Defunct Discount Department Stores

[MrPTato]

Born and raised and live in MA for a LOT of years. I remember Zayres, Service Merchandise, Paysaver, Caldors, Bradlee's (actually worked there for a # of years). Remember Woolworths and Grants from when I was a kid, my Grandmother would take me to lunch at Woolworths, loved to sit on those stools that turned. I have been told that I ALWAYS ordered a tuna sandwich, lol. Walmart was the last store that opened there not long before I moved to MD. Walmart Supercenter is just about our only shopping place here, other than a couple of other grocery stores, and Dollar Stores, and Big Lots.

How I miss Service Merchandise and ordering from their Silent Sam computer.

 

[bcla]

Mervyn's. They were bought out by Dayton Hudson, but kept their name. They were kind of a mid-priced department store chain.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyns

 

[Nayan]

We had a TG&Y at one end of a now-defunct shopping plaza and McCrory at the other end. I'm not sure if all of them had an area to eat, but I do remember I loved the chicken fingers at McCrory.

 

[cybrkitn]

OMG, I remember those. Most stores that have been mentioned we had here as well:

Grant's/Grant's City*
Woolco*
Caldor's*
Woolworth's
Mongomery ward
Two Guys
Kovette's
Newberry's

One that wasn't mentioned was McCorey's. I don't know if that was specific to Long Island, NY or not. Consumers and Service Merchandise I kind of group together since they were similar to each other. DH and I had one of our wedding registries at Service Merchandise back in 99. Soon after, they went out of business.

*Grant's was about a mile away from where I am now. Once they went out Woolco came in. After they went out, Caldor's came in. It's now a Lowes after the shopping center was demolished so it could be built.

 

[design_mom]

We had Woolco and TG&Y dime stores. Our predecessor to Target/Walmart was probably Gold Circle though. I think it was an Ohio based company... and they all closed in the late 1980s.

 

[lynxstch]

Did anyone say Gilchrist?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilchrist's

that's one I have never heard of before

 

[PrincessShmoo]

West Coast...
White Front
Gemco

Ooooo..I forgot about Gemco.

 

[Jaya]

Ayrway, Woolco and Shopper's Fair. E.J. Korvettes was another one.

 

[Kogo Shuko]

Up here in Canada...

I recall when Woolco became Wal-Mart.

K-Mart is a thing of the past up here, although I've seen them in Florida. I think I did a double take the first time and actually went back to make sure!

Only a few years ago Target bought out our Canadian chain, Zellers, and either shut down or rebranded every single Zellers store (but interestingly let the previous company keep the name). Target did poorly in Canada, and closed down. So no more Zellers, no more Target. Nothing to compete with Wal-Mart.

I remember when Radio Shack became The Source by Circuit City, and then later simply The Source. I understand that the owners of Radio Shack kept their name and used the money from the sale to open new Radio Shack stores in the United States, but in Canada Radio Shack is completely gone, and it's simply The Source. Although most people my age or older still call it Radio Shack.

 

[POOHsie]

Anyone remember J B Hunter? They came to our area in 1971. I worked there during high school. They had stores in states other than ours (NY).

 

[ImDMous]

West coast here, we had Fedco and Gemco for discount department stores and TG&Y's Roscoe's for dime stores.

My mom used to work at the Woolworth's food counter. It was before I was born so I never got to spin on the stools.

 

[Heidict]

Caldors
Ames
Woolworths
Service Merchandise
Emporium
Montgomery Ward - We got a microwave oven from monkey wards, back in 76 or 77. It finally died 2 years ago. It was huge, and not sleek and pretty like the ones today, but it just would not die and I refused to get rid of it and spend money on something that would break down in a couple of years. Can't recall what my parents paid for it, but after 38 years of use, I think we got our moneys worth. I almost cried when it died!!

 

[Disneefun]

Brendle's and Best were two that we had that I haven't seen mentioned. Brendle's was sort of like Sears and sold a bit of everything. My first job was there.

Best was sort of like Service Merchandise as you filled out a ticket for what you wanted and they got it from the back. But they had one of the greatest catalogs and I loved using it for making my Christmas list as a kid (along with the Sears WishBook).

 

[E&Cmom]

I am in Canada but remember going to Montgomery Ward whenever we went shopping in upstate New York.

In Canada, we has Kmart when I was a child but it left. We had Miracle Mart in Quebec and Ontario which then became M. Most of these then became Zellers which then became Target. Now these are empty while they decided what to do with them. A lot are becoming Walmart. We had Woolco and they all became Walmarts. The town I grew up in had one discount department store called Greenbergs and then it became Saan. I have no clue if this still exists. I also remember this store called Horizon that like Kmart had red lights specials and we would chase down that light. Lol.

Oh and consumers distributors. I loved going through the catalogue as a kid.

 

[mom2rose&john]

Twin Fair
Gold Circle
Woolworth's
Brand Names
Ames

It's funny because most of these stores were like Walmart and Target. Wonder in the the next 20-25 years what will replace WalMart and Target?

 

[Patch'sD]

We had TSS (Times Square Stores) Kliens, Sears, Woolworth, Kresge, Caldor, Bradlees, JC Penny. EJ Korvettes was my favorite as it was only 1/2 mile from my house and spend many an afternoon wandering through that store. I have to agree their music department was the best.

 

[frndshpcptn]

Service Merchandise
Bradlee
Caldor
Loehman's
Annie Sez

 

[goofy4prez]

My father was in retail management while I was growing up. I can remember many here in Ohio.

Zayre
Gold Circle
Gaylords
Atlantic Spartan
Hills Dept. Stores
Uncle Bills
Best
Fisher's Big Wheel
Ames (bought out Hills)

 

[Dan Murphy]

Wiebolts, Morrie Mages, Goldlatts, Silo, Polk Bros, Kresges, Topps, Robert Hall, Community Discount, Shoppers World, Memco, Treasury, and many of those alreay mentioned.

 

[Malibustyle23]

Jamesway and Roses were a couple I didn't notice mentioned that we had here.

On another note I'm surprised that Big Lots is surviving.