My mom actually made a career out of working for Montgomery Ward. She worked there for 25 years, and started off on the docks before working all the way up to Store Manager before they shuttered her store as a part of the 1997/1998 round of store closings. She'd go off to work for Kmart (which is ironically how I discovered you and this video from your Abandoned: Kmart video) for another 5 years before retiring for good. The picture you show at 9:20 is actually my mother's store. It was the Montgomery Ward located at 2500 W Colonial Drive in Orlando, Florida. This Wards location actually had a very large Automotive Center attached to it as well. When the Wards closed, thankfully the location did not go abandoned and Orange County Sheriff's Office bought the land and with some renovations to the interior and the removal of the stone pebble exterior walls, some paint, and a small foyer built onto the front of the building as an addition along with some minor renovations to the auto center to serve as a fleet mechanic repair shop for the sheriff's vehicles, the location is now the Headquarters of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. As an aside, the other Wards location in Orlando in South Orlando near the Florida Mall went abandoned for many years until eventually it was purchased in the early 2000's I remember and turned into a warehouse/retail store combination for our local Goodwill Industries. The exterior was very similar to the store you showed at 7:56. Not sure if it was the same one or not, I don't know that much about the South Orlando store, only my mothers and that's been through years of on and off research. I was very young when all this happened with Wards closing (around 7-8 years old) but even into my teens and even after I went off to college (which was after my mom passed away sadly) we had perfectly functioning Montgomery Ward appliances in the house and my mom used to get all of my kid clothes from there. My mom even got me my first video game console (an NES) from Electric Avenue. I was too young to really appreciate Wards for what it was, and I always love hearing about a company that my mom gave 1/3rd of her life to working at and serving and learning more about them. Thank you very much for this very well put together video and in a roundabout way for also commemorating my mom's store.
A suggestion of the difference between Abandoned and Bankrupt. Abandoned: Anything with a Physical remnant to it. While theme-parks, malls, and cruise ships are obvious; companies with remaining unused stores fit this. Bankrupt: Any company that has not left anything physically behind. PanAm worked because it's presence at an airport has completely vanished due to other companies swiftly coming in. Banks, Telecommunication, Energy Companies and such. Cancelled: Anything that had a potential but never came to be. I just realized you have an ABC of programming! A-bandoned, B-ankrupt, and C-ancelled! You should do something like that with your banner! (For a fourth series, maybe "Demolished")
My first credit card was a Montgomery Ward card, went right to the store and bought me a Super Nintendo NES with Donkey Kong, teenage priorities my friends.
So was my mom’s. She also bought herself a radio from there with her eighth grade graduation money (1971). It still works, my dad uses it to listen to Cubs games when he’s doing things outside or they’re on national TV.
@@jenniferclark9842 How does he get *Alerts* on that thing? Cant even update his status on FarceBook. Tell him he could prolly Log-On FB, Link to a radio station. Then the algorithm could learn what he likes to listen to, and suggest things for him to Buy on Pop-Up ads. Bet he'd *Like* that a lot.
I cannot lie when I say that this is possibly my favorite RUclips channel of all time, your content has so much thought put into it and soul, it’s almost as if the audience can feel the love put forth by the creator. Thanks for continually making this content dude.
It always breaks my heart to hear of these things. Now I realize I'm part of that dying era too. The days of skating rinks, arcades and malls are sadly being phased out. I wonder being replaced by what?...
@@jaceSHO well, there is a bit of optimism- from the time of malls and mail order catalogs, there's a recent trend of small business shopping. If you know how to avoid scams and you know how to tell the quality of the crafted good then you're getting something that will last you a while. Granted, most of the goods are pretty cosmetic, but at the same time being able to better know the person who provides you a good or service really does help with sales and item quality.
My dad was an engineer at Mobil Research Corp all through the 70’s and 80’s. In ‘74 when Mobil acquired Montgomery Wards all Mobil Research employees got a substantial discount on all Montgomery Wards items so everything new around our house came from them. Washer, dryer, vacuum, dehumidifier, air conditioner, everything. I never really heard of them before that and then suddenly everything had the Montgomery Ward brand on it.
You know, I've always been under the impression that the company way pronounced the same way the city in Alabama is. It's spelt the same way, though I do look like an idiot lol
I find it astonishing that both Montgomery Wards & Sears exited the catalog business just before the internet brought back the catalog business. Both invested heavily in brick & mortar stores at just the time that brick & mortar stores were going out of date. Wards is gone. If Sears isn't gone yet, it may as well be.
I think Sears should have gone under then. The only thing that saved them was KMart. I think that was the worse thing that happened to Sears. KMart killed them. The ones that are still around all suck. Building not cared far. Very poor service.
@@larbear2835 On August 18,1981 in Dade County,Florida the grief stricken and anguished parents of 6 year old Adam John Walsh filed a Wrongful Death Lawsuit against Dade County and were preparing to file one against Sears Roebuck Corporation,Inc, but 3 weeks later, SEARS offered John Walsh and Reve a $600,000($1.3 Million today) compensation settlement in exchange for them dropping their lawsuit against Sears Roebuck Corp, on November 17,2008 when the FBI concluded alongside Dade County's investigation in to Adam Walsh's murder determining that the original suspect Ottis Toole was the murderer, it was revealed that SEARS Roebuck in September 1981 actively had covered up, destroyed documented evidence and records showing them liable for negligence and wrongful death in Adam's kidnapping,sexual molestation and violent murder. John Walsh then stated that "People should BOYCOTT SEARS. This is disgusting and unacceptable. Sears not only led to the murder of my Son with their negligence, they BRIBED me and my Wife in a lame attempt to cover their own sorry asses and knowingly destroyed documentation showing them LIABLE and grossly negligent in my son's death by HR hiring an unqualified Teenager for Loss Prevention. SEARS deserves all the financial turmoil their currently suffering. I have suffered pain for 27 long years. The tragedy shows how little of DAMN they give in Customer Relations and Public Safety. I hope they go out of business". You got your wish John, and I agree with you.
This one actually hit kinda close to home since my parents met being coworkers at a Montgomery Ward's. If they had gone under a few decades before they did, I might not even exist. Wasn't expecting an existential crisis from an Abandoned video but still enjoyed it!
This is an excellent profile of Montgomery/Jefferson Ward and you really told the history well. I grew up in the 1980's during their decline and had the chance to see their attempted retail comeback. I can still remember groaning "Are we going to Ward's?", in the mid 80's when my parents would be on the hunt for some trivial item (to me). I can remember being so bored there-especially the Jefferson Ward at the now long gone Normandy Mall location in Jacksonville, Florida. I was a big Sears fan as a kid. Ward's was one of the only store chains I ever experienced that did not seem to have developed a solid identity. Later on, in their comeback attempt they opened a store in Regency Square Mall, where I enjoyed browsing in "Electric Avenue".
Yeah but the difference is that anyone that's visited America as much as the folks that make the videos should still know how to pronounce Mobil even if it doesn't have a presence in Canada. It'd be different if you've never crossed the bridge.
The M-W in Mobile, AL building is about to be abandoned because it has been a Burlington Coat Factory, and they’re relocating to the former Best Buy in the same (former) mall.
HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK! You guys have evolved so much since you started. I was just watching a few of your old videos yesterday, and I find it so endearing how you’ve really started to show your passion for what you talk about! Instead of just listing info, you really insert some personality, and it makes it even better.
In my hometown, Montgomery wards shut down and was bought out by Ames which shut down and was bought out by K mart that also then shut down and now theres a Target which is about to go out of business.
The last Montgomery Ward near me was transformed into a Target after it's closing. It originally consisted of a two level retail store connected to it's auto repair shop. The auto repair section was torn down and the main store shortened to allow for the space to be turned into a parking lot. Surprisingly the mall it's anchored to (Lakewood Center Mall, Lakewood CA) is still going strong and finding ways to expand. The shopping mall isn't dead you just need the know how to keep it going. Great informative video. Thank you!
Luke Jameson We lost out Bon Ton, known as Elder-Beerman in January and soon half of it will be occupied by a H&M store. The mall it's in is small, has no competition as far as other malls are concerned and appears to be doing well. It'a all in how the ownership maintains and markets the mall.
I only have two memories of that Monkey Wards, Being dragged out of Electric Avenue by my mom after I got "lost" and my mom getting a tune-up while it rained really heavily. That Target is always packed even in times when you wouldn't think it should be. It's amazing that Cerritos,Stonewood and Lakewood have remained such economic powerhouses despite their relative proximity to each other, though it helps they are all owned by the same management company. Lived twenty-seven years of my life in that city, seen that mall go through a lot of changes, not all of them agreeable, but hey what are you going to do?
My mall is anchored only by Nordstrom and Macy's and has found its special way to stay alive, not sure how. It had an expansion back in 2007, but the expansion made it into an awkward shape. People get lost all the time, and complain about being unable to find anything, we even had a Radcliffe move to a smaller mall a little ways away, citing that no one could find their store in the big mall. SOMEHOW the smaller mall is alive too; the big mall is a 15 min walk away from my house, the small mall is 10.
@@travis7310 I miss this store too :( It was so my childhood. So was Service Merchandise. Man, I adored going to that store as well. I wish I had tons for money to build a kinda small monument of replicas of signs from Montgomery Ward, Service Merchandise, a retro K mart sign and one more (whatever a good suggestion is). pretty much just for the people who wanna stop by and have a look and remember the good ol days. I like the idea for the signs to light up at night even.
I used to love shopping at Montgomery Ward, they used to sell nice clothes at an affordable price. It's really kind of sad realizing that so many retail stores from my youth are now gone but they'll live on in my memories.
Lemme tell you something Jake. I found your channel I think a year back out of a hat, and while I still find your earlier videos a bit lesser in quality, you have clearly shown improvement. I'm already subscribed and in the squad, but I just wanted to remind you to keep doing you~
Still have my cassette deck purchased at my local Montgomery Wards! Also the bet destination in my town for Kenner Star Wars figures! Miss MW! So many great shopping memories with my family! Very nice video!
I have two gallon jugs of Montgomery Ward anti-freeze in the garage and a 10 gallon MW air compressor that was my grandfathers. He bought it in the early 70's and it still works like a charm. Wards also sold farm equipment under the Allen Bradley brand, I remember a few farm wagons being still being used in the 90's.
@@notsonicefenu There's a Booksamillion in the mall that's closest to my home (Dubuque, IA) that still seems to be doing well, but I don't know how the other stores are doing. The mall that contains that store might not be doing well. One of its original anchor stores was a Montgomery Ward's that closed when they went out of business. Another of its anchors closed last year (Younkers) because it was under the ownership of The Bon Ton, and all of their properties closed. Its last anchor is JC Penney, which isn't doing so hot as a company. It's hard to say what's going to happen to a lot of these malls. A lot of stores that are typically anchor stores (Sears, JC Penney, etc.) are really struggling.
my hometown target used to be a montgomery wards and my sister worked there when i was a kid. i remember the store vaguely but i DO remember getting stuck in their elevator when i was 6 lol.
i didnt want to take the stairs with my mom so i went in the elevator alone and pressed all the buttons and the elevator stopped and i cried haha. when the doors opened on the ground floor i was so relieved that i didnt have to live in an elevator forever! hah!
Same :( I miss MW. It was so my childhood. So was Service Merchandise. Man, I adored going to that store as well. I wish I had tons for money to build a kinda small monument of replicas of signs from Montgomery Ward, Service Merchandise, a retro K mart sign and one more (whatever a good suggestion is). pretty much just for the people who wanna stop by and have a look and remember the good ol days. I like the idea for the signs to light up at night even...
I remember when I was a kid one of the best things about Thanksgiving / Christmas time was the giant like 75 to 100 page catalog that Montgomery Ward would send out. So sad to see these places just abandoned to rot from the inside out.
The Sears equivalent of Montgomery Ward's Electric Avenue was Sears Brand Central. Brand Central was what Sears used to call their electronics and appliance department. My dad used to be a salesman at Sears Brand Central from 1992 - 2002.
I always used to pass by the one in Panorama CA and to this day, you can still sort of see the sign. I had never been inside so this video is really interesting. Good job Jake!
Montgomery Ward also made an obscure direct to video animated adaptation of Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer back in 1996 called "Rudolph's Lessons For Life" which was sold exclusively at various Montgomery Ward Departments stores during the Christmas seasons in the mid to late 1990's. Ever since the company went bankrupt, it's now harder to those videos besides poor quality videos that can be found on RUclips. Makes sense since Rudolph actually originated from a Christmas campaign back in the late 1930's as a poem/story.
I worked for them in Houston at the Memorial City Mall from 1982-1984, and it was great. The management was perfect, and the employees were like family.
Lotta Memories of Montgomery Wards, Growing up in Chicago my mother loved going to both Sears and Wards. Brand loyalty really wasn't a thing, more so than the fun they had walking through huge department stores and finding things lol. The Brickyard Mall (Was abandoned for quite awhile before being torn down) Had Wards as one of their Anchors and was the store we always shpped at. Lots of Holiday Seasons spent in there, almost tear worthy to think about now. Lots of those family members are long gone now. Got my original 1977 Star Wars bed set from Wards, as well as my NFL set. (Wards always sold those NFL Helmet Cars we finally got them all after a number of years lol) Later in 85 my Commodore 64 came from Wards. Wards for me was just the place we went to when I was younger, now that I'm older and it's gone I look fondly on that store and the many memories. Strange how 2 competing stores can still live on in memories when they were just stores lol. Thanks for the image of Golden Bear, wow that was one of our favorite places as kids after being made to go to Church lol. That and Ponderosa Steak house, sad all these great places get replaced with these cookie cutter chains now that will never make a memory like these places did.
No kidding. The opened a brand new Carson Pirie Scott on our new strip mall. Was only around for six months and now they are going out of business. They are part of the Bon-Ton line.
I still have a coffee table and several end tables my parents bought from there. They said they were on clearance because they had some minor blemishes. My dad coated all of them with varnish or whatever, and i still have them.
Montgomery Ward also had their own elevator company at one point with them not only designing, manufacturing and installing elevators in their own department stores but also getting contracted to install them in other buildings back then!
There is still a Montgomery Ward standing abandoned in Winchester, VA. It has remained vacant since its closing. The last time I snooped around there, the doors still have the labels / Wards decals on them. The store is located in a largely dilapidated / very low end retail strip mall which still bears the name 'Wards Plaza'.
Jake, you're in competition with the history channel in my eyes. They used to broadcast such rich content and now all it is is reality TV garbage. If your shows were to get signed by a television network, please for the love of God, don't budge on your production value or your lack of reality for the world. Your content is spot on and is concise enough to get the point across. Very well done again.
Whass up Jake ?.......I used to go to "Monkey Wards" with my parents. It was the poor mans Sears store. But looking back now, their stuff was way better than a lot of the crap out there today. And they had a glossy catalog to drool over ! ! !
Ima Tumor LOL! MW was my dad's favorite store in the 60s and 70s. I always thought he coined the phrase "Monkey Wards as I never heard anyone else calling it that!"
Bean George I miss those stores. I have a 1960's Montgomery Wards "Power Craft" battery charger/booster ,that was my grandfather's. 50 years old and it still works GREAT. Its just the portable one, not the big ones on wheels, but it weighs about 20 pounds, lol...
Oh God. I used to call it "Monkey Ward" too. I actually really liked that store. It went out of business when I was in high School, so I pretty much raided it for things to put in my college dorm, most memorably, I bought my combination 13 inch TV/VCR there.
Sears passed over the little town of Fremont, California just before it really boomed, but Wards was glad to become the anchor store for it's new mall. We used to shop there quite a lot and had a lot of household stuff from them. They even had guns. Remember many an awful trip there and to Mervyns for new school clothes..
Interesting pronunciation for a company so well known. Mobil is typically pronounced with a short "i", but I think he's thinking of how Mobile (as in the city in Alabama or the noun describing a type of art) is pronounced with the long "I" against the typical short "i" pronunciation of the word "mobile" (as in easily movable)
Canadian here. There are a lot of companies widespread in the USA that don't have any presence in Canada. So when fellow Canadians like Jake pronounce them, we don't always know the correct way to say it, because it's not a company we've ever dealt with.
I just received my new Montgomery Ward Summer 2021 catalog! It’s like stepping back in time. They’ve got a nice and varied selection of merchandise. I worked for Wards back in the1980’s, so I’ll always have a soft spot for them.
Thank you for this. I loved Montgomery Ward as a child. I can remember when Electric Avenue hit our store. I was like a kid in a candy store. I was so sad to see it go.Our store was replaced by a Burlington Coat Factory. Another similar company you can research is Service Merchandise. Pretty much the same story
Both Ward stores in my area (Indianapolis) were almost instantly taken up by the upscale chain Von Maur. Since then, Von Maur has been doing great. I loved Wards, but Von Maur is definitely an upgrade. They’re still doing great today.
I worked for Montgomery Wards and it was awesome. My store was super old and had crows nests for loss prevention to watch people. When the store adapted cameras the nests were untouched. I used to eat lunch in them so I can watch around the store from above. Good times!
My local mall, Metro North, had MW as its main anchor store. A Wards, Electric Avenue, even the auto center. So naturally, the moment MW went under, the entire mall started imploding. Not literally - that didn't happen until 2018.
I remember there was a Montgomery Ward in my neighborhood when I was little (early 80s). It was in a small two floor shopping mall that was abandoned once Montgomery Ward closed. I was well into my twenties and there were still plastic hangers at my parents house with the Montgomery Ward name/logo.
. . and Hummer. Both Saturn and Hummer dealer abandoned distinctive styled buildings. Many of those buildings are still selling cars, with their styling removed.
The Concord Delaware store and several others (including Richmond VA area) were opened Spring 1980. Concord had been a location of Allied Stores' Almart. 4:57 - These store opened in Fall 1980, in former J.M.Fields and Two Guys buildings.
I've never been to a Wards but I did go to a Bradlees near...Warminster? PA once. I think they were liquidating at the time and my mom wanted to get cheap stuff for us kids.
You should cover the BEST Products company. They were a catalogue-showroom franchise that folded in 1997, best known for their postmodern architecture like the “Indeterminate Facade” in Houston or the “Tilt Building” in Maryland. Despite their buildings being landmarks of mid-century architecture, only one still stands in Richmond, VA. The owners were also quite enigmatic, gaining notoriety for buying fine art using their company’s furniture and electronics as payment. They left their legacy by funding a massive expansion to The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in which they donated their entire collection of art.
Worked at BEST as well for two summers and a Christmas season. It was the only location in a mall, Charleston Town Center in Charleston, WV. Great place and was always busy up to the end.
I remember this retail chain for its electronics. My family bought our first big screen television from Montgomery Ward. This was during the early 90s. The building was demolished and rebuilt as a Target store.
Oh I remember Montgomery Wards the last year Montgomery Wards was open and Baltimore Maryland was that the Golden Ring Mall in White Marsh Maryland when Montgomery Wards went out of business so did the old Golden Ring Mall it has been Revitalize is an outdoor shopping mall it's called Golden Ring Plaza since its opening in 2002
my grandma worked at Ward’s in the 70s and 80s here in Portland, Oregon. she worked in the baby section for a long time doing different tasks and would often train new hires, noticing that every male new hire would quickly get promoted while she and other ladies stayed at the bottom. i hope these failing department stores are a sign that the workplace discrimination still present from that era of retail is also coming to an end. thanks for sharing jake!
7:18 my dad repairs GE products and he owns his own company called applience medic, he told me that now adays GE products have become terrible mostly because they are made in china, but in 3 or 4 years they are going to be made by a german company, so maybe they'll be of better quality
@@wolfchacer0139 I have an Admiral VCR still, sitting in my basement, that probably works. Bought it when the MW in my town was going out of business, I also bought my gas grill there (although I've replaced the guts of that a couple times, I still have it) and a TV (also Admiral, but long gone). BTW, Admiral was like Kenmore, they never actually made anything, they just put their label on it. That Admiral TV I had was actually a Magnavox...
I remember shopping at Montgomery Ward with my mom as a kid. Mr. Ward would probably be pleased to know that Sears isn't doing so well these days either.
10:15 Hey, that looks familiar. That's the MW at the old Regency Mall in Augusta, Ga. Back in High School some friends and I found our way into the old mall complex through an open door in the MW auto service center. Other than a bit of mold, all the storefronts remained relatively untouched. There were still Christmas decorations up from the 2001 holiday season and with the natural illumination from the skylights above, it all looked...surreal.
My Grandma (before she passed) used to love going to Montgomery Ward's! I have so many memories of shopping there with her as a kid! I used to go look at the Super Nintendo's and Sega Genesis consoles & games on sale there! It was even better when she surprised me with a Sega Genesis one day!! Anyway, lots of memories!
Riverside, CA Montgomery Wards at the Plaza was my first job. I worked the dock for 1 1/2 years when we got notice they were going to close. I had a great time working there, and working with people I will never forget.
I worked at Wards part-time in the mid- to late 1990s until a year or so before it closed, selling electronics and appliances on straight commission during college. The average customer was very old and many stores did not look good, which turned off a lot of people. They also had big problems keeping TVs in stock, which really hurts when it's an impulse buy. It cost me commissions many times. In spite of that, I did OK for part-time work. They also expanded into selling insurance (they paid for employees to get state licenses) and we got big commissions on extended warranty sales, which they were always pushing us to sell. But margins on electronics are not big and very competitive, so it's a tough market. Our store never recovered after a Best Buy opened nearby, followed by a Circuit City. Because of the decision after WWII not to expand into suburbs like Sears, many Wards were in second-tier suburban malls. If Wards opened a new location in one, you could bet it was when the mall was at least a little past its prime.
Very simple way they could have saved the brand: Montgomery Ward=Classic small stores for older shoppers Jefferson Ward=New big stores for hip shoppers with walkmans
@@artz9643 Now those put out pretty decent pics. I had one of those too. My first camera was a Kodak Hawkeye Instamatic on Xmas, 1966. The model where you had to turn the flashcube manually.
Being around 10 in 1995, I always remember Montgomery Wards as being kind of a special trip out for my family. The draw did tend to be something from Electric Avenue, and also it meant we'd take a walk and browse some of the other stores at one of the two malls we'd go to visit. Looking back my family completely stopped going to the smaller of the malls after the Wards closed. The one we kept going to held on to it's Wards longer, but also had Sears, and more restaurants detached in the complex around it.
We still have a Montgomery Ward deep freezer from 1992. The thing still refrigerates our hunting trip meats like a champ.
That’s cool!
Things built back then were built to last!
**I wiSh I kneW hoW to fix my M.W. fRidgE the daMn thing quiT woRKinG this pasT MeMoRiaL DaY.!??!?* 😵 😢 😠
Sarah Sebers you mean built to rust. A lot of metal just begs to rust all the time
Ronald McFondle It’s like the refrigerator manufacturers don’t want them to last as long as they used to back then!
My mom actually made a career out of working for Montgomery Ward. She worked there for 25 years, and started off on the docks before working all the way up to Store Manager before they shuttered her store as a part of the 1997/1998 round of store closings. She'd go off to work for Kmart (which is ironically how I discovered you and this video from your Abandoned: Kmart video) for another 5 years before retiring for good.
The picture you show at 9:20 is actually my mother's store. It was the Montgomery Ward located at 2500 W Colonial Drive in Orlando, Florida. This Wards location actually had a very large Automotive Center attached to it as well. When the Wards closed, thankfully the location did not go abandoned and Orange County Sheriff's Office bought the land and with some renovations to the interior and the removal of the stone pebble exterior walls, some paint, and a small foyer built onto the front of the building as an addition along with some minor renovations to the auto center to serve as a fleet mechanic repair shop for the sheriff's vehicles, the location is now the Headquarters of the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
As an aside, the other Wards location in Orlando in South Orlando near the Florida Mall went abandoned for many years until eventually it was purchased in the early 2000's I remember and turned into a warehouse/retail store combination for our local Goodwill Industries. The exterior was very similar to the store you showed at 7:56. Not sure if it was the same one or not, I don't know that much about the South Orlando store, only my mothers and that's been through years of on and off research.
I was very young when all this happened with Wards closing (around 7-8 years old) but even into my teens and even after I went off to college (which was after my mom passed away sadly) we had perfectly functioning Montgomery Ward appliances in the house and my mom used to get all of my kid clothes from there. My mom even got me my first video game console (an NES) from Electric Avenue. I was too young to really appreciate Wards for what it was, and I always love hearing about a company that my mom gave 1/3rd of her life to working at and serving and learning more about them.
Thank you very much for this very well put together video and in a roundabout way for also commemorating my mom's store.
There was a Montgomery Ward near my family until the Chapter 7 bankrupcy. The site was abandon for couple of years until Target took over.
A suggestion of the difference between Abandoned and Bankrupt.
Abandoned: Anything with a Physical remnant to it. While theme-parks, malls, and cruise ships are obvious; companies with remaining unused stores fit this.
Bankrupt: Any company that has not left anything physically behind. PanAm worked because it's presence at an airport has completely vanished due to other companies swiftly coming in. Banks, Telecommunication, Energy Companies and such.
Cancelled: Anything that had a potential but never came to be.
I just realized you have an ABC of programming! A-bandoned, B-ankrupt, and C-ancelled! You should do something like that with your banner!
(For a fourth series, maybe "Demolished")
TheGoodWario You’re such the genius!
TheGoodWario he needs to see this post!
I agree with this comments
TheGoodWario smart
:3
I have a Wards refrigerator that my parents bought in 1977. Works well.
i like ur pfp
Don’t make things like they used too
Back when they sold stuff to last and wasn’t focused on selling warranties
@@Chiefab22 i feel like making stuff like fridges long lasting is good because you use them everyday and is very important to have
146 years. It was a good run, Montgomery Ward. It was a good run indeed.
ward
We used to call it "monkey wards"...now that I think about it, I'm not sure why...? I loved MW ..
I’m a gen Z baby(1999) so I’ve never even heard of Montgomery Wards
148 years today.
DRESDEN 411 yeah really
My first credit card was a Montgomery Ward card, went right to the store and bought me a Super Nintendo NES with Donkey Kong, teenage priorities my friends.
True lad
So was my mom’s. She also bought herself a radio from there with her eighth grade graduation money (1971). It still works, my dad uses it to listen to Cubs games when he’s doing things outside or they’re on national TV.
@@jenniferclark9842
How does he get *Alerts* on that thing?
Cant even update his status on FarceBook.
Tell him he could prolly Log-On FB, Link to a radio station. Then the algorithm could learn what he likes to listen to, and suggest things for him to Buy on Pop-Up ads.
Bet he'd *Like* that a lot.
Lol Super Nintendo nes that means Super Nintendo Nintendo entertainment system
Nice!
It’s sad when stores from your childhood are no longer there. Thanks for making videos like this. Keep up the awesome work!!! 👍
JeffreyV especially toysrus
@David Wang ha ha ha lol 😂 never say never!! But never !!! Lol 😂
@@ninerscountry7885 *that's what they said about Sears...*
I cannot lie when I say that this is possibly my favorite RUclips channel of all time, your content has so much thought put into it and soul, it’s almost as if the audience can feel the love put forth by the creator. Thanks for continually making this content dude.
RevolverRho agreed
Thank you so much!
Couldn’t agree more.
It always breaks my heart to hear of these things. Now I realize I'm part of that dying era too. The days of skating rinks, arcades and malls are sadly being phased out. I wonder being replaced by what?...
Nitendo games…
All Trash - nothings good anymore
Online shopping and video games, I love malls and arcades and skating rinks, I hate how America is so lazy
@@jaceSHO well, there is a bit of optimism- from the time of malls and mail order catalogs, there's a recent trend of small business shopping. If you know how to avoid scams and you know how to tell the quality of the crafted good then you're getting something that will last you a while.
Granted, most of the goods are pretty cosmetic, but at the same time being able to better know the person who provides you a good or service really does help with sales and item quality.
Replaced by the bs Amazon, etc
My grandma had an AC unit from them that worked for 20+ years. They really don’t make things like they use to
My dad was an engineer at Mobil Research Corp all through the 70’s and 80’s. In ‘74 when Mobil acquired Montgomery Wards all Mobil Research employees got a substantial discount on all Montgomery Wards items so everything new around our house came from them. Washer, dryer, vacuum, dehumidifier, air conditioner, everything. I never really heard of them before that and then suddenly everything had the Montgomery Ward brand on it.
When GE bought them later, the whole company collapsed.
@@christiangonzales7429 Which one or both of them? ;)
@@Mikko088 Montgomery Ward collapsed then. GE is currently collapsing now, as they plan to split into three companies.
You know, I've always been under the impression that the company way pronounced the same way the city in Alabama is. It's spelt the same way, though I do look like an idiot lol
Bright Sun Films maybe you can do Abandoned: Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
+Bright Sun Films I requested Sports Authority, Hhgregg, KB Toys, or The Bon-Ton as upcoming videos.
The city is spelled Mobile. The company is Mobil.
They aren't spelled the same...
As Bob Dylan sang, I'm stunk inside of Mobil with the Memphis blues again.
This continues to be my favorite series on RUclips ... every episode is great
I find it astonishing that both Montgomery Wards & Sears exited the catalog business just before the internet brought back the catalog business. Both invested heavily in brick & mortar stores at just the time that brick & mortar stores were going out of date. Wards is gone. If Sears isn't gone yet, it may as well be.
You didn't pay attention to the video. Wards still exists but only as an online store.
I missed the 80s, watching those old commercials made me realize how much i missed those times.
Now that I think about it, a lot of retailers went bankrupt in the early 2000s 🤔
Guess they couldn't handle the Y2K style.
I think Sears should have gone under then. The only thing that saved them was KMart.
I think that was the worse thing that happened to Sears. KMart killed them. The ones that are still around all suck. Building not cared far. Very poor service.
We all remember 2008 I presume? That year sucked
@@larbear2835 On August 18,1981 in Dade County,Florida the grief stricken and anguished parents of 6 year old Adam John Walsh filed a Wrongful Death Lawsuit against Dade County and were preparing to file one against Sears Roebuck Corporation,Inc, but 3 weeks later, SEARS offered John Walsh and Reve a $600,000($1.3 Million today) compensation settlement in exchange for them dropping their lawsuit against Sears Roebuck Corp, on November 17,2008 when the FBI concluded alongside Dade County's investigation in to Adam Walsh's murder determining that the original suspect Ottis Toole was the murderer, it was revealed that SEARS Roebuck in September 1981 actively had covered up, destroyed documented evidence and records showing them liable for negligence and wrongful death in Adam's kidnapping,sexual molestation and violent murder. John Walsh then stated that "People should BOYCOTT SEARS. This is disgusting and unacceptable. Sears not only led to the murder of my Son with their negligence, they BRIBED me and my Wife in a lame attempt to cover their own sorry asses and knowingly destroyed documentation showing them LIABLE and grossly negligent in my son's death by HR hiring an unqualified Teenager for Loss Prevention. SEARS deserves all the financial turmoil their currently suffering. I have suffered pain for 27 long years. The tragedy shows how little of DAMN they give in Customer Relations and Public Safety. I hope they go out of business".
You got your wish John, and I agree with you.
Bankrupt*
This one actually hit kinda close to home since my parents met being coworkers at a Montgomery Ward's. If they had gone under a few decades before they did, I might not even exist.
Wasn't expecting an existential crisis from an Abandoned video but still enjoyed it!
There was a point in my childhood where every appliance and electronic device in the house was bought from Montgomery Ward.
The Montgomery Ward building a few miles from home is still standing abandoned since 1999.
This is an excellent profile of Montgomery/Jefferson Ward and you really told the history well. I grew up in the 1980's during their decline and had the chance to see their attempted retail comeback. I can still remember groaning "Are we going to Ward's?", in the mid 80's when my parents would be on the hunt for some trivial item (to me). I can remember being so bored there-especially the Jefferson Ward at the now long gone Normandy Mall location in Jacksonville, Florida. I was a big Sears fan as a kid. Ward's was one of the only store chains I ever experienced that did not seem to have developed a solid identity. Later on, in their comeback attempt they opened a store in Regency Square Mall, where I enjoyed browsing in "Electric Avenue".
Mobil as in ExxonMobil, not Mobile, AL
Since Jake is from up The Great White North, I figured it must be a Canadian pronunciation.
Canadians often don't know how to pronounce American companies when they don't have a presence in Canada.
Yeah but the difference is that anyone that's visited America as much as the folks that make the videos should still know how to pronounce Mobil even if it doesn't have a presence in Canada. It'd be different if you've never crossed the bridge.
Michael C. Yeah it's pronounced mobull
The M-W in Mobile, AL building is about to be abandoned because it has been a Burlington Coat Factory, and they’re relocating to the former Best Buy in the same (former) mall.
I didn't know Rudolph was originally a marketing tactic! That's why I love your videos- so much interesting information.
I found out that when I worked for wards in my home town of fort worth for the last 2 year's of existence...
Kind of strange how a commercial business can create something that is bigger than retail itself.
Oh yeah growing up in MWards Rudolph was a huge deal.... as if it was a religion
@Dusk Raccoon
I guess that is kinda like myths of old, they just fade into cultural ubiquity.
@Saul Rosenberg If you watched the Rankin Bass Adaptation of Rudolph he sounds and looks cute
HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK! You guys have evolved so much since you started. I was just watching a few of your old videos yesterday, and I find it so endearing how you’ve really started to show your passion for what you talk about! Instead of just listing info, you really insert some personality, and it makes it even better.
aw thank you so much! I appreciate it!
3:46 god I love 60's architecture its so good that modern design still copies it.
I love that mid-century modern look. So good
In my hometown, Montgomery wards shut down and was bought out by Ames which shut down and was bought out by K mart that also then shut down and now theres a Target which is about to go out of business.
What a cursed location for retail stores.
ward
Damn that sucks
Sounds like a bad location. Targets ate everywhere in highly populated areas. Target and Wal Mart are the most successful chains.
Sings circle of life from Lion King
I couldn't hit the play button fast enough when I saw this!
The last Montgomery Ward near me was transformed into a Target after it's closing. It originally consisted of a two level retail store connected to it's auto repair shop. The auto repair section was torn down and the main store shortened to allow for the space to be turned into a parking lot. Surprisingly the mall it's anchored to (Lakewood Center Mall, Lakewood CA) is still going strong and finding ways to expand. The shopping mall isn't dead you just need the know how to keep it going. Great informative video. Thank you!
Good to know that the Malls of America is still going strong after all these years, Even with closures l, we will still need them.
Luke Jameson We lost out Bon Ton, known as Elder-Beerman in January and soon half of it will be occupied by a H&M store. The mall it's in is small, has no competition as far as other malls are concerned and appears to be doing well. It'a all in how the ownership maintains and markets the mall.
Ours in the east bay area in san Leandro also turned into a target 😒
I only have two memories of that Monkey Wards, Being dragged out of Electric Avenue by my mom after I got "lost" and my mom getting a tune-up while it rained really heavily. That Target is always packed even in times when you wouldn't think it should be. It's amazing that Cerritos,Stonewood and Lakewood have remained such economic powerhouses despite their relative proximity to each other, though it helps they are all owned by the same management company. Lived twenty-seven years of my life in that city, seen that mall go through a lot of changes, not all of them agreeable, but hey what are you going to do?
My mall is anchored only by Nordstrom and Macy's and has found its special way to stay alive, not sure how. It had an expansion back in 2007, but the expansion made it into an awkward shape. People get lost all the time, and complain about being unable to find anything, we even had a Radcliffe move to a smaller mall a little ways away, citing that no one could find their store in the big mall.
SOMEHOW the smaller mall is alive too; the big mall is a 15 min walk away from my house, the small mall is 10.
I'm a simple person. I see ABANDONED, I click instantly.
Nicobbq Same, But it must be from BSF.
Lmao! Ikr!
Do you like this channels to? Also, I like your channel a lot 😃
Hey! It's you! The guy who said Mario was the bad guy!
Thanks!
I miss Montgomery Ward. I have a few things from them that still work!
USA EAGLE7 wow. Tell us more about your clairvoyant talent.
@USA EAGLE7 I have an iron, a slow cooker and a waffle iron that all still work and are in excellent condition.
@@travis7310 I miss this store too :( It was so my childhood. So was Service Merchandise. Man, I adored going to that store as well. I wish I had tons for money to build a kinda small monument of replicas of signs from Montgomery Ward, Service Merchandise, a retro K mart sign and one more (whatever a good suggestion is). pretty much just for the people who wanna stop by and have a look and remember the good ol days. I like the idea for the signs to light up at night even.
I used to love shopping at Montgomery Ward, they used to sell nice clothes at an affordable price. It's really kind of sad realizing that so many retail stores from my youth are now gone but they'll live on in my memories.
Lemme tell you something Jake. I found your channel I think a year back out of a hat, and while I still find your earlier videos a bit lesser in quality, you have clearly shown improvement. I'm already subscribed and in the squad, but I just wanted to remind you to keep doing you~
We always called it Monkeys Wards growing up . The toy catalog was always great at Christmas
Me too!!
My mother always called it Monkey Wards...haven't heard that in 20 years!!
Still have my cassette deck purchased at my local Montgomery Wards! Also the bet destination in my town for Kenner Star Wars figures! Miss MW! So many great shopping memories with my family! Very nice video!
I have two gallon jugs of Montgomery Ward anti-freeze in the garage and a 10 gallon MW air compressor that was my grandfathers. He bought it in the early 70's and it still works like a charm. Wards also sold farm equipment under the Allen Bradley brand, I remember a few farm wagons being still being used in the 90's.
Sears has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy(October 16, 2018).
Otto Greenleaf Bankrupt
episode number
S E A R S
Yeah Sears is gonna fall (not sure if they have already?)
Also K-mart...
Booksamillion... (?)
@@notsonicefenu There's a Booksamillion in the mall that's closest to my home (Dubuque, IA) that still seems to be doing well, but I don't know how the other stores are doing. The mall that contains that store might not be doing well. One of its original anchor stores was a Montgomery Ward's that closed when they went out of business. Another of its anchors closed last year (Younkers) because it was under the ownership of The Bon Ton, and all of their properties closed. Its last anchor is JC Penney, which isn't doing so hot as a company. It's hard to say what's going to happen to a lot of these malls. A lot of stores that are typically anchor stores (Sears, JC Penney, etc.) are really struggling.
EverBlue Gaming sears went bankrupt 2 years ago
@@jdnproductionss Sears is still in business, they have closed a lot of stores, tho.
my hometown target used to be a montgomery wards and my sister worked there when i was a kid. i remember the store vaguely but i DO remember getting stuck in their elevator when i was 6 lol.
pris diaz lol I guess that’s a memorable moment
i didnt want to take the stairs with my mom so i went in the elevator alone and pressed all the buttons and the elevator stopped and i cried haha. when the doors opened on the ground floor i was so relieved that i didnt have to live in an elevator forever! hah!
nah this was in california
Our old Montgomery ward is now a target store here in Fresno California
"Abandoned: Northridge Mall" Please do this i would be so happy. Also great job on the video i love watching them.
I used to have a Montgomery Ward near me in my childhood. I loved that store and was sad to see it go.
Likewise. And with all the money I spent there using their damn 18% credit card, they should not have gone under! :-)
Same :( I miss MW. It was so my childhood. So was Service Merchandise. Man, I adored going to that store as well. I wish I had tons for money to build a kinda small monument of replicas of signs from Montgomery Ward, Service Merchandise, a retro K mart sign and one more (whatever a good suggestion is). pretty much just for the people who wanna stop by and have a look and remember the good ol days. I like the idea for the signs to light up at night even...
It´s become a personal tradition to start every Sunday with some tacos and watch a new episode of one of your series in BSF
I remember when I was a kid one of the best things about Thanksgiving / Christmas time was the giant like 75 to 100 page catalog that Montgomery Ward would send out. So sad to see these places just abandoned to rot from the inside out.
Glad I waited to start my heavy weekend drinking till a bit later.
So happy to see another BSF video on my notifications. Awesome as always!
YESSSSS JAKE! Another great vid
The Sears equivalent of Montgomery Ward's Electric Avenue was Sears Brand Central. Brand Central was what Sears used to call their electronics and appliance department.
My dad used to be a salesman at Sears Brand Central from 1992 - 2002.
The footage at 7:33 is from the location they had at 2939 W Addison in Chicago. It is now a 2 story Target and you can kind of see the similarities.
I always used to pass by the one in Panorama CA and to this day, you can still sort of see the sign. I had never been inside so this video is really interesting. Good job Jake!
As a kid who practically grew up here, I've always thought it was eerie how it's still there and has not been torn down
Montgomery Ward also made an obscure direct to video animated adaptation of Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer back in 1996 called "Rudolph's Lessons For Life" which was sold exclusively at various Montgomery Ward Departments stores during the Christmas seasons in the mid to late 1990's. Ever since the company went bankrupt, it's now harder to those videos besides poor quality videos that can be found on RUclips. Makes sense since Rudolph actually originated from a Christmas campaign back in the late 1930's as a poem/story.
I worked for them in Houston at the Memorial City Mall from 1982-1984, and it was great. The management was perfect, and the employees were like family.
Lotta Memories of Montgomery Wards, Growing up in Chicago my mother loved going to both Sears and Wards. Brand loyalty really wasn't a thing, more so than the fun they had walking through huge department stores and finding things lol. The Brickyard Mall (Was abandoned for quite awhile before being torn down) Had Wards as one of their Anchors and was the store we always shpped at. Lots of Holiday Seasons spent in there, almost tear worthy to think about now. Lots of those family members are long gone now. Got my original 1977 Star Wars bed set from Wards, as well as my NFL set. (Wards always sold those NFL Helmet Cars we finally got them all after a number of years lol) Later in 85 my Commodore 64 came from Wards. Wards for me was just the place we went to when I was younger, now that I'm older and it's gone I look fondly on that store and the many memories. Strange how 2 competing stores can still live on in memories when they were just stores lol.
Thanks for the image of Golden Bear, wow that was one of our favorite places as kids after being made to go to Church lol. That and Ponderosa Steak house, sad all these great places get replaced with these cookie cutter chains now that will never make a memory like these places did.
Wow this is crazy. I did not know that Montgomery wards went thru all of this. Thanks for sharing this! Great video !
Coming soon: The Bon-Ton and Toys "R" Us
No kidding. The opened a brand new Carson Pirie Scott on our new strip mall. Was only around for six months and now they are going out of business. They are part of the Bon-Ton line.
It should be a good episode.
I'm curious about what exactly happened to Toys R Us as they basically went under overnight.
Same with Sears in a few years
Davis if sears in the states doesn’t go completely under by next year I’ll be shocked...... it’s gone in Canada....
For Toys’R’Us they failed to follow with the online trend efficiency and with their high prices compared to competitors, they were on borrowed time
Can you please do mervyn's? Does anyone remember this store?
Mervyns was one of my favorite stores to shop after Wards closed up
I was just about to ask this. I was thinking about that store the other day. I forgot about it but for some reason it popped into my head.
Yes my mom would take us to get school clothes anyone remember the commercial with the lady saying open open open😁😁
It rings a bell, why does it sound so familiar? Was that another department store?
@@Emiliapocalypse It was similar to what Kohl's and JCPenney are, except it just couldn't survive.
You should do a video on service merchandise. I recall shopping there when I was younger and always wondered what happened to the chain.
Phar Mor
ln 1993 l bought a Sony 27" TV with picture in picture from Wards for 799usd. My grandmother still has that TV in her bedroom and it still works.
I still have a coffee table and several end tables my parents bought from there. They said they were on clearance because they had some minor blemishes. My dad coated all of them with varnish or whatever, and i still have them.
Saul Rosenberg way better tech than crap we have today
Time for a new TV silly!
Montgomery Ward also had their own elevator company at one point with them not only designing, manufacturing and installing elevators in their own department stores but also getting contracted to install them in other buildings back then!
Been looking forward to this for a long time.
I've got another one for you (either on this or Bankrupt): Service Merchandise.
Great one I forgot all about Service Merchandise
Wow.. yes, service merchandise! And godfather's pizza, pizza in and McDuff's?
Ritas_ Reel Oh yeah Godfather Pizza. Godfather used to be big in San Diego
I immediately thought of Service Merchandise in the first minute or two of the video, as well
I get the pun. Time to make it higher... electric avenue.... lol
Okay, Mobil oil company.
Moh-bull
Not Mo-beel like the city in Alabama.
Yes. Note the difference in spelling between the company and the Alabama city.
He is from canada they pronoun words differently.
@@Thejeepcalledred5 by "differently," you mean "wrong."
Andy Wolf Nobody cares. Mo-beel sounds better.
@@Thejeepcalledred5 no, the name of the company - a HUGE company in this case - is the same wherever you are
There is still a Montgomery Ward standing abandoned in Winchester, VA. It has remained vacant since its closing. The last time I snooped around there, the doors still have the labels / Wards decals on them. The store is located in a largely dilapidated / very low end retail strip mall which still bears the name 'Wards Plaza'.
Jake, you're in competition with the history channel in my eyes. They used to broadcast such rich content and now all it is is reality TV garbage. If your shows were to get signed by a television network, please for the love of God, don't budge on your production value or your lack of reality for the world. Your content is spot on and is concise enough to get the point across. Very well done again.
Whass up Jake ?.......I used to go to "Monkey Wards" with my parents. It was the poor mans Sears store. But looking back now, their stuff was way better than a lot of the crap out there today. And they had a glossy catalog to drool over ! ! !
Ima Tumor LOL! MW was my dad's favorite store in the 60s and 70s. I always thought he coined the phrase "Monkey Wards as I never heard anyone else calling it that!"
Bean George
I miss those stores. I have a 1960's Montgomery Wards "Power Craft" battery charger/booster ,that was my grandfather's. 50 years old and it still works GREAT.
Its just the portable one, not the big ones on wheels, but it weighs about 20 pounds, lol...
Oh God. I used to call it "Monkey Ward" too. I actually really liked that store. It went out of business when I was in high School, so I pretty much raided it for things to put in my college dorm, most memorably, I bought my combination 13 inch TV/VCR there.
Sears passed over the little town of Fremont, California just before it really boomed, but Wards was glad to become the anchor store for it's new mall. We used to shop there quite a lot and had a lot of household stuff from them. They even had guns. Remember many an awful trip there and to Mervyns for new school clothes..
I remember my grandparents calling it 'Monkey Wards' 50 years ago.
Mobeel?
Interesting pronunciation for a company so well known. Mobil is typically pronounced with a short "i", but I think he's thinking of how Mobile (as in the city in Alabama or the noun describing a type of art) is pronounced with the long "I" against the typical short "i" pronunciation of the word "mobile" (as in easily movable)
It clearly went out of business before jake was higher than a Mobil gas pump :-D
He's Canadian. Give him a break.
Bat-mobil
Canadian here. There are a lot of companies widespread in the USA that don't have any presence in Canada. So when fellow Canadians like Jake pronounce them, we don't always know the correct way to say it, because it's not a company we've ever dealt with.
I remember Golden Bear! I have its ad jingle stuck in my head. No removal. "Its a honey of a, honey of a place where food is good. GOLDEN BEAR!!
I just received my new Montgomery Ward Summer 2021 catalog! It’s like stepping back in time. They’ve got a nice and varied selection of merchandise. I worked for Wards back in the1980’s, so I’ll always have a soft spot for them.
In the 80s, we went to 3 or 4 different malls, & only one had a Montgomery Ward. It was to this day the only one I've ever seen.
"Monkey Wards" kept me fly EVERY Easter as a child. 😎
Haha Monkey Wards, I remember calling them that too!!
Thank you for this. I loved Montgomery Ward as a child. I can remember when Electric Avenue hit our store. I was like a kid in a candy store. I was so sad to see it go.Our store was replaced by a Burlington Coat Factory. Another similar company you can research is Service Merchandise. Pretty much the same story
Both Ward stores in my area (Indianapolis) were almost instantly taken up by the upscale chain Von Maur. Since then, Von Maur has been doing great. I loved Wards, but Von Maur is definitely an upgrade. They’re still doing great today.
I worked for Montgomery Wards and it was awesome. My store was super old and had crows nests for loss prevention to watch people. When the store adapted cameras the nests were untouched. I used to eat lunch in them so I can watch around the store from above. Good times!
My local mall, Metro North, had MW as its main anchor store. A Wards, Electric Avenue, even the auto center.
So naturally, the moment MW went under, the entire mall started imploding. Not literally - that didn't happen until 2018.
One of the few channels on RUclips when I like the video's before they begin, cause you just know it's gonna be good. :)
Pfffffft, I like the video before I click on it.
0:53 - That is the Montgomery Ward in Van Nuys, CA (my hometown) that is still there and abandoned after all these years.
As a kid who practically grew up in Panorama City, I always thought it was eerie and weird how it was literally abandoned.
I’ve heard about Montgomery Wards a lot recently as Herbergers liquidates and old MGs get redeveloped. Sad
We still had our floor model TV from Montgomery Ward until 2010.
I remember there was a Montgomery Ward in my neighborhood when I was little (early 80s). It was in a small two floor shopping mall that was abandoned once Montgomery Ward closed. I was well into my twenties and there were still plastic hangers at my parents house with the Montgomery Ward name/logo.
You should do the car brand Saturn
That was my first car and the worst one I ever had. 😂
. . and Hummer.
Both Saturn and Hummer dealer abandoned distinctive styled buildings. Many of those buildings are still selling cars, with their styling removed.
Hahaha you showed a graphic of the NJ/PA locations, and I was like..but those were Bradlees stores when I was growing up. xD
The Concord Delaware store and several others (including Richmond VA area) were opened Spring 1980. Concord had been a location of Allied Stores' Almart.
4:57 - These store opened in Fall 1980, in former J.M.Fields and Two Guys buildings.
I've never been to a Wards but I did go to a Bradlees near...Warminster? PA once. I think they were liquidating at the time and my mom wanted to get cheap stuff for us kids.
You should cover the BEST Products company. They were a catalogue-showroom franchise that folded in 1997, best known for their postmodern architecture like the “Indeterminate Facade” in Houston or the “Tilt Building” in Maryland. Despite their buildings being landmarks of mid-century architecture, only one still stands in Richmond, VA. The owners were also quite enigmatic, gaining notoriety for buying fine art using their company’s furniture and electronics as payment. They left their legacy by funding a massive expansion to The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in which they donated their entire collection of art.
Worked at BEST as well for two summers and a Christmas season. It was the only location in a mall, Charleston Town Center in Charleston, WV. Great place and was always busy up to the end.
I remember this retail chain for its electronics. My family bought our first big screen television from Montgomery Ward. This was during the early 90s. The building was demolished and rebuilt as a Target store.
In my fictional world, this place never gets abandoned and still successful
Can u plz do the 4 GM companies that went away from 2004-2010
Arturo Manzanarez That can be a good one for Bankrupt. Along with THQ, Midway Games, Enron, and Lehman Brothers.
Arturo Manzanarez rip Oldsmobile.
Arturo Manzanarez that’s what I was thinking I commented saturn
RIP Pontiac
braiden Rogan LOL I have a 2005 saturn ion with a 5 spees. Great appliance car.
Oh I remember Montgomery Wards the last year Montgomery Wards was open and Baltimore Maryland was that the Golden Ring Mall in White Marsh Maryland when Montgomery Wards went out of business so did the old Golden Ring Mall it has been Revitalize is an outdoor shopping mall it's called Golden Ring Plaza since its opening in 2002
I vaguely remember this store. I got a few of my clothes from there, and it's a shame that they went under. Another great video Jake!
I'm addicted to watching these videos! So interesting! Teaches me of places I didn't know existed! Yay! Keep it up BSF!!
my grandma worked at Ward’s in the 70s and 80s here in Portland, Oregon. she worked in the baby section for a long time doing different tasks and would often train new hires, noticing that every male new hire would quickly get promoted while she and other ladies stayed at the bottom. i hope these failing department stores are a sign that the workplace discrimination still present from that era of retail is also coming to an end. thanks for sharing jake!
7:18 my dad repairs GE products and he owns his own company called applience medic, he told me that now adays GE products have become terrible mostly because they are made in china, but in 3 or 4 years they are going to be made by a german company, so maybe they'll be of better quality
We bought one of the 1st VCR's from Wards back in 1982 , it was their brand as well. Still works today, every button, every dial 100% functions.
@@wolfchacer0139 I have an Admiral VCR still, sitting in my basement, that probably works. Bought it when the MW in my town was going out of business, I also bought my gas grill there (although I've replaced the guts of that a couple times, I still have it) and a TV (also Admiral, but long gone). BTW, Admiral was like Kenmore, they never actually made anything, they just put their label on it. That Admiral TV I had was actually a Magnavox...
I remember shopping at Montgomery Ward with my mom as a kid. Mr. Ward would probably be pleased to know that Sears isn't doing so well these days either.
I’m actually in the ward family, and trust me we are very pleased :)
@@alexward3219 wards wasnt more than high end walmart at the end
Mobeel? What's that all aboot, eh?
10:15 Hey, that looks familiar. That's the MW at the old Regency Mall in Augusta, Ga. Back in High School some friends and I found our way into the old mall complex through an open door in the MW auto service center. Other than a bit of mold, all the storefronts remained relatively untouched. There were still Christmas decorations up from the 2001 holiday season and with the natural illumination from the skylights above, it all looked...surreal.
My Grandma (before she passed) used to love going to Montgomery Ward's! I have so many memories of shopping there with her as a kid! I used to go look at the Super Nintendo's and Sega Genesis consoles & games on sale there!
It was even better when she surprised me with a Sega Genesis one day!!
Anyway, lots of memories!
5:48 one thing dies the whole pack does
Excellent as always Jake! I love this series. Very entertaining and interesting. Keep 'em coming!
Loved the Christmas catalogs!
Riverside, CA Montgomery Wards at the Plaza was my first job. I worked the dock for 1 1/2 years when we got notice they were going to close. I had a great time working there, and working with people I will never forget.
I worked at Wards part-time in the mid- to late 1990s until a year or so before it closed, selling electronics and appliances on straight commission during college. The average customer was very old and many stores did not look good, which turned off a lot of people. They also had big problems keeping TVs in stock, which really hurts when it's an impulse buy. It cost me commissions many times. In spite of that, I did OK for part-time work. They also expanded into selling insurance (they paid for employees to get state licenses) and we got big commissions on extended warranty sales, which they were always pushing us to sell. But margins on electronics are not big and very competitive, so it's a tough market. Our store never recovered after a Best Buy opened nearby, followed by a Circuit City.
Because of the decision after WWII not to expand into suburbs like Sears, many Wards were in second-tier suburban malls. If Wards opened a new location in one, you could bet it was when the mall was at least a little past its prime.
Very simple way they could have saved the brand:
Montgomery Ward=Classic small stores for older shoppers
Jefferson Ward=New big stores for hip shoppers with walkmans
Does anyone remember a department store called "Best" from the 1980s?
YES! East side of town in El Paso. I bought my Minolta disc camera there.
@@02chevyguy There's another term that you don't hear anymore, "disc camera."
@@artcamera5514 LOL! That was back in '84. No matter what brand of film you used, the pics always turned out grainy.
I remember back in those days I had one of those cameras that used the "110" cartridge film, and you needed to buy the flash cubes.
@@artz9643 Now those put out pretty decent pics. I had one of those too. My first camera was a Kodak Hawkeye Instamatic on Xmas, 1966. The model where you had to turn the flashcube manually.
My grandma also called it
Montgomery Wards 😆
yea, don't know why he is adding an S most of the time
Being around 10 in 1995, I always remember Montgomery Wards as being kind of a special trip out for my family. The draw did tend to be something from Electric Avenue, and also it meant we'd take a walk and browse some of the other stores at one of the two malls we'd go to visit.
Looking back my family completely stopped going to the smaller of the malls after the Wards closed. The one we kept going to held on to it's Wards longer, but also had Sears, and more restaurants detached in the complex around it.