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

[reecejackox]

I would say blockbusters.

 

[mickman1962]

Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips and Putt Putt Golf Course

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour
Shakey's Pizza Parlor (with the salad bar and Ms. Pac-Man)

 

[brittlh]

Video stores, Showbiz Pizza and Casa Bonita.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

And the toy stores....
Toys R Us
Children's Palace
KB Toys

 

[LiteBrite]

Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips and Putt Putt Golf Course

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour
Shakey's Pizza Parlor (with the salad bar and Ms. Pac-Man)

Yes, yes and yes to all of these.

 

[BrianL]

Man, so many! There was a store near my house called Zayre - it was like a K-Mart, but had a cool toys and video games section, plus a bunch of arcade machines in the front. I loved it mostly because I could walk there. I do miss dedicated toy stores of any kind, since they really don't exist anymore (we had a few that changed names over time but were basically the same). Also, I'll jsut toss in an entire mall, our mall with the ice rink and the best arcade. Man, I grew up in that mall!

 

[Schneewittchen37]

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Man, so many! There was a store near my house called Zayre - it was like a K-Mart, but had a cool toys and video games section, plus a bunch of arcade machines in the front. I loved it mostly because I could walk there. I do miss dedicated toy stores of any kind, since they really don't exist anymore (we had a few that changed names over time but were basically the same). Also, I'll jsut toss in an entire mall, our mall with the ice rink and the best arcade. Man, I grew up in that mall!

We had a Zayre too.

And GC Murphy and Montgomery Ward......

Oof. Almost forgot about the Ames.

Walmart and Amazon destroyed everything.

 

[RangerPooh]

Man, so many! There was a store near my house called Zayre - it was like a K-Mart, but had a cool toys and video games section, plus a bunch of arcade machines in the front. I loved it mostly because I could walk there. I do miss dedicated toy stores of any kind, since they really don't exist anymore (we had a few that changed names over time but were basically the same). Also, I'll jsut toss in an entire mall, our mall with the ice rink and the best arcade. Man, I grew up in that mall!

I heard that we use to have an ice rink in one of the malls here in Memphis. I do miss the safety that seemed to exist in malls back in the day. I only let me teens head to Wolfchase at store opening. I also miss when malls had real stores, and every space was occupied.

 

[BrianL]

I heard that we use to have an ice rink in one of the malls here in Memphis. I do miss the safety that seemed to exist in malls back in the day. I only let me teens head to Wolfchase at store opening. I also miss when malls had real stores, and every space was occupied.

Yes, it was the Mall of Memphis at Perkins and American Way. Back in the 80's it was the "best mall" for sure. It had the skating rink, with a big food court overlooking it on the second floor and a restaurant with a glass wall to the rink on the first floor. It had two toy stores, including one that had more specialized toys (like science sets and classic stuff), two book stores, two electronics stores, and just anything else you could want really. I took skating lessons there, and just generally hung out in the arcade called Gold Mine, which had a facide like a mine. Oh, so much mis-spent allowance!

Like all malls of course, it declined. It gained a reputation for being less safe after a murder took place there (henceforth known as the "Mall of Murder" though it was just the one incident). Stores left and the ice rink fell into decline. We then didn't have any permanent ice facility around here for 15 years or so. The general health of a mall can be determined by the number of occupied bays - unfortunately, these days, even the nice malls have trouble with that.

 

[mefordis]

Bill Knapps

 

[superme80]

Toy R Us, Show Biz, Kmart, and Hollywood Video. I worked at Blockbuster, but Hollywood had a better selection.

 

[Her Dotness]

Dimestores like Woolworth's, Ben Franklin's, Duckwall's.

They had candy counters where you could buy 2 or 3 pieces for a penny.

All kinds of great toys for not much money at all.

 

[Suger Mag]

Walden Books

 

[Skippy918]

Friendly’s! Loved their sundaes.

 

[starvenger]

This is more of a Canadian thing, but:
-Zellers. They disappeared when Target came in. And now Target is gone from Canada.
- 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.
- Sam the Record Man. Iconic Canadian record store. The flagship had these neon records atop the building. I think they appeared in Incredible Hulk during the street fight with Abomination.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

W.T. Grants
Woolworths

Just loved those five & dime stores. Could spend hours there just browsing.

 

[lynxstch]

We had a Zayre's too
Toy Castle, the bldg was actually built to resemble a castle and it was a special treat to get to go there. I would get a Barbie outfit everytime I went
The Penny Candy store by my grandmothers house.
All of the 5 and Dime stores like Woolworth's. My grandmother would take me for lunch there, and always laughed at me because I always ordered a tuna sandwich, apparently I never got them at home,,lol
Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips..when they built it, it was half Subway , half Arthur Treachers
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

 

[KayMichigan]

The Red Barn fast food restaurant. Burgers, fried chicken, watered down orange drinks, and commericals that featured a talking chicken leg: