Obviously stores go out of business or merge for good reason but what about the people? Well, there was once a chain of shoe stores called Petrini that sold women's shoes. They were of great quality, had larger sizes, and the prices were not bad. Some of the shoe designs were pretty trendy but well-crafted.
It's such a legend in the New Orleans area that I feel a little weird talking about it because the dead horse has been beat long ago, butLog In is the store I miss the most. It was a line of drugstores with a distinct color scheme and a great line of store brand products- most famously, their ice cream and liquor! In my town, there was one right across the parking lot from another famed New Orleans institution that's no longer with us: McKenzie's Bakeries.
Okay, they're still around, but they're really far from me. I wish Harris Teeter would come back to my area, so much. Their meat/fish department was always the best, they'd triple coupons, and would accept from just about any store. I hate ours closed down and that I have to drive 30 minutes to one now.
Oh wow, I remember K&B stores from back in the 80's, but they most definitely didn't have liquor and ice cream! LOL. Maybe there was another chain of stores that went by the same name? The ones in our neck of the woods were discount stores with mostly inexpensive clothes, toys and household goods. I especially used to love them because they had all sorts of inexpensive knock-off toys, and some cool toys you couldn't even find at the bigger department stores. I used to shop there a lot right around the time Transformers and GoBots were huge, and they had a whole line of knock off Transformers that looked just as good as the real things, but were just a slightly different color. I used to tell my friends I had special limited edition versions of them, lol. Most of the products at K&B were in horizontal bins, rather than your typical store shelves, which I always thought was rather odd. (As I am typing this, there's a possibility the store I am thinking of was called K&D, I can't remember exactly). There was a store in Columbus Ohio, that closed a few years ago but had been around for decades called The Yankee Trader that I loved. It was a big open store with just tons of bins filled with all kinds of little toys, pranks, magic tricks and stuff like that. They also had a big section of masks and costumes too. All of the merchandise was pretty inexpensive, so you could walk in there with like 20 bucks and walk out with a bunch of stuff. Some of the weirder stores I recall from my childhood would be Jewel Mart (and I believe Best did the same thing) - where you had to fill out an order sheet of what you wanted to buy, then take it to a cashier to pull your merchandise from the back room. There was only one of each item on the shelves, and they were just display models. It sounded like a good idea, for a number of reasons: no need for a shopping cart, reduces store theft, no need to keep shelves stocked regularly, etc... but for some reason it never took off. I guess people love the more traditional shopping experience of pushing a giant buggy around the store with all their stuff in it.
I miss Media Play more than anything. It was honestly better than any store like Best Buy in existence today. As a kid I loved going in there and picking out a new video game or CD, or even going and looking at all the musical instruments for sale. I understand that it's hard nowadays for a store like that to make any money, but if another one opened back up I would definitely go back once a week.
It has only been closed for about two years, but boy do I miss Daffy's. Perfect place to go around the holidays to find unique gifts for literally everyone on your list. Not to mention the French and Italian baby clothes, Halston Heritage dresses for $150, Pour la Victoire pumps for $60 and the best unique home furnishings around. I have heard people suggest Century 21 as an alternative, but I don't think any store will ever compete with the unique selection Daffy's carried. When the store went out of business I think I was there every day stalking the sales and new merchandise, I know I need to get a life, I probably spent almost $5k when the store closed but the items I was bale to purchase are well worth it.
There was local Federal co-op based in Southern California called FedCo. They were huge and were able to get steep discounts. They sold everything from electronics, clothing, specialty meat and fresh fruits and vegetables. They were also the best place to buy low prescription drugs and eyeglasses. It was an unique chain of stores and they hasn't been anything like it since. I was so happy when I was happy to get my own membership when I started working.
Oh man, the store I would want to come back is Ventures. I don't know if they still have them in other places, but here in Oklahoma we don't have them any more. I always loved to go there right after school started, because they would always clearance their supplies down to very very cheap. But we haven't had Ventures in years.
Oh man, memories are posted here! I remember a Fedco in L.A and the parking was insane, like going to Costco on a holiday weekend. Now that I remember, BEST was a way better store than Best Buy because it was much quieter and organized.
There used to be a clothing/accessories online store, punk.com. They carried a variety of different brands of punk, goth, rockabilly, and general alternative-wear. They had such a huge selection of really cute things and usually had a coupon code to be used, as well as comparable prices to other similar stores. The things they carried were from more high-end brands than say, somewhere like Hot Topic that seems to cater to a younger crowd. I really, really miss perusing that site. I have no idea why they shut down, I just went there one day and it was no longer
I miss Woolworth's ,the discount store with the lunch counter that served delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. I also miss the 1990's teen clothing stores Contempo Casuals and Merry Go Round. Those stores had really fun clothes for teens who wanted to dress like pop stars.
I don't really miss any stores. I was going to mention Bradlees and Caldors but Target and Walmart fill that void just fine. Rave has been replaced by Rainbow. Etc. If you really think about stores that close, it is usually because of competition. Which means that there is another store with another name that is providing what that store had but probably in an improved way.
I would like if K-Mart came back to Texas. In Texas they took all the K-Marts out and I use to like shopping at K-Mart although Wal-Mart was still my favorite. I also miss the department store Foley's, they have replaced the Foley's stores with Macy's and they are not the same. Foley's use to have the red apple sale and my mom and I loved shopping during the red apple sales.
I miss Woolworths in the UK too. Their pick 'n mix sweets selection was legendary! They also had pretty decent sales too.
K-marts and Waldo are now more commonly found in my city that Woolworth, that still survives but there are only 3 stores in the whole city, as opposed to more than 100 Walmart stores. I miss Sears & Roebuck as it was when the "Roebuck" part was still displayed and the department store concept was slightly different as it is today. I also miss a local store called "The Mercantile Center" which my mother says was the first supermarket here, which close its doors more than a decade ago. They used to sell a so-called European sandwich with a butter taste that I have never found elsewhere.
I remember Woolworth's as well, but they didn't fare as well here in northeast ohio. By the late 80's their stores were already in steep decline, and hardly anyone was shopping in them. Many of their shelves were barely stocked, and the merchandise that was on them was really old and often covered in dust. Plus you could barely find a store associate if you ever needed one. Little by little, they closed down many sections of the store, starting with the food section which sold slurpees and hot dogs and pop corn, then they closed down the pet section after that. Strangely, they somehow managed to stay in business in our malls up until about the late 90's before finally closing down. I'm guessing perhaps they had some contract with the mall that they had to finish out, since they were initially one of it's flagship stores.
Having a hard time thinking of stores I miss going to. For the most part I think businesses go out because they are not being run properly or treating their costumers correctly. I guess I would have to say I miss Circuit City. I think they were good competition for Best Buy and they had pretty good prices and customer service. Was kind of sad to see them go a few years ago.
I miss Merry-Go-Round also. It reminds me of Licorice Pizza, which is pretty much an era gone by because there are no more chain record stores in L.A. except Amoeba, which is in Hollywood. Woolworth was kind of special too. I remember getting a whole makeup kit from Wet and Wild for about $5-6 and it didn't last any time but I thought I was so cool because it had shadow, blush and lip colors in one neat little case. This was the 1980s btw.
I remember Contempo Casuals! I was honestly kind of sad that I only caught the tail end of that one. I actually had a couple of things from there for a good decade before I finally gave them away because they no longer suited my aesthetic. I might even still have a basic tank or two lying around. Most of the other shops I miss were locally-owned ones. In our mall, there was a science-themed shop when I was younger and I loved the crap out of that place. I still have the mineral/polished stone collection that I built up over a period of time shopping there. Oh, and Liberty House was awesome before Macy’s acquired them. I like Macy’s well enough, but it’s just not the same.
A& P was a store that was found all over the East. I think there might still be a few of them around. They always ground coffee in the stores and it smelled great, plus later they were called Fresh Fields or something and they tripled coupons. Also Super Duper was a chain in NW PA and they had the most delicious Italian bread, meatballs and sausage. That was a great place.
