What businesses that you loved as a child are no longer there?

[DisneyHardin]

Toy Castle, the bldg was actually built to resemble a castle and it was a special treat to get to go there.

We had a big toy store here that looked like a castle, but it was called "Children's Palace". I loved that place.

 

[sabretoothedbandit]

KB, Toys R Us, Zayre, Hills, Kaufmann's, Blockbuster...

Waldenbooks...

 

[BrianL]

- Consumers Distributing. More or less like the Sears catalogue. You go to the store, order your products, they go to the back and bring it out for you.

We had a place like that called Service Merchandise. You could take a little pad with an order form when you entered then write down the product numbers, then it was fulfilled at a pickup area. Kind of strange, but it was a fun store.

 

[tinkerhon]

Sam Goody !!

 

[tvguy]

Walmart and Amazon destroyed everything.

No, the people who decided to avoid their local stores and buy from Amazon destroyed everything. Walmart, not so sure. They provide a huge number of local jobs with each store.

 

[neverlandsky]

Thrifty Ice Cream
Bob's Big Boy
Montgomery Ward
Payless Shoes
Pick n Save
Price Club
Hollywood Video
Virgin Megastore
Tower Records

 

[princesscinderella]

I miss Swenson’s it was a great food/ ice cream fountain. I used to get the kids meal and it would come in a cable car box. They would make a coke with lemon syrup so yummy!!

 

[luvsvacation]

I loved Phar-Mor…that is where we always rented movies and it was so much fun to walk up and down the aisles picking what I was going to watch that weekend! I just loved that whole store in general, I was sad when they closed it.

Zantigos was my favorite fast food place ever! They closed when I was probably 7ish but I still remember how awesome their bean burritos were.

 

[easyas123]

Friendly’s! Loved their sundaes.

As to Friendly's, aren't there anymore Friendly's restaurants around? I used to work there when I was younger.Still love their ice cream, but it's not always found easily here in Western MD

I can be at two different Friendlys (Dover & Middletown, DE) in about 30 minutes. But outside of those I can't tell you where any others are! I must admit I probably haven't been to the Dover one in well over 20 years, if not more. The other one we went to about a year? ago?

Mine is a little more specific...there was a place called Cream Valley Dairy in Woodstown, NJ. Went there with my brothers and the old man when we were kids, it was a big treat for us!

 

[tvguy]

Thrifty Ice Cream

Still around. Rite Aid bought Thrifty Drug stores and still sell Thrifty Ice Cream.

 

[Dead2009]

Toys R Us and Hollywood Video.

 

[Silver saucer]

Tower Records

 

[MillauFr]

Pies and pipes

 

[MillauFr]

Rose records in Chicago

 

[MillauFr]

Seven Corner Hardware in St. Paul

 

[MillauFr]

Cooper Theater in St. Louis Park, MN

 

[MillauFr]

Eliane's on the upper East Side in Manhattan

 

[MillauFr]

The Pullman Grille in Las Vegas at the Main St. Station

 

[barkley]

Shakey's Pizza Parlor

we still had one up until 7 years ago-i miss their lunch buffett.

Ben Franklin's

the little town i live near still mourns the loss of it-it was THE go to place for pretty much anything you needed.

Bob's Big Boy

loved it until the one local (then) to me decided to go to a 'low sodium' menu-it equated to salt free and tasteless. they went out of business quickly after that.

Payless Shoes

my saviour many a time when the kids needed shoes at the last minute.



i grew up in napa ca and i really miss the privately owned generations old businesses that no longer exist-wonderful little specialty meat markets, delis, restaurants, a chain of grocery stores... most gone in the name of tourism

 

[Communicore1991]

Off the top of my head, I remember going to Ames and Jamesway when I was a kid. There was also a small local chain called Rockaway Sales that I remember going to with some of my family members over the years.