But it was the upscale store for women’s clothing. My grandmother worked there for quite a long time, you could get great shoes there.

SS Kresge and Child World for toys and games.
Hanlon's for shoes.
Lechmere for electronics

And Caldor before that.
I was standing in Caldor at the TV section when the Challenger exploded, sigh.

God, haven't thought of that in YEARS! we used to hit the "eastmont mall" in the sketchy part of Oakland near our house, it was always an adventure...and they had an Orange Julius!

God, I can smell the Mervyn's store and that mall right now! crazy!

You can still see the remnants of the marquee on the side of the store.

I went there for clothes and all of my scout gear.

Weird.

That flashing zayre sign always sticks in my mind too.

I don't recall fish tanks, but I have vivid memories of the penny horse ride at Zayre & A&P.

I think my mother let me ride the horse after shopping if I was good in the store.

Bribery! I just didn’t know it then.

Lots of them. All out of biz now.

Thx for the trip down memory lane.

and especially Marshall's when I was growing like a weed and outgrew shoe sizes in months, sometimes weeks!

Foot Locker became a go-to store in my mid to late 80s teen years.

They had a punch-card thing that gave you a greater discount if you spent so much. I always found nice, inexpensive clothes for my kids (90’s) until my daughter became a teenager and had to have the labels that were so important back then. She gets her own kids’ clothes at Target.

in the 1950s, early '60s.

Last edited Thu Apr 17, 2025, 01:23 PM - Edit history (1)

1842-1987

We made a pilgrimage there every year when we were kids. The large store in Newark had a small restaurant, and we would dress up and shop for our Easter clothes with my mom and Grandmother.

store was a restaurant

Also all of our jeans and boots for showing cattle.

Most of clothing and shoes came from locally owned stores, even the department stores. Groceries came from Mom and Pop stores and supermarkets that were city wide but not even close to statewide.

I was complaining about the loss of the last men's clothing store 15 years ago. The big chains don't concern themselves about what I want.

Sorry for the rant from an old curmudgeon. I just passed 3/4 of a century last month, so maybe I'm entitled. Waving his stick at big box stores.

& sometimes Sears. They had a machine where you put your feet in and see an X-Ray to see if shoes fit properly. Probably why my toes are numb today.

Or Woodies for short. We used to go to the one in downtown Washington DC. They had a wonderful restaurant with the best malted milkshakes. My mom worked there on weekends so I think we got a discount. It was such a treat to go down there to get Easter clothes.

Without question.

G.C. Murphy
F.W. Woolworth's
Hills

Bonwit Teller for special clothing.

Sears, K-Mart, Twin Fair, Big Wheel, Pamida, Woolworth's for clothes, toys, household items etc.

IGA, Rawsons, and Liberal for groceries

Five of the Air Bases we were stationed at are now closed.

It was a big department store, something we didn't have in the middle-of-nowhere northern Michigan we moved to when I was 4. We'd drive down to GR every Memorial Day weekend to tend a relative's grave and to go shopping. I remember always wanting to go to the 5th floor because that's where all the toys were, and I'd always get a new outfit for my Barbie.

The building is now the headquarters of the Grand Rapids Police Department, sigh..

Kresge’s, Hudson's, Crowley's, Neisner's, Federal's Department store, Farmer Jack's, Chatham's ...

There were a lot of little local clothing and food stores. I can't remember their names now. Then there was City Records, who got the latest Motown releases before anyone else did.

Kids clothing. I think the owner's name was actually Fry.

I'm sure it went out of business decades ago.

Al Baskin was a suit & jacket place for men, but the 3rd floor was the California Room for women. (The basement was boys, 2nd floor was men.) They didn't have girls' clothing. There was Fahrenbackers for that. My wife got her girl's outfits there, and her school uniforms.
The Boston Store was a department store like a Marshall Field or Macy's. A new bigger towns outside of Chicago had them.
None of the 4 have been in business since the 90s. Maybe even earlier.

and the Filene's main store above it at their flagship location in Downtown Boston.

Hills - where the toys are
Winn Dixie, Bruno's - food
TG&Y, ALCO, bEST, Service Merchandise, Sanger-Harris, Foley's, Stripling & Cox, COX's, McRae's, Caster Knott, Parisian - dept stores
Hypermart USA, Auchan - hypermarts

... If I needed shoes it was Thom McCan's.

Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

My mom would drag my sister and me to Sears and make us try on clothes, which we hated to do. We were such brats; we complained practically the entire time. We certainly tested Mom's patience.

That's where my mom would buy all our clothes.

Sears, Peebles, Ivey's, and K-Mart for clothes.