Which stores do you remember from your childhood?

A&P supermarket, Woolworths which was in downtown Buffalo along with big dept store, AM&A's{Adam,Meldrum &Anderson} During/before Christmas holiday it was a treat to come downtown with my family and others looking at the Christmas displays in the front windows .
The other stores Howard Johnson's they had the best hot fudge sundaes, Sears
 

There were a couple of locally owned clothing stores and our favorite department store was JCPenney in the 60s and 70s. KMart and Walmart opened up eventually. It is one boring little town; I am spoiled with so many surrounding stores where I reside now.
 
I miss the enormous department stores that used to be in every large town or city.. ( not just London et al)... 7 stories high some of them, and always at Christmas time Santa would be in his grotto.. and the whole floor would be looking all wintry and cosy and warm..

I remember watching with amazement as the old style Cash carrier tube system.. ( don't know it's real name )... was in action..

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Ah, my favorite store was the soda fountain down the street from my grandma's house. When you walked in, the soda fountain counter was on the right. There was a wall of magazines on the left side. They also sold ice pops and ice cream sandwiches from the case and small toys like clickers and yo-yos. Remember clickers? The big draw for me was the two penny candy cases at the back of the store. My grandma would give me a quarter and I'd be off and running! 😊

Vintage Toy Clickers Tin Litho Noise Makers Ca: 1950s.
Decisions, decisions...
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The Bliss List: Favors | Old Fashioned Candy Bar | Lauren Alexandra in ...
Retro Box of Penny Candy
Pin on Remembering Childhood
Bella ✌️
 
Another store my mother liked to shop at was The Leader Store, which was a few blocks from the big department stores, in a poorer neighborhood. The Leader Store sold seconds, off-brands, stuff that they had bought from stores, etc.

Sometimes you could get great bargains and sometimes there was just junk. The store was dark and gloomy and poorly laid out.

The store was run by crabby old ladies and even crabbier old men who didn't like anybody. Especially, they didn't like children and would prefer that we were left out on the sidewalk chained to a lamppost. There was no use asking if "this came in another size" because it didn't and even if it did, they wouldn't tell you. You were on your own.

I remember getting my first pair of high heels in there. Mom said I could have high heels to wear with my purple-flowered dress for the 8th grade graduation dance. Look! There's a pair of purple high heels. It was instant love. I tried them on, they fit. I tried to walk in them....OK, I'll learn. I put them back in the box and went to look for my mother. One of the Old Crabs snatched the box out of my hands and snapped at me to not be handling things I wasn't going to buy. I had to get my mother involved to get the shoes back from her and buy them. I'm pretty sure, Old Crab would have refused to sell them to us just out of spite if she thought she could get away with it.

I hated going in that store.
 
hollydolly said:
I remember watching with amazement as the old style Cash carrier tube system.. ( don't know it's real name )... was in action..
Click to expand...
YES!

They fascinated me!
So much so, I ended up holding the hand of someone other than Mom's.
Looked up.....NGAHHHH!!!
I think it was a JC Penney store

Then there was Montgomery Wards
The biggest store in the world

Gramma let me go in with her once.......once
She'd pull a number and wait to be called
She ended up fishing my hand out of a spittoon
Then on, I remained in the old black '51 chevy
in the parking lot
Doors locked
Windows up
Middle of summer
Good times
 
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Seems Woolworth's was worldwide, or close to it. When I visited my Aunt, we often went there.

In a different location- Newberry's. I didn't know it was a chain. They had everything: clothes, records, cosmetics, tropical fish, etc., and a nice little cafe.

Another, farther away, was a discount department store called Jamesway.

For food/groceries: Grand Union, Freihofer's, A&P, the Victory.
 
I remember our corner drug store had a soda fountain with a marble counter and booths where all the kids hung out....also the doctor's office was upstairs in the same building.
 
JaniceM said:
Seems Woolworth's was worldwide, or close to it. When I visited my Aunt, we often went there.

In a different location- Newberry's. I didn't know it was a chain. They had everything: clothes, records, cosmetics, tropical fish, etc., and a nice little cafe.

Another, farther away, was a discount department store called Jamesway.

For food/groceries: Grand Union, Freihofer's, A&P, the Victory.
Click to expand...
first encountered Newberry's when i went away to college... Stroudsburg, PA.
 
88 Cent Store and Payless. Payless was where I just about stole a gum ball from an opened container near the Mickey Mouse Gumball Machine. I had it in my hand heading for my mouth but something or somebody invisible stopped me. Then I went over to look at the posters on the rack.
 
Aunt Mavis said:
88 Cent Store and Payless. Payless was where I just about stole a gum ball from an opened container near the Mickey Mouse Gumball Machine. I had it in my hand heading for my mouth but something or somebody invisible stopped me. Then I went over to look at the posters on the rack.
Click to expand...
I had a similar situation, but I DID eat the chocolate bar after I left the store. My Mum found out and dragged me back there, to apologize to the store manager, I was 9. When I was 16 I got a job there stocking shelves, for that same manager, Mister Hicks. A nice man who treated me just fine, and who gave me an excellent letter of support when I graduated from HS, and was applying for my first full time job. JimB.
 

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