Stores, some of my favorite

OneEyedDiva said:
The now defunct Dress Barn Woman was one of my favorite stores. But it's been years since I've had to buy clothing from a regular retail store. I found my favorite thrift-consignment shop and have gotten the few garments I've needed from there at terrific prices. Other than that, I love Costco, our local supermarket Price Rite, Dollar Tree, Chewy (online) and Amazon.
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My cousin worked at the dress barn in Columbus, Ohio for years. She loved it.
 

There was Morrow's Nut House in Indianapolis when I was a kid and it was a real treat to get to go in and buy a small bag of roasted nuts. Just the smell alone would send you to heaven. We'd come in from the cold and it was warm and foggy in there, smelling of cinnamon and other spices. Every kind of nut imaginable was in there.

One store I loved to go into here in Orlando was The Infinite Mushroom, which had two locations, but I only went to the bigger one that was near where I lived. It was what we used to call a "head shop" because they had a big business in rolling papers and bongs. But they also had a large selection of some of the oddest goods in town. That's where you got the really good t-shirts and other hippy-type clothing. It was one of the only places you could get really off-the-wall greeting cards and that was the only kind I gave anyone. If you were looking for an odd gift, that was the place to go shopping.

The incense would turn your nose inside-out if you stayed too long and the music playing loudly would scramble your brain. Every now and then, it got raided for some reason or the other and would be closed for a few days. I'm sure there were a few things being sold out the back door that weren't exactly on the inventory list.....
 
Aunt Bea said:
Karmelkorn and Columbus bakery are still here!

Christmas shopping downtown with the smell of Karmelkorn wafting out into the street is another favorite food memory for me.
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Those are both such fond memories for me, too.

I have such happy memories of going to Columbus Bakery with my mother and sister to buy bread. On more than one occasion, the warm loaves smelled so good in the car that we devoured them and had to go back to buy more.
 

officerripley said:
I miss Montgomery Ward, Mervyns and Kmart.
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I kind of miss Kmart too. There was one not too far from us. That's where I got most of my Chic jeans. Decades ago, I got a pair of no name sneakers from there that were inexpensive and so comfortable that I went back and got a second pair. I also got my last set of dishes from there.
 
Most have already been mentioned their favorite stores so I will just share the memory of my parents taking me to the toy department at Sears when I was a kid. They had everything, from Hot Wheels to American Building Bricks to Crayons in 96 colors. I still remember it like it was yesterday.

I also still remember how much I enjoyed going to Spencer Gifts as a teenager, for things like gag gifts and black light posters. They are still in business as Spencer's these days.
 

Aunt Bea said:
I miss the old locally owned D&K five and dime stores, they were a no frills forerunner to the modern day dollar stores or Dollar General type stores.

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I too loved the old five and dime stores. Growing up in Pittsburgh in the '50s there were bunches of Kresge's, Murphy's, and Woolworths. Most of them were large-- some having two floors, and all had lunch ounters. Seemed like one could get most anyything in them.
 
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W.T. Grant was a chain of mass-merchandise department stores founded in 1906 by William Thomas Grant. I remember those.

"Sanger Brothers" (better quality) and "A. Harris" (lesser quality) were two big dept. stores in Dallas that merged to become one "Sanger-Harris", which later combined with Foleys, then acquired by Macy's.

I know Woolworth's has been mentioned, but I wanted to add this part. They had a big store on Elm Street in downtown Dallas years ago. I worked not far away, and used to go to their cafeteria on the mezzanine level for lunch. Some days they had fashion shows with models wearing certain clothing that was sold in the store.

I remember a particular summer day when this gorgeous brunette came out modeling a skimpy 2 piece bathing suit and a contagious smile, walking out among diners. It had a price tag pinned on the top part reading, $8.00.
[Was that the price for the suit, or. . . ? ;)]
 
Sears catalogs, especially the Christmas catalogs were something I looked forward to when I was a kid.

I have a good friend that worked at W.T. Grant for several years after she graduated from high school, she loved working there.

Later Radio Shack was a standby for radio guys like me, always needed a resistor or capacitor.

Woolworth stores with the lunch counters, and all the candy and nuts were what I miss the most. It was a gathering place. A lot of the downtown workers ate there every day. Families ate there when shopping on Saturdays or during the holidays.
 
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Babs2u said:
I was about to say Pier 1 Imports but I see they are still in business, just not near me. I enjoyed them around the holidays for ornaments and small gifts from around the world.
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They closed their retail stores. Hubby was manager at a few Pier 1 stores. They had a great CEO that used to visit the stores and listen to the employees, then he retired and they brought in an "ivory tower" guy who was out of touch.

They do have an online presence, but a big part of Pier 1's appeal was the "tactile" feel of visiting the store.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
Thankfully, my VCR player still works because I have a lot of tapes. Not long back I looked for one that's been reconditioned; not much luck, so it's just a matter of time before I can no longer play those tapes.
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My dad recorded a lot of VCR tapes. After he passed, I kept the machine and all the tapes, but haven't watched even one.
 
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Aunt Bea said:
I miss many of the features and products from the old grocery stores like A&P, IGA, etc…

The smell of the store self serve ground grinders.

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The A&P or P&C Spanish Bar Cake!
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Spanish Bar Cake. A real old fashioned market bakery fave! Rock Recipes
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My job, at the A and P, was to grind the coffee for grandma and make sure she got a Spanish bar cake. Gee, they were good. Also any cereal that had a premium kids gift inside.
 
I worked at A&P in the mid 60’s. I will never forget unloading the tractor trailer load of groceries once a week. It was hard work for a skinny 16 year old. 60 pound bales of sugar, canned goods, then slicing open the cardboard and stamping every can. But, I was making $1.90 an hour when the guys at Winn Dixie were making $1.25.

After work, I’d stop by the Rexall for a toasted ham or grilled cheese sandwich and a cherry Coke on my way home (I walked, it was only a few blocks). My best friend ran the counter, we had some great times.
 
ChiroDoc said:
Those catalogs were huge! Looking back, it must have cost them a fortune to send out tens of thousands of those! Seems like you could order almost anything through the mail-- and that was decades before Amazon.
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My late dad was a USPS rural carrier from 1946 until 1976. I don’t recall ever hearing him complain about delivering the Sears Christmas catalogs, I remember the back seat of his route car (65 Chevy) being filled with catalogs to deliver.
 
My husband spent a lot of time at Fry's Electronics when we lived in Texas. We do not have one here.
My favorite was Pier 1 Imports. I loved to visit their store. The ones in Texas were the best especially at Christmas time! It was so inviting!
I also liked the Bombay Co.
Presently I like NOVICA, World Market, L.L. Bean, Amazon and Chewy.
 
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