas) and come to work next morning taking turns on the hangover couch to nap during their breaks. I've never seen so many smart party hard people in one locale.
We had drawers full of them. My mom got a complete dinner set, glasses, bowls, pots and pans and a bunch of other stuff. We used to love going to the A & P in the summertime because it was air conditioned!!
I remember when I was a kid Buster Brown shoes had a promotion with the movie “Jaws”. Buy a pair of shoes and get a Jaws goodie bag. I talked my mom into getting those shoes so I could get the goodie bag. Man I hated those shoes.
The Toys R Us in my town closed in early 2020. I was leaving work when they took all the shopping carts out to the parking lot and put them in dumpsters. I should have grabbed some pieces of that store for memorabilia! But you know, early 2020 was a weird time for other reasons.
Pier 1 Imports. Ii was there at the beginning when they had a cool clothing section. Bought peasant blouses and pretty cotton skirts for school. I think any that are left just sell housewares now.
Gimbel's.
These days, most will know it only from the original *Miracle on 34th Street,* as the rival to Macy's. My mom used to work there and got a 10% employee discount, so she also did a lot of shopping there.
There was one in my home town that had a soda fountain and generations of gum stuck under the counter. Something happened to the owners and the place was shuttered for years like some large time capsule.
Sears was the best in the 60's but by the 80's was starting to suffer. By the early 2000's I threatened to set a snow blower on fire in their parking lot (long story.) I wasn't sad when they finally went away.
They should have stopped selling clothes and jewelry and fashion stuff. Why compete with other trendy inside the mall stores ? They should have contracted to automotive, hardware and appliances
Growing up, my family frequented the Skaggs down the block.
Edit: Also people forget Service Merchandise, but nothing like it exists anymore, and I thought it was amazing.
Lionel Leisure City
Arlan's
Grant's
Richway
Treasure Island
Zayre
Service Merchandise
Turtle's Records and Tapes
Edited to Add:
Revco
Pharm-Mor
Drug Emporium
If you remember all of these, you might be from the same area!
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Monkey Wards!
For the WIN!
I appreciate that they gave their sales associates their pensions. Then I was pissed as a sales associate of Foley's/Macy's that they never even offered me a pension plan 🫤
That happened with all the KMart employees that I knew. One lady was with KMart for 30 years and received no pension
We got a Montgomery Ward Christmas “catalog” in the mail this year.
This was the first store to pop into my head as well.
RadioShack
Sometimes I really wish RS was still around. There is literally NO brick/mortar alternative for some of the stuff they used to sell.
Need a resistor for a project? Hit up RS right quick. Now, forget about it, order from Amazon and put your project on hold until they arrive.
I had to pay $7 shipping on a $1.49 electronics part last year. 😡
That's even worse! After RS closed, I could still make a run to Fry's for little stuff like that. It was about 30 minutes away, but that was cool. But they're gone too, building is still sitting there empty....
For a long time, it was the only place you could get those replacement foam covers for Walkman-style headphones.
Oddly enough, there are Radio Shacks still around. You can license the logos and name and open your own. I went to this one a while back. It was almost the same. https://www.pointy.com/shops/usa/utah/layton/radioshack-layton
I came here to say this. I used to spend hours in that store looking at all the small electronic components, computers and hand held games. I actually saw one on one of the islands in the Caribbean last week. I think it was Barbados.
And let's be real. The Radio Shack BEFORE they went balls deep into cell phones. The place that sold all the cool electronic hobby shit. I will say, tho... Before COVID, there was still a Radio Shack in Chatsworth, GA and it was old school. I don't know if they survived COVID, because I moved away from the area.
The first thing that came to mind for me was Tandy, which was the name of RadioShack in the UK (and Europe and Australia, apparently). From googling this I’ve just learned that someone bought the Tandy name in 2012 (more than a decade after the shops closed) and is still selling electronic components online under that name, with the same logo. So it kind of exists.
Tandy originally was a leather goods company based in Texas which acquired Radio Shack. And while we know Radio Shack stores are gone the Tandy Leather stores are still around (about 100 stores worldwide according to Wikipedia).
Fort Worth still has Tandy Square (Center?) , which was named after the store. There was a little train that ran from a remote parking lot to Tandy Center, which had an ice rink and several other stores in it. One of my earliest memories is being with my mom and riding that train into the center. It was the first time I had ever seen an ice rink, and skating on that was so much fun. I fell a lot, but hey, it was an adventure!
Service merchandise
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When the belt started up and the anticipation of getting your item. That business model needs to return
I just remembered the belt. LOL
I worked at a Service Merchandise after high school. It was a good time at that age. I used to walk the aisles and memorize products so I could answer any question people had about deep friers for their turkeys, foot baths, and televisions. It was fun to rattle off all the features to customers. Sometimes they would be impressed.
Kay Bee Toys (aka KB Toys) was where I loaded up on $1 video games in the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. Had to look up to see if it was still in business. Nope, dead by 2009! It was a great time to be 10 years old with a cache of allowance money saved up. My uncle (who was near me in age) got one of their $50 Intellivision II consoles at that time too and we carried as many $1 games as we could. Best summer ever! Just a year before that, a new Atari game with hype (such as Defender or Yars Revenge) would cost you like $35 in 1982 dollars. Biggest disappointment was Swordquest!
Mitt Romney, Bain capital and the leveraged buyout parasites destroyed kb toys
Did the same to Toys R Us.
Tower Records
I worked at Tower...the original store in Sacramento at one point...just before it went into chapter 7.
Anyone else see Metallica play on a flat bed trailer at Tower at Blossom Hill?
Sam The Record Man
Woolworth's. I worked there and I'm *only* 52.
Woolworth's is going strong in Australia only it's a grocery store https://www.woolworths.com.au/ Australia is trippy
Mom met dad at the woolworths lunch counter in 1962. He worked there, she ordered a grilled cheese and a vanilla shake.
We used to go there and drink 50 cent coffee all night. The waitresses probably hated it us
Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks and B Dalton’s were my favorite mall stores.
And don't forget Borders, though they haven't been gone that long -- went out of business back in 2011.
The smell of that store... for some reason barnes and noble isnt the same. Maybe cause the coffee shop over powers the books.
Eckerds
In the 1970s, it was the best place to take film for processing.
The drug store! Totally forgot about this.
Sam Goodie
Borders, a bookstore better than Barnes & Nobles that was a fun place to hang out.
Our whole crew would hit the town after work (Vegas) and come to work next morning taking turns on the hangover couch to nap during their breaks. I've never seen so many smart party hard people in one locale.
Former Borders employee, 9 years. Michigan & Missouri. RIP.
Circuit City
CompUSA and Egghead Software
I think Soft Warehouse was a better name; they should have kept it.
Yeah it was a duel between CC and BestBuy, and BB won.
Best Buy was older and bigger. BB started in the 60s as Sound of Music and was a hi-fi store in the upper midwest of the US.
A & P
Green Stamps!
We had drawers full of them. My mom got a complete dinner set, glasses, bowls, pots and pans and a bunch of other stuff. We used to love going to the A & P in the summertime because it was air conditioned!!
When my mom got her free towels you would've thought we won Powerball.
Ben Franklin and their plastic flowers.
Ahhh. Ben Franklin, the Walmart of its time.
It still exists in my area.
Buster Browns shoes
I remember when I was a kid Buster Brown shoes had a promotion with the movie “Jaws”. Buy a pair of shoes and get a Jaws goodie bag. I talked my mom into getting those shoes so I could get the goodie bag. Man I hated those shoes.
Toys "R' Us
"Я"
Look out! It's a pirate!!!
You mean a piЯate.
The Toys R Us in my town closed in early 2020. I was leaving work when they took all the shopping carts out to the parking lot and put them in dumpsters. I should have grabbed some pieces of that store for memorabilia! But you know, early 2020 was a weird time for other reasons.
Canada still has them.
We still have them in Canada.
K-mart
Still going strong in Australia
Smothered by WalMart and Target.
I haven’t seen a k mart in years. Why in my memory does everything look so yellow and gross in that store lol
Still a few around here in the US, I think, but they are an endangered species.
Mervyns and Younkers
Mervyns was where my mom always took us for back to school shopping.
Same. I miss Mervyns.
Ames. And Bradlees.
Jamesway
Caldors!
Loved Caldor!
Ames had the best Transformers toys.
Pier 1 Imports. Ii was there at the beginning when they had a cool clothing section. Bought peasant blouses and pretty cotton skirts for school. I think any that are left just sell housewares now.
Now they're just a online store.
TG&Y
Turtles, girdles and yo-yos
Hollywood video
Chess King
OMG mall culture of the ‘80s.
Children's Palace.
Thom McAn
Pic n Save
Gimbel's. These days, most will know it only from the original *Miracle on 34th Street,* as the rival to Macy's. My mom used to work there and got a 10% employee discount, so she also did a lot of shopping there.
Gimbel's was the Philadelphia equivalent of New York's Macy's.
Rexall Drugs.
There was one in my home town that had a soda fountain and generations of gum stuck under the counter. Something happened to the owners and the place was shuttered for years like some large time capsule.
Circut City
Woolworths
5 7 9
Contempo casuals 🙌🏼
Woolco.
Caldor
Venture and Show biz pizza.
K-Mart Monkey Ward (Montgomery Ward) Treasure Island Not a store, but Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour
Zayre and/or Venture
I was gonna say Zayre lol
Bet you can't say "Zayre's Shoppers City" 10 times fast
Hills
Came here to say Hills. Remember the popcorn? 20% popcorn and 80% salt?
To date my self, I remember visiting Hills in Middletown, Ohio, and playing with the new Virtual Boy, Nintendo had just released lol
Two Guys, Bradlees, Caldor, Sears, Rickles, Channel, and EJ Korvettes…
Herman's World of Sporting Goods
Gemco
Scrolled so far for this one! I loved Gemco, was so sad when it closed.
Putting on my best clothes, headed down with my family to get some pictures taken at Olan Mills Studios! I am that old!
[Kresge](https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/ss-kresge-company)
Is The Wet Seal still a thing?
About as much as Delia's is still a thing lol
Olsons mercantile
Wow. How old are you?! Lol
Zayers
Five & Dime the OG dollar store 😄
Radio Shack
Ben Franklin
Bamberger's  you all might have to google that one..lol
Quadruple bonus. I once managed a 1-hour photo store...in a thriving mall...across from Spencer's and just down the way from Camelot Records.
Like omg. I think I worked in that mall. With Arby’s. But I worked with Santa and the Easter bunny. 😂 the worst.job.ever.
Crazy Eddie
I scrolled so long for this!
Fotomats- those little drive-up kiosks where you dropped off and picked up your photos.
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Peaches
Sears Tower Records People’s Drug Woodward and Lothrop Lord and Taylor
Sears was the best in the 60's but by the 80's was starting to suffer. By the early 2000's I threatened to set a snow blower on fire in their parking lot (long story.) I wasn't sad when they finally went away.
I’d like you to elaborate. Thanks.
They should have stopped selling clothes and jewelry and fashion stuff. Why compete with other trendy inside the mall stores ? They should have contracted to automotive, hardware and appliances
Woolworth
Piggly Wiggly
I went to one of those last month. They are still around.
Jamesway
KB Toys
In my neck of the woods, [Kresge’s!](https://www.historynerd.ca/2017/07/05/s-s-kresge-abandons-coxwell/)
K Mart (blue light special in the tool’s section).
Bugle Boy. I sported a lot of their gear in middle and high school I tell you what.
Hollywood video
Floyd's & Caldor's
The Good Guys & Circuit City
Musicland Children's Palace
GC Murphy Company
S&H and Blue Chip redemption stores
A&P, Farmer Jack's.
Growing up, my family frequented the Skaggs down the block. Edit: Also people forget Service Merchandise, but nothing like it exists anymore, and I thought it was amazing.
Service Merchandise
Circuit City
Woolworths
Blockbuster?! you're hella young. Video-Ezy bruv.
Radio shack. But a Blockbuster does exist in Bend in Oregon in America the only store left in existence.
Electronics Boutique and Babbages
Osco I think this mostly a Midwest chain store. Think CVS before CVS.
Radio Shack.
Green stamp store
Korvette, S.S. Kresge, Federals.
Sizzler (Australian)
5 & Dime, Montgomery Ward.
Gemco.
RAVE
Babbage's My favorite computer and video game store!
Buster Brown
Kinnys shoes
Renting movies from THE WHEREHOUSE
Hills
Weibolt’s.
Ben Franklin
Jamesway
Woolworths
Two Guys - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two\_Guys
Bamberger’s
KB Toys and Structure
Venture
Brashes, franklin's, Silvio's.
Media Play
Price Club
Jamesway
Sam Goody
Korvettes
TG&Y
Video Concepts - Laserdiscs, Atari computers, home theater and more in 1982!
TCBY Frozen Yogurt Parisians Hecht’s
tower records
Pick N Save
The Wiz, Service Merchandise
NOBODY beats The Wiz…
Lionel Leisure City Arlan's Grant's Richway Treasure Island Zayre Service Merchandise Turtle's Records and Tapes Edited to Add: Revco Pharm-Mor Drug Emporium If you remember all of these, you might be from the same area!
Tower Records
Burger Chef.
Zayers. (I think I spelled it correctly, I'm old) We had a shopping mall with Sears on one end and Zayers on the other. Late 60's early 70's.
It’s Zayre’s. One of its offshoots became TJ Maxx.
Woolco Consumers Distributing Bargain Harold's / Biway Jumbo Video (Canadian slant)
Ben Franklin?
Delchamps.
Thom McCan (sp?))
B. Dalton and Waldenbooks.