Must be amazing to find old footage of your mom! :-) I lost all images of the woman who raised me but after a lot of internet sleuthing, I managed to find footage of her in an old 80s documentary (and myself at 11)... I was over the moon to see her again! Ha! What can be found online today is just miraculous. :-)
The last Zayre closed here in the summer of '89. I was able to get a lot of nice clothes on clearance. I was 15 back then and my little paycheck went far that day!!
Referring to 6:40 time mark - Back in the day - checkout lines were set up to take either cash and checks or credit only. But not all three simultaneously.
Still my favorite department store. Got all my Transformers Masters of the Universe Nintendo and practically all my Christmas toys. Even got my first pet there. Good times! LOL
In 1974 I was 20 years old. I moved out of my parents home and in to my very own apartment. I bought a bunch of used furniture from the classfied section of the newspaper and almost everything else at Zayre. I'm 70 years old now and believe it or not, we still use the kitchen knife set I bought at Zayre so many years ago. Such fond memories.
Ah yes This is for you Zayre fans with the orange brown red beige color schemes, in/out door handles with the asterisk, thick cash register lamps, the cluttered aisles, and the loud smell of popcorn Many people took another look for the last time when it died a terrible death in 1989. We all liked to make Zayre our store!!!
Growing up in the 80’s there was a Zayre not far from my house on the west side of Cleveland. I used to shoplift cassette tapes from there all the time. Worst security ever. I swiped tapes by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and many others there. I like to think I did my part in bankrupting that place.
@@johnritcher5751 ok boomer. Captain Barrett, if you lived in Cleveland on the west side you MUST be talking about the store in Ridge Road? Near the skating rink? That place was an absolute dump and I think every kid in our neighborhood swiped at least one thing from there!
The one in my town was kind of janky. Looked nothing like the bright new stores that got hustled in the ads. I thought about getting an after school job there in HS, walked in and saw how dingy and chaotic the aisles were and took a hard pass.
I was just a kid/teenager when Zayre's went out of business, but my feeling was that the only thing keeping them from being successful was a lack of help. They had no one on the floor, no one running the registers, and as someone else noted below, no security. The 24 hour Christmas thing was amazing for the time, and they would be packed at 2, 3, 4 in the morning, but it would take an hour or more to get through the checkout line.
K-Mart met their demise the same way. Not enough help, long waits in the check out, narrow aisles and empty shelves spelt the beginning of the end for them. It's really so, so sad. I bought the dress for my junior high school dance at Zayres with my own money earned from babysitting. I thought I was the "you now know what," lol!
I miss Zayre Department Store 🏬 they had one in my hometown, Norwich, CT now it’s shoprite. I was 7 years old when Zayre went out of business. I remembered their refreshments counter, many clothes racks and toy department. When Zayre went out of business it became Shoprite and the old Shoprite location in the same shopping plaza where Zayre was is a TJMaxx.
I unfortunately was not alive at the time of this store, but I found a bunch of Zayre memorabilia and stuff while cleaning my grandpas house and I have to say that this store seems pretty flipping amazing!!!!!! They should bring this back!!
@@thegoodybarn9060 All kinds of fun stuff!!! Old receipts with what was purchased, shopping bags, price tags, a photo bag that held some pictures I’ve never seen and my grandpa hasn’t in years, and my all time favorite item: a spool of unopened Zayre yarn that was my grandmas!!! There’s probably more cool stuff hiding but these were my favorites!!! Apparently my grandma did literally all of her shopping at Zayre’s!!!
I bought all my 80s gear here! The jelly shoes, parachute pants, jelly bracelets, charm bracelets, lace Madonna gloves, and my thriller jacket, ..lol I think Walmart drove this one out of business... It's a Home Depot now. Happy Holiday Memories from Memphis! :-)
Even though they are gone, ZAYRES and AMES at least believed in good customer service and tried to keep their customers happy. Today's WALMART could sure take a lesson on customer service.
I was born in '85 and if I remember correctly there was a Richway and Zayre in Atlanta somewhere along Stewart Ave (Metropolitan Pkwy) and one on Jonesboro Road and 285. My mom used to take me there so many times when I was a kid. They must have closed in ATL around 89/90ish.
In 1971/72, My BFF & I got our $2.00/weekly allowance on Fridays & would walk up to Zayre in Town & Country Plaza/Tampa (Hillsborough Ave & Webb Rd) and buy two 45 Records for that week. She moved away that summer. Wonderful Memories for me
I used to work for this company what a bunch of lies They were the worst company to work for The happiest day of my life was when this store and the Hollywood fashion center went bankrupt Due to the murder of Adam walsh
The mother at 4:16 was Maureen Mooney, who played Anne Jeffers on The Guiding Light during the late '70s.
Must be amazing to find old footage of your mom! :-) I lost all images of the woman who raised me but after a lot of internet sleuthing, I managed to find footage of her in an old 80s documentary (and myself at 11)... I was over the moon to see her again! Ha! What can be found online today is just miraculous. :-)
The last Zayre closed here in the summer of '89. I was able to get a lot of nice clothes on clearance.
I was 15 back then and my little paycheck went far that day!!
Wow! Brings back so many memories.
Referring to 6:40 time mark - Back in the day - checkout lines were set up to take either cash and checks or credit only. But not all three simultaneously.
Still my favorite department store. Got all my Transformers Masters of the Universe Nintendo and practically all my Christmas toys. Even got my first pet there. Good times! LOL
In 1974 I was 20 years old. I moved out of my parents home and in to my very own apartment. I bought a bunch of used furniture from the classfied section of the newspaper and almost everything else at Zayre. I'm 70 years old now and believe it or not, we still use the kitchen knife set I bought at Zayre so many years ago. Such fond memories.
❤️
Ah yes
This is for you Zayre fans with the orange brown red beige color schemes, in/out door handles with the asterisk,
thick cash register lamps, the cluttered aisles, and the loud smell of popcorn
Many people took another look for the last time when it died a terrible death in 1989.
We all liked to make Zayre our store!!!
My mom worked at the Zayre snack bar in the ‘70s. Sadly, they went out of business shortly before I was born.
Ahhh... my first job was at Zayre.
I don't even know why I applied there.
For us it was Zayres or Ventures.
I also miss Ames.
Me too. Ames, Caldor, Woolworth, Bradlees, Sears, Jordan Marsh, Filenes, Zayre. The best stores.
@@kataeva2220 sadly Walmart ate all of them like a game of Pac-Man. I miss seeing a variety of retailers, especially Mom & Pop stores.
@@AdorzAaliyahSince94 me too.. smh Walmart and target put them all out of business. (And online shopping!)
@@kataeva2220 I don't even recall Walmart/Target being this huge before '98. It's unfortunate
@@AdorzAaliyahSince94 exactly smh
Growing up in the 80’s there was a Zayre not far from my house on the west side of Cleveland. I used to shoplift cassette tapes from there all the time. Worst security ever. I swiped tapes by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and many others there. I like to think I did my part in bankrupting that place.
Not something to be proud of. Being a shitbag thief.
@@johnritcher5751 LMAO
@@johnritcher5751 ok boomer. Captain Barrett, if you lived in Cleveland on the west side you MUST be talking about the store in Ridge Road? Near the skating rink? That place was an absolute dump and I think every kid in our neighborhood swiped at least one thing from there!
@@jessicadelgado2142 yeah the security guard was a big fat slob who just sat at the front of the store and didn’t care.
The one in my town was kind of janky. Looked nothing like the bright new stores that got hustled in the ads. I thought about getting an after school job there in HS, walked in and saw how dingy and chaotic the aisles were and took a hard pass.
I remember going in dirty stores like that back then. The worst one was TG&Y
All the toys were already opened up 4 me to play with. Lmao
How little it costs.
WALOBS
My sister and I loved Zayre when we were kids, we always ordered a hot dog at the concession stand inside the store. 🌭
Please bring back zayre, now!
Because we need that store.
@Robert Green I'm thinking the same thing, too.
They were acquired by Ames
The Wal-Mart of my youth!!!!!!
I'd probably compare Zayre more with Target and Kmart with Walmart.
@@edsky6892 They should bring back ZAYRE, I mean, #&%£ AMAZON, and #&%£ WAL-MART.
@@danacarter9147 I'd be down for that. Happy childhood memories there. It would be surreal to walk through one now.
@@edsky6892 Me, too. The good old days, you know what I'm saying?
THAT'S TRUE!!😃
@@edsky6892
I was just a kid/teenager when Zayre's went out of business, but my feeling was that the only thing keeping them from being successful was a lack of help. They had no one on the floor, no one running the registers, and as someone else noted below, no security. The 24 hour Christmas thing was amazing for the time, and they would be packed at 2, 3, 4 in the morning, but it would take an hour or more to get through the checkout line.
About like Wal-Marts today its sad man nobody on the floors and hard to find anybody..
K-Mart met their demise the same way. Not enough help, long waits in the check out, narrow aisles and empty shelves spelt the beginning of the end for them. It's really so, so sad. I bought the dress for my junior high school dance at Zayres with my own money earned from babysitting. I thought I was the "you now know what," lol!
I miss Zayre Department Store 🏬 they had one in my hometown, Norwich, CT now it’s shoprite. I was 7 years old when Zayre went out of business. I remembered their refreshments counter, many clothes racks and toy department. When Zayre went out of business it became Shoprite and the old Shoprite location in the same shopping plaza where Zayre was is a TJMaxx.
Yep, I remember being about 4 years old getting a grilled bagel at their little food counter in Massachusetts.
@@Jasonk1979 wow grilled bagels. Sounds delicious. I remembered getting popcorn, soda, soft pretzels, fries, hot dogs or burgers at Zayre refreshments counter
Worked fore zayres' in des plaines, ill 1978 to 1981 then ware house alsip ill.l year.
I unfortunately was not alive at the time of this store, but I found a bunch of Zayre memorabilia and stuff while cleaning my grandpas house and I have to say that this store seems pretty flipping amazing!!!!!! They should bring this back!!
Thats amazing! What sort of memorabilia did you find?
@@thegoodybarn9060 All kinds of fun stuff!!! Old receipts with what was purchased, shopping bags, price tags, a photo bag that held some pictures I’ve never seen and my grandpa hasn’t in years, and my all time favorite item: a spool of unopened Zayre yarn that was my grandmas!!! There’s probably more cool stuff hiding but these were my favorites!!! Apparently my grandma did literally all of her shopping at Zayre’s!!!
@@taylorp535 thats so cool! Keep that stuff safe
I bought all my 80s gear here! The jelly shoes, parachute pants, jelly bracelets, charm bracelets, lace Madonna gloves, and my thriller jacket, ..lol I think Walmart drove this one out of business... It's a Home Depot now. Happy Holiday Memories from Memphis! :-)
I worked at a Zayre in Northern Virginia '74-'77. Watching those commercials took me back. A couple times I could practically smell the place again.
Was it the one in Winchester?
@@LosAngeles-yz1yn - Hybla Valley, Alexandria.
The last Zayres closed here in June 1988 god I miss this store
Loved this store as a kid!
Well if you work there you'd be singing a different tune
They were awfull to work for and I'm glad they went broke
Out of business
Even though they are gone, ZAYRES and AMES at least believed in good customer service and tried to keep their customers happy. Today's WALMART could sure take a lesson on customer service.
Something did happen at ZAYRE
They went broke and closed their shop😂❤and I couldn't be happier
Uggggg. My mom took us shopping at Zayre. I always hated that store - nothing but clothes, clothes, CLOTHES.
You should have paid more attention to the toy department 🙂
@@thegoodybarn9060 Lol Did they have one? My mother didn't allow us kids to look at toys too often.
Why can’t we turn back the clock?
Athens Georgia had a Zayre store. Used to be my favorite place to get my toy trucks as a kid back in the 80s
I was born in '85 and if I remember correctly there was a Richway and Zayre in Atlanta somewhere along Stewart Ave (Metropolitan Pkwy) and one on Jonesboro Road and 285. My mom used to take me there so many times when I was a kid. They must have closed in ATL around 89/90ish.
I had the same experience pretty much our moms went to the same spots. LOL
Zayre was our target back in the day😂
Ii net the jigsweer out in full force to shop lift lol
I’d like to believe that Target now is what Zayre could’ve been.
Definitely good times
Looking for commercials for Brindles Hects Service Merchandise great video
Mr. Maurice is that, how kind
Thanks to the Oddity Archive I noticed the Atari 2600 error in the ad the kid and his mother is looking at. Thanks Ben!
Cool. What was the error?
@@thegoodybarn9060 If you look at the ad, it says Atari 2600 but it is an Atari 800 computer.
Oh ok. Thank you!
In 1971/72, My BFF & I got our $2.00/weekly allowance on Fridays & would walk up to Zayre in Town & Country Plaza/Tampa (Hillsborough Ave & Webb Rd) and buy two 45 Records for that week. She moved away that summer. Wonderful Memories for me
it was on our 11 birth day
2:03 Victor Caroli on the voice-over.
12:01 & 12:18 The voice of Doug Paul.
I loved Zayre.
Ya well if you worked at ZAYRE i worked there
It was a horrible store to work for
And they were nothing like the commercial s you saw
On tv itstunk
I used to work for this company what a bunch of lies
They were the worst company to work for
The happiest day of my life was when this store and the Hollywood fashion center went bankrupt
Due to the murder of Adam walsh
Was zayre only in Chicago?
Hellnawl mane, it was in Memphis..
Sarasota Fl to
Cincinnati had them.
Indy had them as well
Miami too
Zayre mever lived up to their commercials and theanager don't give a shit