And here it is. I always loved Best! I bought my first Christmas gifts in the USA there. I can close my eyes and still see it. It just brings a lot of memories.
There used to be a Best store on Carpenter Road in Ypsilanti Michigan but it got converted into a flooring store. I remember seeing the sign behind the building on US 23 north going towards Washtenaw.
@@BIGBLOCK5022006there also was in Wyoming, originally Roger's Catalog Showroom. Now subdivided into Harbor Freight, Jets Pizza and had a Big Lots which moved as part of its floor for some reason kept sinking.
If you are from the Midwest, Wisconsin and the UP (and old enough) you probably can finish this jingle: "Say hello to a good buy at..." . Is it stuck in your head? Your welcome!
Amazing work! I absolutely love reminiscing about some of my favorite childhood stores. Would love to see Jamesway, Ames, and Hess featured down the line. Also loved seeing Steve and Barry's featured. We had one about 20 minutes away that my dad would always take me to for clothes.
Wow. BARNEYS! That store was FUN & FABULOUS! l loved the CHRISTMAS WINDOWS on 7th Avenue (at 16th). They used to do the trees out front in rainbow colors at Christmas time!
In Illinois there was also a ‘Venture’ discount. Somewhere around ‘84-‘85. Don’t know how long it lasted. Also a ‘Builder’s Square’ , like a Home Depot….but, there weren’t any Home Depot yet where I lived. There was also a Zayre as was mentioned in the previous episodes. There was also ‘Goldblatts’…..had everything, even a bulk candy counter. Then there was ‘Arlans’ discount. Anyone hear of these? Also ‘Pranges’, a really nice department store.
Venture discount is a great suggestion! I have a "Forgotten Home Improvements Stores" in the works as well. Your other suggestions are awesome and I'm taking notes.
@@graytabbie VENTURE began as a part of May/Famous-Barr. ... Just as Target began as a part of Dayton-Hudson and Clover was a part of Philadelphia's Strawbridge & Clothier.
I do remember shopping at Gottschalks a lot up until they closed in 2009. My hometown had 3 locations, 2 were at the same mall after Gottschalks merged with Harris (another great department store chain that also went defunct by 2009). I also remember shopping at BEST a few times as a kid. Funnily enough, my local BEST store would later become a Best Buy store 😂.
Maybe in a future installment, you could include Schottenstein's/Value City Department Stores. Began in 1916 by Ephraim L. Schottenstein on S. Parsons Ave. in Columbus OH, with the first expanded location on 1887 S. Parsons Ave in 1947, it was the first department store in Columbus to actually open on Sundays (and closed on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath). Another Schottenstein location opened in 1961 on Westerville Rd, which became the North Store (also where the corporate office was located). During the 70s and 80s an East and West store were added. However, when Schottenstein began expanding outside of Columbus, they would become known as Value City Department Stores (the family's rabbi made it a rule that any of their stores in Columbus HAD to be named after the family). Schottenstein began to acquire more stores, often renaming them after the store plus Value City (like Grampa's-Value City in St. Louis, when the company bought them in 2002), as well as buying Filene's Basement, Widman's and American Eagle Outfitters. By 2002 the company, now officially known as Retail Ventures Inc., had 117 stores under the Schottenstein/Value City Dept. Stores umbrella. But because of poor management and misguided supply decisions (many of the item suppliers for our store, such as N. V. Spring (fishing supplies), hardware suppliers, paint and Health and Beauty Care, were eliminated under the idea our buyers could do better...they couldn't), plus expanding way too fast, the original store on S. Parsons was shuttered in March 2005, along with two Grampa's stores), then they renamed the three remaining Schottenstein stores Value City stores in Columbus (how they got by with this is a particularly shameful story for another time) soon after. But in December 2008, all remaining Value City Department Stores were shuttered, about a week before Christmas. These days, what remains of the original Schottenstein Stores are the East store, which was sold to Burlington Coat Factory...not sure if that's still open. The West Store eventually was sold to a small clothing outfit and is still open. The North Store was never sold, and today is an abandoned husk....a couple of people have done videos of the place over the past year for UA-cam, and the original store on S. Parsons? Torn down around 2010 and today a Primary One health center stands in its place. I still have a few bricks from where it was being torn down, since I worked there from 1992 to the end. Just for old time's sake, I guess.
If you do a part 5 include Sage department stores and Gemco. There was a Sage store close to where i grew up in west Houston. Gemco was a early attempt at a membership department store. Gemco's were not around long.
I had completely forgotten about gold circle. I remember there was a store in that shopping center called elder berhman, we used to buy our shoes there when I was a kid.
I don't believe there's ever been a department store with more incompetent senior management than Best Products. They built a superb chain of store and then ran the company straight into the ground with lack of innovation, bad store locations and many other bad decisions.
Another to add too that, their direct competitor, Whitmark. They had two locations in the Grand Rapids, MI area. One in the former Eastbrook Mall (in city) and other on Plainfeild Avenue, north of Grand Rapids. That was a stand alone location, building demolished last year after years of neglect, for stupid reasons apparently. Right across street from a Kmart! Which anchored the former North Kent Mall, with Montgomery Wards as the other anchor. Another department store my mom shopped at all the time was Steketees (Eastbrook Mall) and Colortile. Which was in Rodgers Plaze in Wyoming, Michigan. That mall was anchored by Rodgers Catalouge Showroom, before it became Best, other end Montgomery Wards. Former Wards Auto Center on Plainfeild, is now a Plainfeild Fire station. Before that you could tell where its gas pumps once stood.
Two I thought would be included in this series was Pomeroy's, mid Atlantic dept store chain and Korvette's. You did mention Korvette's but didn't go into any detail. Great series!
Both my kids were photographed by Olan Mills. My son is now 51. They set up 1st in Sears and then KMART. (Later KMART bought out Sears then closed many stores.). Olan Mills wasn't a dept store tho...
Olan Mills had there own store front in Grand Rapids Michigan. They did most of the Senior pictures from the surrounding highschools. My brother in 78 and mine in 84. Not sure after that. I think most school districts had them come and take the yearbook pictures too.
Best department stores had some great architecture. The part of the video showing 9 different stores with unusual architecture, i recognized the middle one. It was located in southeast Houston
I just finished watching all 4 of these videos, was surprised to not see a single one of the 4 stores I grew up with. GC Murphy's, McCrorys, Hecks, Fishers Big Wheel. I worked at Murphy's Mart from 1981 to 1986, my mom worked at Fishers from 1972 to 1999.
It's weird how some of them went out of business and closed and I never really even noticed. Paces like Hills and Gold Circle and Korvette's just disappeared and I never noticed before until you mentioned them. I guess I just wasn't paying attention.
Wow, Best had one wild and unique entrance there. Still hoping for coverage of some Long Island, NY lost stores like Jamesway, Alexanders, Great Eastern, Modells (yes, once a department store before they did sporting goods), Times Square Stores & Korvettes. If you ever cover defunct toy stores then Play World simply must be covered.
Best did have one of the wildest entrances ever! Korvettes was covered in either Part 1 or 2. Times Square Stores have been suggested a few times, so I may go ahead and put that on the list. @Post-Mortar did do some documentaries on a few Toy Stores, you should check him out. ua-cam.com/video/JGsh9-Qx8tU/v-deo.html . I will have some Forgotten Toy Stores, Banks, and Entertainment/Arcades lined up for 2022. 😃
Plz make part 5 these videos are awesome to watch also I know a department store that went out of business Bon-Ton and it’s other six department stores such as Boston Store, Bergners, Carson’s, Elder Beerman, Herbergers, And Younkers. They all liquidated in 2018.
Oh that’s great!!! 😃 Additional info: We actually might see the The Bon Ton back as a store again . The reason for this because of this company BrandX wants to revive The Bon Ton and Stage Stores brands . They made an e-commerce website this summer, and will open a Carson’s brick and mortar store at Louis Joliet Mall and will open in February or Spring of 2023. The articles I read were pretty new as they were posted a month ago, even Wikipedia had something to say too. They also announced a Younkers location too, but that is undisclosed at the moment. So I honestly think we are going to see this brand again.
It's been decades since the time when thousands of independent department stores dotted the American landscape. But in the latter half of the 20th Century, large corporate department stores, like Walmart, put thousands of small town department stores out of business! Both the working owners and employees were left jobless, and together with other large corporations, owned by private individuals who do no work at all, sent factories overseas to places where children and desperately poor adults work in the most squalid of conditions for pennies an hour, or used their stolen wealth to weaken unions in the US in order to pressure workers to accept huge pay cuts, leaving American workers no other way to survive other than to take the pitifully low wages and zero-to-no benefits, such as what the typical Walmart employee receives! Interestingly, the justifications for stealing wealth from workers goes directly back to when the owners of large lands excused their claim to own, not just the wealth workers created, but the workers themselves--overt slavery! They, too, bragged about how "generous" they were, "providing homes, clothing and food" to their "servants"! They further claimed to have delivered their slaves from pagan darkness and "provided them with honest work"! Sure, we can be glad that over slavery was outlawed in the US, but the owner class has, ever since then, done all they can to get as close as they can to enslaving the vast majority of Americans by claiming it's OK to own, if not the workers themselves, all the wealth their work creates, only to return a very small portion of it back to them, and they return even less every chance they get! Rick Lannoye, author of www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Slavery-Taking-Workers-Illegal/dp/B08BD9CWLP
Thank you for this as it is very informative! Sometimes as workers we forget that we are here to make a company more money while getting paid the bare minimum. I checked the link you provided and that's awesome you are an Author! I will defiantly be purchasing your book soon 😊.
It's all monopolies now. For some reason I thought monopolies were illegal. Yes I'm being sarcastic. I'm tired of only a handful of stores. It's wrong! It's modern day slavery!
@@undergroundretail Same here, I want to read more on the subject. Thank you Rick for sharing your book with us, I guess you got yourself two more readers.
I just passed by the former Best Product store in Hialeah, FL today (the glass terrarium one at 7:55). It has since been turned into a shared space between Office Depot and a storage center. Now they just repainted the building red and white to match Office Depot's color scheme.
Memories of Wanamakers in center city Philadelphia: Meet at the Eagle, the huge organ, the light show at Christmas, high tea in the cafeteria, the toy floor and its elevated train ride around the perimeter (great view of almost all the toys).
I miss Woolworths and Levitz (furniture store). Mom would spend hours browsing all the different furniture layouts in Levitz before deciding on a bed frame or dresser. They sold quality furniture unlike IKEA.
Used to shop at Heck’s and Magic Mart. GC Murphy and Ben Franklin as well. I do remember Hills. That’s where I got school clothes for high school. Steve and Barry’s was cool.
Believe it or not, I actually remember the Ben Franklin department stores. We had one not far from us in Sussex Boro, New Jersey, during the late 1980s and very early 1990s. Used to be one of our best and closed located sources for arts & crafts supplies. Fabrics, accessories, notions, extensive lines of stuff, used to get A Lot of creative ideas for different projects there, and prices were good, too.
McRae's were once located at Western Hill Mall, Century Plaza Mall, Rivrchase Galleria, Roebuck, Downtown and Brookwood Village in the 80s/90s down here in Birmingham Al after it was changed to Pizitz
One store I haven’t seen listed is Gilchrist’s. It was one of the ‘big three’ department stores in Boston, MA along with Filene’s and Jordan Marsh. Don’t remember when it closed, but it was sometime in the 70’s. They had almost a dozen locations in Massachusetts at one point. All three stores are now gone, sadly.
Cussins and Fearns Hardware in Columbus O opened Buckeye Mart. Then became Gambles Buckeye Mart, Then Bought by Fisher's Big Wheel. Also was a Heck's discount Store. Gambles owned 2 or 3 different department stores.
I miss BEST, their store in Burnsville MN had a very extensive selection of keyboards, probably a 25 foot aisle’s worth! They even had one those Bandai Pair/Match games, AKA the little pyramid shaped devices on the Ten Forward tables on ST:TNG. My aunt had several of their catalogs too. I’ve also been to Alco and ShopKo. Had many of my glasses done through their Optical department.
The HECHT Company in Baltimore never had any love shown by your channel. The HECHT Company remains my fondest Childhood shopping memory. Hoshchild Kohn in Baltimore. Hutzler's in Baltimore and last and least Stewart's in Baltimore. All department stores that ruled Baltimore in their day. Especially Hutzler's.
Korvettes on the Roosevelt Boulevard (far northeast Philadelphia). Located in a strip mall, Korvettes was the anchor store. Those of us who grew up there still refer to the Korvettes Mall.
Strawbridge and Clothier in center city Philadelphia: Winding through a Christmas village on your way to Santa, It had its own dedicated subway station.
I'm not sure if you did this but stores I remember are Woodward and Lothrop, Jefferson wards, Ivey's, Pranges, and Pizits to be honest this series could go on for a while
J L Hudson....Detroit, but were all over the Midwest. There pulling out of downtown Detroit, where they made their money, proceeded to destroy that city.
I remember going to the White Front in LA. My mom would take me and we would do some shopping there. Nice store. To bad thay are no longer with us I wish that thay were.
Barring Barneys (where I remember getting a suit in the 80s) I never shopped at--or heard of--any of these. But that may be owing to the fact that several of these chains didn't have outlets in the northeast. Although there MAY have been a Best near where I lived between 1992 and 2008, but if there was, I never shopped there.
This appears to be a common comment ("never heard of any of these") on videos for defunct stores and restaurants. I believe that being very regional (primarily northeast, midwest, southeast, etc.) or being limited to certain states or cities (I can think of several defunct restaurant "chains" that never had very many locations, and those were limited to major cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.) plays a large role in this. That and some going the way of the dinosaur before many viewers were born. 😀
@@undergroundretail I don't know at this point because I don't live in the Yuma area but I like to keep tabs on things in that area because Yuma was my first home in Arizona.
Back in the 1990s when I was a teenager my Mother and I would go to Town Center Mall in Kennesaw - Marietta Gorgia and there was a men's clothing store called J Riggns or J Riggings. I really loved their men's clothing their dress shirts and causal shirts were really beautiful and reasonably priced. Then sometimes my Mother and I would go to the Gadsden, Alabama mall and shop at Mc Rae's but years later Mc Rae's went out of business years later and the store was later changed to the department store starts with a P and I know how to pronounce it correctly but do know how to spelling correctly. My Mother and I lived in Floyd County, Georgia and these two malls were about a hour away from our county so I fell in love with both Malls, because both Malls always had what I was looking for.
I remember Best when I lived in the Washington DC suburbs in late 1980s early 90s. I knew it was going downhill when I bought a vacuum cleaner that was supposed to be brand new, but when opened had hair and carpet fiber in the roller brush.
@@undergroundretail Well like anyone back then it was a part time job to help pay for collage and such. If you mean the maitenence on the rain forest front, well they kept it up until they changed the front to another unique front.
@@PK-bh1ww Similar experience here. For a few years I lived in a city where ShopKo was in a mall with a J.C. Penney; the mall was across the main road from Walmart and across a side street from Kmart. Those other three retailers had better prices on comparable (often identical) products.
My daughter loved shopping there for back to school clothes. In our itty bitty town it was Shopko or Walmart. Now we drive 3 hours to a larger city with more places to shop.
Those crazy looking Bests did not look like the Best's I remember. The exterior was just normal and the interior was not like a costco there were toys, sporting goods, a big jewelry section, electronics, pretty much everything but clothes. It looked like a regular store except when you told them what you wanted it came down on a conveyor belt behind where you bought it. Kid me always wanted to know what was at the other end of the conveyor belt.
The store I worked at is almost impossible to find info about because it was called “The Dry Goods.” There are other stores called Dry Goods. It closed in 1989 I believe. It was famous for having big dollar days sales.
There was a Shopko in the county seat city near my town that closed. They'd been here since sometime in the 80's. But they became over priced and got driven out by Wally World and Target. I think if they had moved to bigger cities and not got outpriced by Wally World they might have had a chance Since around 2015 we've lost JC Penney, Younkers, Sears, KMART and Best Buy. We're left with Wally World Target and Kohls.
when the Shopkos when bankrupt all the "sale" prices were the same! that happens in alot of stores that go bankrupt btw they jack the price up 30% to 60% or more THEN lower the price to make you THINK your getting a "good deal" & you ISN'T!!
@@microbusssthe "jackup" as you call it, is going back too original prices, plus markup for profits. Then drop down too same point where stores zero out a item and send back for credit.
I don't remember seeing you mention Murphy's, Heironimus (sp?), or Miller & Rhodes? The first 2 were in the same shopping center with Best. HA!! I remember the Best catalog but we also had a store. I remember being able to pick up items at the store but there was also an actual store that sold merchandise.
Back when my friend and I were 18 back in 1981 we heard on the radio of a new store opening called Dawahares. It sounded like the radio announcer was sayings Doll Hairs and we started laughing and we weren't going to shop at a place called Doll Hairs. 🤣
I remember setting up a Hill's dept store in the late 80's. I liked that. It was something I knew how to do and could read a plan a gram. They liked the way I trained the others with respect. So, They offered me a manager position in the jewelry department which I gladly took. But once the store opened it was a total nightmare!! Because we had gold jewelry instead of trusting the employees and just let us ring it up and let the customer go in their way. We had to call security to come watch over that sale. It was a total waste of time. Plus we had to log it in the book of display sales. After a month I was done with that store.
Welles, Rinks, Cooks, Chess King. Not sure if Chess King is still open somewhere but I loved that store as a teen in the early 1970’s. It was in our Lima Mall back then.
In Arizona there was a White Front, briefly ... but it was a tiny store, no sign of appliances. It was more in the vein of Standard Brands ... which is another store not covered in this series. We had a FedMart ... not FedCo .... though FedMart was as I remember a membership store as well.
We had a Steve & Barry's in our area for a few years. Still have some nice winter coats from there. However, I don't recall it being a department store; I remember it only being a clothing store. 🤔
Yeah, PharMor--I forgot that one. May I suggest Davison's (a Rich's rival?), GEM membership stores (I thought it was cool my dad's card was #007!), and JC Penney's Treasure Island chain with its signature crinkly roofline. The big TI in Doraville GA went under and became the site of a Zayre with the very 1st Home Depot store on its south end.
Thanks for suggesting those! Be sure to check out the Forgotten Macy's stores here: ua-cam.com/video/PaPXhxWtc7s/v-deo.html . I don't live too far from the Doraville area and I know exactly where that building is. It's a Farmer's Market now.
@@undergroundretail A local Rockford Illinois area chain, Union Hall, which was a discount store that went under about the same time in the 1990s as when Target and Walmart opened their stores in the Rockford area.
What happened to Lehner's they used to have a lay-a-way that was the best. You could go there in the spring and put everything on their plan for the new school year.
Do you mean Lerner's? It was a clothing chain of moderately sized stores in inner-city downtowns and malls. I saw a few city Lerner's stores with an elaborate U-shaped display-window front that had a square island standing display in the middle, making it look like it had two entrances.
Please feel free to still bring your scripture of the day today...... Just in case you are busy or forgot..... Here's one temporarily. Everyone please note if we have not sent out a scripture by 3:00 ANYONE!!!!! please do. And the person who has that day still are welcomed to send it by 10:00 p.m. Please do not hesitate to send when you can. Today's Encouraging words from scripture: In Christ we are perfect through Faith. Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
A list of other stores not touched upon. Roses, Jamesway, Woodies (Woodward and Lothrop) Memco, Drugfair (who also owned Trac Auto), and other more recent closures like Sears and Kmart.
Roses is alive in Kentucky, too. Longtime residents tell me they used to be plentiful, then died off in the '80s and '90s. They weren't around here 20 years ago, but have come back in recent years, often taking over a building previously used by a defunct or downsizing chain.
And here it is. I always loved Best! I bought my first Christmas gifts in the USA there. I can close my eyes and still see it. It just brings a lot of memories.
There used to be a Best store on Carpenter Road in Ypsilanti Michigan but it got converted into a flooring store. I remember seeing the sign behind the building on US 23 north going towards Washtenaw.
@@BIGBLOCK5022006there also was in Wyoming, originally Roger's Catalog Showroom. Now subdivided into Harbor Freight, Jets Pizza and had a Big Lots which moved as part of its floor for some reason kept sinking.
If you are from the Midwest, Wisconsin and the UP (and old enough) you probably can finish this jingle: "Say hello to a good buy at..." . Is it stuck in your head? Your welcome!
Wow! Does anyone remember Maas Brothers Department store ? My mom used to take us there. (St. Petersburg Florida)
I remember them! I need to include them on a future video
@@undergroundretail that would be great ! 👍🏼 Thank you
Woolworths: absolutely loved the lunch counter!
Amazing work! I absolutely love reminiscing about some of my favorite childhood stores. Would love to see Jamesway, Ames, and Hess featured down the line. Also loved seeing Steve and Barry's featured. We had one about 20 minutes away that my dad would always take me to for clothes.
Glad you enjoyed it! Ames was featured on Part 1 and Jamesway is a Great Suggestion!
Wow. BARNEYS! That store was FUN & FABULOUS! l loved the CHRISTMAS WINDOWS on 7th Avenue (at 16th). They used to do the trees out front in rainbow colors at Christmas time!
I'm sad to see this chain fold. Online shopping really killed a lot of legacy stores.
In Illinois there was also a ‘Venture’ discount. Somewhere around ‘84-‘85. Don’t know how long it lasted. Also a ‘Builder’s Square’ , like a Home Depot….but, there weren’t any Home Depot yet where I lived. There was also a Zayre as was mentioned in the previous episodes.
There was also ‘Goldblatts’…..had everything, even a bulk candy counter. Then there was ‘Arlans’ discount. Anyone hear of these? Also ‘Pranges’, a really nice department store.
We had a Venture in Springfield, MO too. Also similar stores called Gibson's and Shopper's Fair.
Ardans Catalog Stores, Ks Merchandise, PharMor Pharmacy,
Venture discount is a great suggestion! I have a "Forgotten Home Improvements Stores" in the works as well. Your other suggestions are awesome and I'm taking notes.
A video on PharMor Pharamacy can be found here ua-cam.com/video/kybJYqy4nvo/v-deo.html
@@graytabbie VENTURE began as a part of May/Famous-Barr. ...
Just as Target began as a part of Dayton-Hudson and Clover was a part of Philadelphia's Strawbridge & Clothier.
I do remember shopping at Gottschalks a lot up until they closed in 2009. My hometown had 3 locations, 2 were at the same mall after Gottschalks merged with Harris (another great department store chain that also went defunct by 2009).
I also remember shopping at BEST a few times as a kid. Funnily enough, my local BEST store would later become a Best Buy store 😂.
That is very "ironic" that Best Buy took over a former BEST location. seems like they just needed to add "Buy" 😂
@@undergroundretail 😂😆🤣
@Underground Retail how about leachmears, Drug emporium, and Pharmore?
Dayton -Hudson-Marshall Fields. 💟
Check out this Video! ua-cam.com/video/PaPXhxWtc7s/v-deo.html 😃
Good to see another installment! Nice work!
Thank You so Much!!!
ALCO and Shopko will always have a VERY special place in my heart
I will never forget them...
Hudson's in Detroit area bought by Macy's, grocery stores .. farmer jacks bought by A&P
Metro detroit used have A&P& farmer jacks,, ❤️ farmer jack potatoes salid& barbeque chicken
Maybe in a future installment, you could include Schottenstein's/Value City Department Stores. Began in 1916 by Ephraim L. Schottenstein on S. Parsons Ave. in Columbus OH, with the first expanded location on 1887 S. Parsons Ave in 1947, it was the first department store in Columbus to actually open on Sundays (and closed on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath). Another Schottenstein location opened in 1961 on Westerville Rd, which became the North Store (also where the corporate office was located).
During the 70s and 80s an East and West store were added. However, when Schottenstein began expanding outside of Columbus, they would become known as Value City Department Stores (the family's rabbi made it a rule that any of their stores in Columbus HAD to be named after the family). Schottenstein began to acquire more stores, often renaming them after the store plus Value City (like Grampa's-Value City in St. Louis, when the company bought them in 2002), as well as buying Filene's Basement, Widman's and American Eagle Outfitters. By 2002 the company, now officially known as Retail Ventures Inc., had 117 stores under the Schottenstein/Value City Dept. Stores umbrella.
But because of poor management and misguided supply decisions (many of the item suppliers for our store, such as N. V. Spring (fishing supplies), hardware suppliers, paint and Health and Beauty Care, were eliminated under the idea our buyers could do better...they couldn't), plus expanding way too fast, the original store on S. Parsons was shuttered in March 2005, along with two Grampa's stores), then they renamed the three remaining Schottenstein stores Value City stores in Columbus (how they got by with this is a particularly shameful story for another time) soon after.
But in December 2008, all remaining Value City Department Stores were shuttered, about a week before Christmas. These days, what remains of the original Schottenstein Stores are the East store, which was sold to Burlington Coat Factory...not sure if that's still open. The West Store eventually was sold to a small clothing outfit and is still open. The North Store was never sold, and today is an abandoned husk....a couple of people have done videos of the place over the past year for UA-cam, and the original store on S. Parsons? Torn down around 2010 and today a Primary One health center stands in its place. I still have a few bricks from where it was being torn down, since I worked there from 1992 to the end.
Just for old time's sake, I guess.
When I was little my mom shopped at Montgomery Ward. I used to shop at Pamida, but it's pronounced Pa-my-da. It was a great store.
Its sad, when stores close
When your used to seeing them
I agree! Very devastating.
If you do a part 5 include Sage department stores and Gemco. There was a Sage store close to where i grew up in west Houston. Gemco was a early attempt at a membership department store. Gemco's were not around long.
Great Suggestions! Gemco is indeed in line for a future installment. Stay Tuned 😃
I had completely forgotten about gold circle. I remember there was a store in that shopping center called elder berhman, we used to buy our shoes there when I was a kid.
I remember Richway turned into Gold Circle, then Target took over in Charlotte
I don't believe there's ever been a department store with more incompetent senior management than Best Products. They built a superb chain of store and then ran the company straight into the ground with lack of innovation, bad store locations and many other bad decisions.
I agree!
Another to add too that, their direct competitor, Whitmark. They had two locations in the Grand Rapids, MI area. One in the former Eastbrook Mall (in city) and other on Plainfeild Avenue, north of Grand Rapids. That was a stand alone location, building demolished last year after years of neglect, for stupid reasons apparently. Right across street from a Kmart! Which anchored the former North Kent Mall, with Montgomery Wards as the other anchor. Another department store my mom shopped at all the time was Steketees (Eastbrook Mall) and Colortile. Which was in Rodgers Plaze in Wyoming, Michigan. That mall was anchored by Rodgers Catalouge Showroom, before it became Best, other end Montgomery Wards. Former Wards Auto Center on Plainfeild, is now a Plainfeild Fire station. Before that you could tell where its gas pumps once stood.
Most of americas millionaire Executives couldn't manage a lemonade stand
Two I thought would be included in this series was Pomeroy's, mid Atlantic dept store chain and Korvette's. You did mention Korvette's but didn't go into any detail. Great series!
Lol my last name is Pomroy so weird to think that a family had the same last name as me but with a e added in
This is a good channel. I always appreciate those who stick to their theme "o)
Thank You 😃
What about Olan Mills photography? Used to work for them back in the 70's selling their specials by phone. Had fun doing that too.
Both my kids were photographed by Olan Mills. My son is now 51. They set up 1st in Sears and then KMART. (Later KMART bought out Sears then closed many stores.). Olan Mills wasn't a dept store tho...
Never heard of this one. 🤔
@@PK-bh1ww I remember Olan Mills.
Olan Mills had there own store front in Grand Rapids Michigan. They did most of the Senior pictures from the surrounding highschools. My brother in 78 and mine in 84. Not sure after that. I think most school districts had them come and take the yearbook pictures too.
I have lived in Milwaukee all my life so I definitely remember taking family portraits at Olan Mills. But it wasn’t a department store.
Two Guys,Hills,Ames,WT Grant,Woolworth,AM&A’s,Murphy’s,GEX,Hens&Kelly’s,K mart, Twin Fair,and more I can’t remember.
Best department stores had some great architecture. The part of the video showing 9 different stores with unusual architecture, i recognized the middle one. It was located in southeast Houston
I agree! It was ahead of its time. I heard only 1 former location, has retained the architecture.
I just finished watching all 4 of these videos, was surprised to not see a single one of the 4 stores I grew up with. GC Murphy's, McCrorys, Hecks, Fishers Big Wheel. I worked at Murphy's Mart from 1981 to 1986, my mom worked at Fishers from 1972 to 1999.
Those are all great suggestions! I will be sure to cover as many department stores as I can.
I remember GC Murphy's and McCrory's.
It's weird how some of them went out of business and closed and I never really even noticed. Paces like Hills and Gold Circle and Korvette's just disappeared and I never noticed before until you mentioned them. I guess I just wasn't paying attention.
K-mart is nearly gone too I worked for Kmart in 1999 & 2000
❤️ kmart popcorn & toys, film development
Wow, Best had one wild and unique entrance there. Still hoping for coverage of some Long Island, NY lost stores like Jamesway, Alexanders, Great Eastern, Modells (yes, once a department store before they did sporting goods), Times Square Stores & Korvettes. If you ever cover defunct toy stores then Play World simply must be covered.
Best did have one of the wildest entrances ever! Korvettes was covered in either Part 1 or 2. Times Square Stores have been suggested a few times, so I may go ahead and put that on the list. @Post-Mortar did do some documentaries on a few Toy Stores, you should check him out. ua-cam.com/video/JGsh9-Qx8tU/v-deo.html . I will have some Forgotten Toy Stores, Banks, and Entertainment/Arcades lined up for 2022. 😃
For what it's worth, Korvette's was covered in a previous episode.
Will someone find a Best in the future and think it had been hit by an earthquake or tornado? :)
@@653j521 I would think it’s not open at all and under reconstruction 😂
Yeah, Jamesway!
Plz make part 5 these videos are awesome to watch also I know a department store that went out of business Bon-Ton and it’s other six department stores such as Boston Store, Bergners, Carson’s, Elder Beerman, Herbergers, And Younkers. They all liquidated in 2018.
A Bon Ton edition is defiantly in the works and already written out. Stay tuned for this Fall. 😊
Oh that’s great!!! 😃
Additional info: We actually might see the The Bon Ton back as a store again . The reason for this because of this company BrandX wants to revive The Bon Ton and Stage Stores brands . They made an e-commerce website this summer, and will open a Carson’s brick and mortar store at Louis Joliet Mall and will open in February or Spring of 2023. The articles I read were pretty new as they were posted a month ago, even Wikipedia had something to say too. They also announced a Younkers location too, but that is undisclosed at the moment. So I honestly think we are going to see this brand again.
It's been decades since the time when thousands of independent department stores dotted the American landscape. But in the latter half of the 20th Century, large corporate department stores, like Walmart, put thousands of small town department stores out of business!
Both the working owners and employees were left jobless, and together with other large corporations, owned by private individuals who do no work at all, sent factories overseas to places where children and desperately poor adults work in the most squalid of conditions for pennies an hour, or used their stolen wealth to weaken unions in the US in order to pressure workers to accept huge pay cuts, leaving American workers no other way to survive other than to take the pitifully low wages and zero-to-no benefits, such as what the typical Walmart employee receives!
Interestingly, the justifications for stealing wealth from workers goes directly back to when the owners of large lands excused their claim to own, not just the wealth workers created, but the workers themselves--overt slavery! They, too, bragged about how "generous" they were, "providing homes, clothing and food" to their "servants"! They further claimed to have delivered their slaves from pagan darkness and "provided them with honest work"!
Sure, we can be glad that over slavery was outlawed in the US, but the owner class has, ever since then, done all they can to get as close as they can to enslaving the vast majority of Americans by claiming it's OK to own, if not the workers themselves, all the wealth their work creates, only to return a very small portion of it back to them, and they return even less every chance they get!
Rick Lannoye, author of www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Slavery-Taking-Workers-Illegal/dp/B08BD9CWLP
Thank you for this as it is very informative! Sometimes as workers we forget that we are here to make a company more money while getting paid the bare minimum. I checked the link you provided and that's awesome you are an Author! I will defiantly be purchasing your book soon 😊.
It's all monopolies now. For some reason I thought monopolies were illegal. Yes I'm being sarcastic. I'm tired of only a handful of stores. It's wrong! It's modern day slavery!
@@undergroundretail Same here, I want to read more on the subject. Thank you Rick for sharing your book with us, I guess you got yourself two more readers.
I just passed by the former Best Product store in Hialeah, FL today (the glass terrarium one at 7:55). It has since been turned into a shared space between Office Depot and a storage center. Now they just repainted the building red and white to match Office Depot's color scheme.
That's cool that the building is still standing!
@@undergroundretail the only thing left of the terrarium are the planters with some trees growing in them.
Memories of Wanamakers in center city Philadelphia:
Meet at the Eagle, the huge organ, the light show at Christmas, high tea in the cafeteria, the toy floor and its elevated train ride around the perimeter (great view of almost all the toys).
I miss Woolworths and Levitz (furniture store). Mom would spend hours browsing all the different furniture layouts in Levitz before deciding on a bed frame or dresser. They sold quality furniture unlike IKEA.
Levitz has it all.
@@BIGBLOCK5022006 "You'll Love It At Levitz".
My Mom shopped regularly at Emporium-Capwell and Best, seems like she was at one or the other all the time...
Used to shop at Heck’s and Magic Mart. GC Murphy and Ben Franklin as well. I do remember Hills. That’s where I got school clothes for high school. Steve and Barry’s was cool.
Believe it or not, I actually remember the Ben Franklin department stores. We had one not far from us in Sussex Boro, New Jersey, during the late 1980s and very early 1990s. Used to be one of our best and closed located sources for arts & crafts supplies. Fabrics, accessories, notions, extensive lines of stuff, used to get A Lot of creative ideas for different projects there, and prices were good, too.
Those are great suggestions! Heck's would be included in the next installments and working on doing a Forgotten 5 and Dime stores.
McRae's were once located at Western Hill Mall, Century Plaza Mall, Rivrchase Galleria, Roebuck, Downtown and Brookwood Village in the 80s/90s down here in Birmingham Al after it was changed to Pizitz
That's cool! Thanks for Watching!😁
I visited mc Raes in Mississippi. Nice store.
One store I haven’t seen listed is Gilchrist’s. It was one of the ‘big three’ department stores in Boston, MA along with Filene’s and Jordan Marsh. Don’t remember when it closed, but it was sometime in the 70’s. They had almost a dozen locations in Massachusetts at one point. All three stores are now gone, sadly.
I miss Jordan Marsh and Filene’s.
Cussins and Fearns Hardware in Columbus O opened Buckeye Mart. Then became Gambles Buckeye Mart, Then Bought by Fisher's Big Wheel. Also was a Heck's discount Store. Gambles owned 2 or 3 different department stores.
Please do Goldbatts of Chicago
Great Suggestion! This has been suggested quite a few times.
Please feature more true department stores and less discount stores. There are many more full line stores that have yet to be seen.
Noted! Top 10 Will feature more True Department Stores.
A few you may have missed were Roses (NC and SC), Sky City (NC) and Pace warehouse (CO)
Loved Rose's in Charlotte, great prices on cds and dvds, and Pace warehouse in Charlotte but Sam's ran them off
Hills had locations in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina, and the one that was closest to me was in High Point.
My family liked to shop at the Hill’s in Johnson City, TN
I worked for a company that had offices in the old BEST store on W. Marshall Street. I used to shop there with my mom when I was a kid.
Was it one of the stores that had the wild entrances?
I miss BEST, their store in Burnsville MN had a very extensive selection of keyboards, probably a 25 foot aisle’s worth! They even had one those Bandai Pair/Match games, AKA the little pyramid shaped devices on the Ten Forward tables on ST:TNG. My aunt had several of their catalogs too. I’ve also been to Alco and ShopKo. Had many of my glasses done through their Optical department.
The HECHT Company in Baltimore never had any love shown by your channel. The HECHT Company remains my fondest Childhood shopping memory. Hoshchild Kohn in Baltimore. Hutzler's in Baltimore and last and least Stewart's in Baltimore. All department stores that ruled Baltimore in their day. Especially Hutzler's.
Korvettes on the Roosevelt Boulevard (far northeast Philadelphia). Located in a strip mall, Korvettes was the anchor store. Those of us who grew up there still refer to the Korvettes Mall.
steve and barrys is a store i wouldve LOVED, im so sad i never got to see it
Me too 😭
I used to work at a Shopko in Lincoln, NE.......many, many, many years ago. Btw, Pamida is pronounced pa-MY-da, not pa-ME-da.
My sister used work as a regional manager for Shop-Ko in Northern Utah
Thanks for catching that! 😃 Was it a standalone store or connected to a shopping center?
@@undergroundretail some were stand alone and some were connected to other stores they're all closed or sold
@@undergroundretail Strip mall...... I guess.
I work at pamida in Ohio that used to be a big wheel
Strawbridge and Clothier in center city Philadelphia:
Winding through a Christmas village on your way to Santa,
It had its own dedicated subway station.
I'm not sure if you did this but stores I remember are Woodward and Lothrop, Jefferson wards, Ivey's, Pranges, and Pizits to be honest this series could go on for a while
Those are all great suggestions! I defiantly will work on those.
Can you do Ann and Hope ?
Great suggestion!
J L Hudson....Detroit, but were all over the Midwest. There pulling out of downtown Detroit, where they made their money, proceeded to destroy that city.
Hess's department store Allentown Pennsylvania, and JJ Newberry founded in Stroudsburg Pa
Nice job Rasheed!
They are redoing our old mall now thinking about putting a casino in it!
Thank You! I heard about that as well. We'll see if they can make that happen.
I remember going to the White Front in LA. My mom would take me and we would do some shopping there. Nice store. To bad thay are no longer with us I wish that thay were.
I have never visited that chain, but heard great things about it.
Barring Barneys (where I remember getting a suit in the 80s) I never shopped at--or heard of--any of these. But that may be owing to the fact that several of these chains didn't have outlets in the northeast. Although there MAY have been a Best near where I lived between 1992 and 2008, but if there was, I never shopped there.
This appears to be a common comment ("never heard of any of these") on videos for defunct stores and restaurants. I believe that being very regional (primarily northeast, midwest, southeast, etc.) or being limited to certain states or cities (I can think of several defunct restaurant "chains" that never had very many locations, and those were limited to major cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.) plays a large role in this. That and some going the way of the dinosaur before many viewers were born. 😀
There used to be a location of Best in Yuma Arizona at the corner of 32nd Street and the 4th Avenue extension.
Interesting! Is that building still standing?
@@undergroundretail I don't know at this point because I don't live in the Yuma area but I like to keep tabs on things in that area because Yuma was my first home in Arizona.
Borrowing money for huge expansion seems to be a common theme in retail bankruptcy
Agreed! 💯
Back in the 1990s when I was a teenager my Mother and I would go to Town Center Mall in Kennesaw - Marietta Gorgia and there was a men's clothing store called J Riggns or J Riggings. I really loved their men's clothing their dress shirts and causal shirts were really beautiful and reasonably priced. Then sometimes my Mother and I would go to the Gadsden, Alabama mall and shop at Mc Rae's but years later Mc Rae's went out of business years later and the store was later changed to the department store starts with a P and I know how to pronounce it correctly but do know how to spelling correctly. My Mother and I lived in Floyd County, Georgia and these two malls were about a hour away from our county so I fell in love with both Malls, because both Malls always had what I was looking for.
Fedco was cool remember buying my atari games there
I remember Best when I lived in the Washington DC suburbs in late 1980s early 90s. I knew it was going downhill when I bought a vacuum cleaner that was supposed to be brand new, but when opened had hair and carpet fiber in the roller brush.
As a teen I worked at the Best Products location with the waterfall/Rain forest facade!
Thats interesting! What was it like working there?
@@undergroundretail Well like anyone back then it was a part time job to help pay for collage and such. If you mean the maitenence on the rain forest front, well they kept it up until they changed the front to another unique front.
I haven't, I remember the chain stores I grew up around = Hills, Ames,, Grant's, Britts, Robert Hall Village, Nichols, The Big N, Town and Country.
I miss shopping at Shopko, it had better quality merchandise than Walmart.
Our was the same quality but higher priced than WW.
@@PK-bh1ww Similar experience here. For a few years I lived in a city where ShopKo was in a mall with a J.C. Penney; the mall was across the main road from Walmart and across a side street from Kmart. Those other three retailers had better prices on comparable (often identical) products.
My daughter loved shopping there for back to school clothes. In our itty bitty town it was Shopko or Walmart. Now we drive 3 hours to a larger city with more places to shop.
Those crazy looking Bests did not look like the Best's I remember. The exterior was just normal and the interior was not like a costco there were toys, sporting goods, a big jewelry section, electronics, pretty much everything but clothes. It looked like a regular store except when you told them what you wanted it came down on a conveyor belt behind where you bought it. Kid me always wanted to know what was at the other end of the conveyor belt.
have you done Yellow Front yet?
I have a ShopKo toy truck that is perfect for my HO scale trains
its pah-my-duh actually
The store I worked at is almost impossible to find info about because it was called “The Dry Goods.” There are other stores called Dry Goods. It closed in 1989 I believe. It was famous for having big dollar days sales.
Here's one to look into that went under Sky City
Great Suggestion! I need to include this one.
I used to shop at a Shopko in Escanaba Michigan in the 70s
There was a Shopko in the county seat city near my town that closed. They'd been here since sometime in the 80's. But they became over priced and got driven out by Wally World and Target. I think if they had moved to bigger cities and not got outpriced by Wally World they might have had a chance Since around 2015 we've lost JC Penney, Younkers, Sears, KMART and Best Buy. We're left with Wally World Target and Kohls.
Target, Walmart and Kohl's will outlast everything.
when the Shopkos when bankrupt all the "sale" prices were the same!
that happens in alot of stores that go bankrupt btw
they jack the price up 30% to 60% or more THEN lower the price to make you THINK your getting a "good deal" & you ISN'T!!
@@microbusssthe "jackup" as you call it, is going back too original prices, plus markup for profits. Then drop down too same point where stores zero out a item and send back for credit.
I also liked Steve n Barry's!
I never shopped in one, but remembered them being in Macon for a couple of years in Macon Mall.
Well done
I don't remember seeing you mention Murphy's, Heironimus (sp?), or Miller & Rhodes? The first 2 were in the same shopping center with Best. HA!! I remember the Best catalog but we also had a store. I remember being able to pick up items at the store but there was also an actual store that sold merchandise.
Those are Great Suggestions! Miller and Rhodes will be covered soon for sure. It is ironic how the first 2 are in a shopping center. 😂
Back when my friend and I were 18 back in 1981 we heard on the radio of a new store opening called Dawahares. It sounded like the radio announcer was sayings Doll Hairs and we started laughing and we weren't going to shop at a place called Doll Hairs. 🤣
What about regional stores in New England? Ann & Hope, Mamouth Mart, Mal’s
I remember setting up a Hill's dept store in the late 80's. I liked that. It was something I knew how to do and could read a plan a gram. They liked the way I trained the others with respect.
So, They offered me a manager position in the jewelry department which I gladly took. But once the store opened it was a total nightmare!!
Because we had gold jewelry instead of trusting the employees and just let us ring it up and let the customer go in their way. We had to call security to come watch over that sale. It was a total waste of time. Plus we had to log it in the book of display sales. After a month I was done with that store.
Sad one of my first jobs was at Hills. I'm glad Ames went out of business.
Please do a video of Wilson's Department Store in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
I remember the Hill's stores when I was a kid.
Welles, Rinks, Cooks, Chess King. Not sure if Chess King is still open somewhere but I loved that store as a teen in the early 1970’s. It was in our Lima Mall back then.
That's a great suggestion! I'll be sure to add that store to the Forgotten Retail Stores.
In Arizona there was a White Front, briefly ... but it was a tiny store, no sign of appliances. It was more in the vein of Standard Brands ... which is another store not covered in this series. We had a FedMart ... not FedCo .... though FedMart was as I remember a membership store as well.
How big was a typical White Front store? I should definitely do a forgotten Membership Store.
W. Bell & Company I worked there part time from 1980 to 1985
We had a Steve & Barry's in our area for a few years. Still have some nice winter coats from there. However, I don't recall it being a department store; I remember it only being a clothing store. 🤔
Ann arbor, michigan
Is that Pittsburgh Dad in the painting at 6:55?!??
Yeah, PharMor--I forgot that one. May I suggest Davison's (a Rich's rival?), GEM membership stores (I thought it was cool my dad's card was #007!), and JC Penney's Treasure Island chain with its signature crinkly roofline. The big TI in Doraville GA went under and became the site of a Zayre with the very 1st Home Depot store on its south end.
Thanks for suggesting those! Be sure to check out the Forgotten Macy's stores here: ua-cam.com/video/PaPXhxWtc7s/v-deo.html . I don't live too far from the Doraville area and I know exactly where that building is. It's a Farmer's Market now.
@@undergroundretail A local Rockford Illinois area chain, Union Hall, which was a discount store that went under about the same time in the 1990s as when Target and Walmart opened their stores in the Rockford area.
What happened to Lehner's they used to have a lay-a-way that was the best. You could go there in the spring and put everything on their plan for the new school year.
Do you mean Lerner's? It was a clothing chain of moderately sized stores in inner-city downtowns and malls. I saw a few city Lerner's stores with an elaborate U-shaped display-window front that had a square island standing display in the middle, making it look like it had two entrances.
@@Susie_Floozie But didn't they sell mostly women's clothing?
@@02chevyguy Yeah, they did. You sound like that's disturbing to you.
@@Susie_Floozie WHAT??? How is that disturbing to me? They sold women's clothing. Big deal.
I wish you'd done a TG&Y. They were big in south georgia and some in florida. Not as big as these, but important to my small town.
TG&Y was based in Oklahoma. Also had locations in Kansas and Louisiana.
Thanks for the Suggestion! I will defiantly do one on this chain. It has been suggested over 20 times. 😃
@@DNSKansas well, i haven't been west of Montgomery...just remembered Ga and Florida.
We had a tg&y here in NC too
I remember going there with mom and dad
The TG&Y Video will premiere Tomorrow 😃! Here is the link. ua-cam.com/video/k0nlzPz-Qzw/v-deo.html
Please feel free to still bring your scripture of the day today...... Just in case you are busy or forgot.....
Here's one temporarily. Everyone please note if we have not sent out a scripture by 3:00 ANYONE!!!!! please do. And the person who has that day still are welcomed to send it by 10:00 p.m. Please do not hesitate to send when you can.
Today's Encouraging words from scripture:
In Christ we are perfect through Faith.
Psalm 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
I'm miss my old store Steve and Barry's is the best one I been there before it's a good one
If my memory is correct, BARNEYS NEW YORK was a sponsor of the soap opera DAYS OF OUR LIVES. 🤔🤔🤔✌✌✌✌
A list of other stores not touched upon. Roses, Jamesway, Woodies (Woodward and Lothrop) Memco, Drugfair (who also owned Trac Auto), and other more recent closures like Sears and Kmart.
Roses still in NC
Those are some goos suggestions. Roses, Sears and Kmart are still around. Roses is all over Georgia.
Roses is alive in Kentucky, too. Longtime residents tell me they used to be plentiful, then died off in the '80s and '90s. They weren't around here 20 years ago, but have come back in recent years, often taking over a building previously used by a defunct or downsizing chain.
Living in Hawaii, I have only heard of one of these.
Interesting! What chains are operating in Hawaii?
What happened to Stewart James way at and p Kmart
What happened to Woolworths competitor W. T. Grant?
I loved Barney's!!
The big Toy retailers FAO Scwartz , Toy’s’R’Us. Emporium Capwell, Montgomery Wards, Frederick’s of Hollywood 😂😂
Check out this Video: ua-cam.com/video/IKr26g3gVK8/v-deo.html
Where’s part 3 ?
Part 3 can be found here. It's not labeled due to the Title being long. ua-cam.com/video/PaPXhxWtc7s/v-deo.html
Small chains in Maine
Chess king was in the old world trade center
I remember that store now! Could never remember the name. The WTC location was small and at an angle.
Just a suggestion to ease up on the old film special effects. It gets to be a bit much.
Thank You for the Feedback 😊