Was there a "big box" store you were fond of when you were young?

[Archae]

That probably doesn't exist anymore?

Here in Sheboygan, we loved the "Prange-Way" stores.

Had lots of stuff we needed like Wal-Mart, no groceries though.

And near Christmas they had animated store windows, with Santa and animals and his elves.

They're long gone, I'm afraid.

[InkAddict]

1. Uncle Bills - n/t

[polly7]

2. We had Woolworth's up here. I loved it. You could sit at a long counter

and have a coke or ice-cream. The building is still standing ..... it seemed huge to us way back then, but looks pretty tiny now compared to the ginormous Wal-Mart across the street.

[RebelOne]

8. Yeah, as a kid I loved to go to downtown Miami to Woolworth's. n/t

[emilyg]

26. Brings back good memories.

[begin_within]

60. There was a Woolworth here until 1985

at the end of a hoity-toity shopping mall. They had a snack bar with simple but tasty food, even fried chicken you could buy by the piece. Now it's an Old Navy store and that mall has a food court with pretentious little takeout places selling chicken at 4 times the price Woolworth was selling it for.

[hunter]

3. TG&Y

That's where we bought our balsa wood airplanes, click-clacks, yo-yos, wax "chewing gum," and no-name off-brand sugar candies.

[suninvited]

4. We had Ben Franklin five and dime

and Duke & Ayres (Texas stores). Through the early eighties we had Zayres in Florida. I think they are all gone now.

[Kat45]

30. The Ben Franklin here is still there (Boston area)

We also used to have a Zayres, which is gone.

[HughBeaumont]

65. There's a Ben Franklin in Oberlin, in the college square.

Their residents fought tooth and nail to keep modern big-box-marts out for it as well. Lots of good family businesses around there.

[blue_onyx]

5. Children's Palace

It was a toy store similar to Toys R Us and its buildings looked like a castle.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. There was a huge locally owned store called Valley View.

If you couldn't find it anywhere else, you could find it there. People came from Pittsburgh and Cleveland to our po-dunk little area just to shop there. The store went out of business after Walmart got to this area, even though Valley View was better---sadly it was also a little more expensive. The building became an antique mall, then just burned to the ground recently. Miss it.

[Brickbat]

7. Treasure City. They had a pet area in the back where we could browse while the parents shopped.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

9. Wigwam Stores

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigwam_Stores_Inc.

I loved going there as a kid.

[redwitch]

10. Two Guys, EJ Korvettes, WTGrant

Fun, fun, fun!

[LiberalEsto]

12. Two Guys, definitely.

I worked at a W.T. Grant for about a month when I was 17. What a bunch of petty people.

[GoCubsGo]

14. Korvettes...

Wow! Haven't heard that name in about 40 years! I barely remember what the stores were like.

[redwitch]

45. At korvettes and Two Guys the record departments!

Mostly what I remember were the records, back when I was a teenager and music meant EVERYTHING! But Two Guys also had an arcade of sorts and munchies too. I think I remember bowling??? Not real bowling but one of those machine thingies.

[juajen]

29. I worked at WTGrant from the age of 15 to 18 as a sales clerk

and an office assistant. Those were the days. No, I don't remember what I earned.

[TheMightyFavog]

11. PRANGE WAY!!!

We had one in our mall in Marinette when I was a kid! I remember the red plastic carts. Was a sad day when it closed in the mid 90s.

Sadly the mall's not going to last uch longer now that the Wal Mart Anchor store that opened in the late 90s closed and moved into a new supercenter just down the road. Unless you need soemthing from Younkers or JC Penney or Dunham's Sports, there's really no reason to go there anymore.

[Archae]

48. I even worked at Prange Way.

Stockboy in the toy section.

What a nightmare.
Parents bring their spoiled brats into the store to play with the CLEARLY BOXED toys, leaving them broken or scattered.

[TheMightyFavog]

51. What, they took them right out of the box?

Whoa...

[Archae]

55. Yup.

The store would lose a lot of merchandise to damage this way, and they'd weekly load a truck full and take them to the local thrift stores.

I caught one kid ripping a doll out of a box. ONCE.

Manager said don't even bother admonishing the brat, the parent would throw a bigger tantrum than the kid would.

[Skittles]

13. Marks and Sparks

yes INDEED

[struggle4progress]

15. The older nickel and dime places, of any type, were often a gas: they'd have aisle

after aisle of little bins of remainders they'd collected over the years. Fifty cents, a dollar, a kid could fill a little brown paper bag of small cool things

[begin_within]

61. We had stores like that called "T G & Y"

It was a fun place to go because you never knew what you would see there. My Mom always went there to buy sewing supplies because they always had that stuff. But us kids would look around and find treasures - that we could afford!

[pepperbear]

16. Gibson's, Woolco, Marks and Spencer in the UK, & Montgomery Ward. n/t

[Kali]

18. woolco!

they had baby alligators in the pet/aquarium area

also the camping section was fun with the set-up tents and cots and camp kitchens

[OhioChick]

17. Gold Circle...

I remember a large toy isle. :D

[sinkingfeeling]

39. I wasn't a child, but loved the Gold Circle stores in Columbus.

[mopinko]

19. kresges.

used to love to go visit all the little animals my mom wouldn't let me bring home.
and have a pop out of a cup that had a pointed bottom.

that's as close to big box as it came in those days.

[6000eliot]

32. Didn't Kresge's become Kmart?

[mopinko]

35. yup.

[mysuzuki2]

20. EJ Korvette

[Lasher]

21. Heck's Department Stores

The chain went out of business in 1990. They were pretty much like a Kmart is today.

[Shagbark Hickory]

22. Yes. Too many to list. Don't they all disappear eventually?

[BlueJazz]

23. Webb's City

[csziggy]

28. I LOVED Webb's City when I lived in St. Pete

They even still had the piano playing chicken! I'd take the bus from the campus and could spend all day without spending more than about ten dollars.

[BlueJazz]

46. HA!!!....I forgot about the chicken. Another place I loved was Maas Brothers....

(down by Williams park).

[csziggy]

47. I never went there the one year I spent in St. Pete

I attended Florida Presbyterian College (Now Eckerd College) for one year with a summer session, so almost a full year. While I was there, I don't think I bought any clothes at all and my shopping opportunities were limited. Mostly we'd take the bus to the big shopping center where Wolfe's was (my first exposure to bagels!). Downtown was a transfer and a really long bus ride, though it was worth it to go to Haslam's Bookstore and Webb's City.

[Aristus]

24. Ayr-Way.

I thought it was a cool name, because when you walked in from a hot, humid Louisville, KY summer day, it was air-conditioned. I also remember their TV commercials, sung to a very 1970's jingle, simply the name sung over and over again.

Ayr-Way went bankrupt and the stores were bought by Target.

[Odin2005]

25. Dayton's.

[geardaddy]

62. I miss Dayton's

I remember the downtown Minneapolis store had a great toy department and they had a childcare area where my mom used to drop me so she could go shopping. They had this cool slide that looked like an elephant.

[csziggy]

27. McCrory's, a five & dime store

They had a case with wonderful porcelain made in Japan statuettes, including horses. Many of my Christmas and birthday presents from my relatives were from that case. I still have nearly all of them, except for the ones my little sister broke.

[RebelOne]

41. Another great place in downtown Miami I loved to visit as a kid. n/t

[Manifestor_of_Light]

31. Real department stores with beautiful holiday displays.

In Houston, we had Foley's downtown. Second biggest dept. store in the Country after macy's New York.
A full city block, nine floors plus a basement.

Close by was the Sakowitz store, lots of space and beautiful displays, quality merchandise.

Battlestein's, also a quality dept. store. I got my Italian shoes at Battelstein's. Couldn't wear American made wide ones.

Neiman-Marcus, a dallas import, was downtown. In 1969, they opened the first anchor store for the Galleria, outside Loop 610. It is a store made out of cubes. But it has big yellow slabs of agate like marble that are lit up from the inside at night. Really beautiful.

Family owned dept. stores are gone. Foley's was eaten by Macy's, Joske's of san antonio was eaten by Dillard's out of Little Rock. Marshall Field came and went, and I'm not sure if Saks Fifth avenue was hanging on or not.

I really liked our local Woolworth's when I was a kid.

[Systematic Chaos]

33. Zody's, Wonder World and Grand Central, here in Las Vegas/North Las Vegas

Zody's had a huge arcade in the front, with about 30 games in it, and a few classics in the center were just a nickel or two nickels per play. Omega Race, anybody? Very cheap entertainment for a 14-year-old kid back in 1983.

And all of those stores had great selections of Atari cartridges at fire sale prices after the video game crash, as well as cutout LPs and cassette tapes from a lot of progressive and classic rock artists. I got Yes' Tormato there for a buck, as well as other more obscure but excellent music, for next to nothing.

Wal-Mart and Target can't touch those old chains for all the cool things they did and stuff they sold. I get kind of sad thinking back on it now. :(

[Paper Roses]

34. If you are from MA, never forget Spag's!

[mopinko]

36. now i remember- gaylords

the first real big box store by me, very kmart like. i remember it had sporting goods. i had never really seen tents in a store, or coleman stoves.

but the big one was that they made donuts in a glassed in kitchen, right inside the front door. they were krispy creme before krispy was a gleam in his momma's eye.
what i will really never forget, tho, was the fire that started in that donut kitchen. the biggest fire i think i have ever seen. burned for a couple days.
then they rebuilt the store from the same blueprints.

[Tom Ripley]

37. Sky City, J M Fields, Woolco, Grants

[HopeHoops]

38. Hechingers (sp?) hardware

[sinkingfeeling]

40. There weren't any 'big box' stores when I grew up. Nearest thing was Sears & Montgomery Ward stores

in the 'malls'.

[Initech]

42. BEST and Gemco

I bought my first NES system at a Gemco. Cost $149.

[hifiguy]

43. The first ever Target was about a mile

from where I lived when I was a boy. Shopper's City (long defunct) and some weird mammoth store called GEM. Went in it once and it looked like something you'd expect to see in the old Soviet Union. Dirty floors, acres of low racks with vaguely cruddy looking merchandise piled atop them.

[mikeargo]

44. Lechmere

In New England. I must have kept them in business by myself in the '80s. Bought my first TV, Walkman, VCR, CD player, and IBM PC there. They were much better than Best Buy. I still miss them.

[applegrove]

49. I used to go to the teenage section of "The Bay" often as a teen. I didn't buy much

cause I didn't have money then but I just loved their clothes. Still do. "The Bay" is an upscale department store in Canada. It was originally the Hudson's Bay Company and is around 360 years old - I think the oldest corporation in North America.

[petronius]

50. I remember one called "Federated" or something, and while it may not have

been as huge as I remember (I was tiny) it was cool because the snack bar had a slushy machine and sometimes my parents would get us some. Or pretzels! :9

[BiggJawn]

52. "Jubilee City"

On North Keystone, just north of 52nd street in Indianapolis.
They had a Mold-a-Rama machine.

[wickerwoman]

53. Frederick & Nelson for the Frango mints at Christmas.

Macy's sells the mints now, but somehow they aren't the same.

[Akoto]

54. K-Mart

I know, not exactly exotic. I'm only 26. :)

Every Friday, my mom and I used to go there and get pizza from a Little Caesar's in the store. We'd take it home and watch our favorite shows on TV while we ate. One of those things I remember with deep fondness, and a time in my life which I miss greatly.

[dana_b]

56. White Front

it was popular in California and went bankrupt in the mid 70s. I just remember going there with my mom (good memories).

[Tabasco_Dave]

57. Fedco

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Employees%27_Distributing_Company

[Tom Ripley]

58. Sam Solomons, Service Merchandise

[badhair77]

59. McCrorys and Grants on a Sat afternoon

and then we'd go to Gino's for a burger and fries. The best of times as a little girl.

[geardaddy]

63. Woolworth's and Holiday

Holiday still has gas stations, but they used to have a Target-like store. Of course when I was growing up, Target was much less fancy.

[HughBeaumont]

64. Hills.

I can still remember the smell of popcorn and newly minted video games in their lobby. I can still remember their home game and electronics and toy sections inside the store.

Gold Circle was also great; their magazine section had Vampirella comics. ;)

Woolworths also had a good diner and video games. I bought a lot of cheap tapes there also.

[badhair77]

66. the popcorn at Hills - absolutely

And the grilled hot dogs in the entryway.