When I was a kid I never dreamed that Sears, and for that matter Montgomery Ward, would ever close. They were staples in our lives. Ghosts from the past.
And I feel the same way about car brands. First car I ever rode in was a '48 Plymouth, and that decades old brand no longer exists. I believe that Oldsmobile was the second oldest car marque in the world when they got axed. No more Pontiacs, and no more Mercurys. Not to mention whole companies, that were iconic, that died off in the 60s and 70s. American Motors, Studebaker, Packard...these were huge car companies. Poof, they're gone.
❤️ sear& montgomery ward , kmarts, sears seem like the perfect stores, kmart couldn,t get into the grocery store stuff, mejer, walmart, target, everybody got the grocery store business , gas stations
@@lloydkline1518 In my opinion Sears blew it by not going whole-hog catalog again, but with the internet. They should have sent out spiffy catalogs every year that directed people to their site, and go back to selling EVERYTHING, even pre-fab buildings (which they used to sell). They should have, and could have, made arrangements with manufacturers for every thing from planes to houses. They coulda been bigger than Amazon.
i have a bunch of memories and will list below. as a point of reference. my roots are in the greater hartford connecticut with a family homestead in windsor locks ct. and a summer camp in vershire vermont and tax-free west lebanon new hampshire. and a brother in the greater syracuse new york state area. i bought a cement mixer from a Montgomery ward
The idea that the general consensus of humankind was to believe in a person bringing gift to kids in one night all over the world . No one “knew” how he did it an we (most of) all went along with it.
Montgomery Ward wasn't a thing here in northwest GA, but Sears sure was .... and like you, I loved the Christmas catalog as a kid! I remember anxiously awaiting it to arrive every fall.
Kids today will never get the wonder of having the Christmas wish books from Sears and Wards. Getting those big catalogs with the toy section in the back was exciting. As a kid you could spend hours looking at all the toys and marking the items you wished for Christmas. Even the smell of the catalog was a treat because it brought up the wishes. Going to the mall to visit these big brick and mortar stores was also a treat. Walking in made you feel in awe. Sears became that store you looked forward to going into first.
We not only had the Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogs in our home, we also had Spiegel. Our mother used to call Montgomery Wards, "Monkey Wards". It was slang commonly used in our area for that store. Our folks shopped a lot at J.C. Penney's, too.
My mom worked at Montgomery Ward when I was in 5th grade. It was a blessign when our refrigerator broke down and we were able to afford a new one with her employee discount.
My dad worked part-time at Sears to make extra money and we were able to buy a lot of home appliances with his discount, which was especially nice when an item was on clearance or being discontinued.
@@kimroe9282 My father bought our house in 1960. The house was built in 49'. It had the original Stove and Fridge. We sold the house in 2001 with all the original appliances that still worked like new.
When I was little in the early 1960's, I'd dream over the "wish list" section of both Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs. But what I really miss is the Woolworth's, W. T. Grant and J. J. Newbury's stores in the brownstone blocks in the center of my childhood town. I bought my first Beatle album at Woolworth's. As soon as strip malls came in, the town's business section was done for. Buying what I need on the internet is OK, but is nothing like the experience of visiting my favorite old stores, saying hello to the store employees and actually holding what I want to buy.
No saving, no thrift. Just order and buy, charge and borrow. The piper has already started playing his song. These car notes are gonna be the first to flop.
AND being able to inspect what you want to buy BEFORE buying it. Internet shopping doesn't allow you to do that. You take your chances, which is one of several reasons neither hubby nor myself shop online.
My parents purchased a Montgomery Ward refrigerator in the early eighties. I think it came from the store at Springfield Mall in Northern Virginia. That frig still works and is used in their garage in Alexandria. My very expensive refrigerator ceased all operations after seven years. The old MW frig is still kicking!
I have a Montgomery Ward refrigerator that I bought in 1983 - still works perfectly. I cannot recall who made them but, as I recall, they were made by a manufacturer whose own appliances were much higher priced.
@@michaelinhouston9086 I used to fix refrigerators for a living,but retired years ago. Montgomery Ward used Admiral and Westinghouse,two different suppliers. Probably Admiral- I think they made most of MW units.
They make things to last the warranty nowadays, you're lucky if it lasts longer.. years ago a appliance fails, there was a repairman in town who would fix it economically, now it's $100.00+ to pop the cover and that's carry in, and you still may end up without it being fixed.
Had you said Sears, it could have been a derivative of the current merged companies of Amana, Maytag or Whirlpool and whatever else they have, I live less than a hour from Amana IA, most of the works is now in Mexico, if that bugs you keep it in mind shopping, it bugs families and communities here where job losses occurred in droves.
Those are the two I miss the most. Sears Craftsman tools were the best. I you broke a screwdriver all you had to do was bring it back and they would give you a new one no charge.
@@gofishingwhenyoucan They did I closed the last one in my area but they have had an online store for years you could still get their jewelry up until last year I know of, you may still be able to.
The sad part - THE REALLY SAD PART - is MOST if not all sold items MADE IN AMERICA. We made and sold our own stuff. America could survive on its OWN. We as AVERAGE Americans could support a family working at one of these AMAZING STORES or a Factory producing their products. I remember these AMAZING stores & their QUALITY mechandise.
I completely agree with you. The primary reason that America was so great in the past is because we made all of our own products and sold them to ourselves and the rest of the world. This infusion of cash for value added products from the rest of the world is what enabled our country and it's middle class to become more affluent year after year.
Well we could still buy things made in America if we were willing to pay a living wage to people who make our shoes and clothes, but Americans want cheap clothes and stores don't want to pay its employees a good wage or give them benefits.
I have Fieldcrest (made in America) sheets that are over 30 years old that are still in impeccable condition. Sheets we purchased 8 years ago are dunzo. There is NO comparison for quality for just normal products. It's a shame.
The demise of the mall is a tragedy I think. That was a culture in America and frankly I thought it made a lot of sense to be able to park one time and be inside out of the heat/cold to do your shopping, eating, and yes, visiting with EVERYONE you ran into :) I remember going there at Christmas time and it was like a giant party! I miss 70's America... it was just a more settled easier time.
My childhood mall is just hanging on, and is the only mall I knew every invh of (I’m 67). I agree, they are great one-stop places for shopping and people-watching.
Does anyone remember Lerner Shops, the place for good quality, reasonable cost, and stylish women's clothes and accessories? They began in 1913 and blossomed in the boom years of the 1920s. By the 1960s there was at least one location in every city and town of any size in the United States and Canada, and in big cities there were multiple locations. My mom and aunt worked as bookkeepers for decades in their New York home office, and I worked some summers while in college. Long gone now....
Yes -- I remember Lerner's! It was one of my favorite clothing stores to shop when I was a teen and into my 20s. Foxmoor Casuals was another favorite back in the 1970s/80s.
Me too.I like catalogs but I still want to handle the products.It is such a hassle to have to return things and have to worry about porch pirates , too. I hate on-line shopping and ordering. I also loved the pretty displays , of course.
My mom and dad took me to Kmart and bought me a new bicycle, it was a 3 speed, it was a beautiful bike. I remember it wouldnt fit in the car so I got to ride it home with them following closely in the car. I must have put a million miles on that bike. Good memories of the 70s.
Ever increasing rent, utilities, common area maintenance fees, , real estate taxes, licenses, credit card fees,, who can open a store theses days. And people want to pay low prices.
I have their employees cookbook. In NW Pennsylvania we had Halle, I have wonderful memories shopping or having afternoon tea with my mom. Macy's is not the same. We also had Trask and Boston Stores that had great stores that went all out for the holidays
@@oneminuteofmyday lots of people go to sam club, costco , get very cheap hot, pizza for lunch. Dinner , one or two dollars soda hot dog& soda, pizza & soda
Everyone talks about how online retailers are destroying brick and mortar stores... I wonder how long it will take, (And I'm sure it will happen sooner or later) before physical stores make a big comeback due to future generations discovering the 'novelty' of being able to pick the item up and look it over with your own two eyes before buying.
With all the cheaply made junk and counterfeits out of china flooding the online market, its definitely time to bring stores like SEARS back. There is nothing better than being able to handle and see for yourself the quality of the things you are buying. Of course, now a store like SEARS would have the same mass shoplifting problems that are closing stores like wally world. The average, law abiding person takes in the shorts as usual.
I agree. I watch the Recollection Road Videos and enjoy the trips to the past. But, this video was different. This one made me sad, and brought tears. All the memories of years growing up and shopping in the older now stores. First remembering your own childhood, and then your childrens. When shopping was fun and the kids always wanted to go with you.
@@pamelaz.7659 yes, there definitely was something different about this , it started out like oh yes I remember but as it went on it was like watching your old friends pass away...
So many of the companies shown that were sold, ended up being raped for their profits by greedy shareholders, which was much of the mismanagement. There were so many regional stores that boomed through the 60’s and 70’s, that ended up just like the big retailers. Most people today don’t have any clue what it was like to shop at the grand stores of our past. Really a shame.
While there are many contributing factors to the downfall, including online shopping, the beginning of the downfall was CEO's and COO's raping the profits out of companies. Kmart and Sears were led by the same man who decided to give himself raises, bonuses, preferred stock, "loans" to himself, and not pay vendors or companies for goods from purchase orders. He used Kmart's assets to buy Sears and then bled both companies dry.
@@ThisIsMyRealName You got that exactly right. The dude got ahold of those companies and choked every last penny out of them for himself and then tossed the remains in the alley. I hope that dude gets his due one of these days.
You idiot marxistnazisocialist. Shareholders have no power to rape a company for profits. You have absolutely no understanding of corporate ownership and are just hate filled due to all the marxistnazisocialist and communist propaganda you have been programmed with.
I miss so many of these stores. My engagement ring came from Service Merchandise in 1981. I miss going to the stores to shop at Christmas, it's just not the same anymore. Shame that Walmart isn't on this list.
I remember going to Walmart the first time when I was stationed in Texas in '84. Sam Walton had a good store running then . The chain hadn't expanded out that far yet. It wasn't until he passed away and his children took over that Walmart began to decline. Today it is a junk store with lousey products.
I never thought Sears would decline and fade. The retailer could have been prospering better than ever, and maybe even been a challenge to Amazon, if it only had the right management as the internet age was taking off.
My husband says the same thing! Sears and Montgomery Ward both started as catalogs and it should have been a no brainer for them had they jumped on board with the rise of the internet and e-commerce!
@@maryellenaylward5457 I agree. You could order from the catalog over the phone and either pick it up from the store or have it delivered. Never understood why they blamed Amazon for their failure when they invented that business 100 years ago!
it was the Amazon of its time, you could even order an entire house from that catalog, it was poor management that killed that business, remember "the softer side of Sears" campaign?
@@knitterscheidt Sears even offered its own store brand car in the early 50s, the Allstate! It was a re-badged Kaiser Henry J. The older folks on this channel will at least remember Kaiser-Frazier, and later Kaiser-Jeep.
I miss Bullock’s and Bullocks Wilshire, Joseph Magnin, I Magnin, and The Broadway stores. I was very lucky to land a job as the assistant to Rosemary Troy Fashion Director of Bullocks Wilshire in the 1980s. It’s a beautiful Art Deco building on Wilshire @ Vermont just west of Downtown LA. I acquired free Chanel jewelry from the Display Department and fabulous discounts on Model’s Room dressing stock and incredible markdowns before they were put on the floor. Ah, the Good Ol’ Days. Janet
My mom and I practically lived in K+mart when I was growing up in the 1960s and '70s. There was one within walking distance from my home. I came close to working there, but never did. Lady across the street walked to work there, worked there for 20+ years and retired from there. A single mother, she was able to buy a car and move to a better home. My daughter even worked at one in another town where we lived at the time for a while in the early 2000s when she was in high school. Just before they merged with Sears. Lots of emotional memories. Miss it very much. But seriously, I must have spent a million dollars at Kmart over my lifetime.!
@@dianabeurman364 Escondido -- in southern California? Right around my former haunts. You folks still have a K-Mart down there? We haven't lived there since June of 1995.
I never thought I'd ever see a big store chain like Sears go down. I can remember going to many a Sears store with my dad and looking through the Craftsman tool section.
@@devinbiz Amazon? Not likely. They are an octopus, in terms of sectors they rule on. The only thing that will take them down is building so many facilities and having so many issues employment related. Walmart could easily crumble. Most of their stuff is garbage, and I note that the quality of their raw foods has gone down drastically.
@@fanaticat1 Yes, and some of their management became arrogant and forgot that good customer service is what made those businesses. In their latter years, Sears became very uncooperative and unaccommodating when customers had complaints about their merchandise. And condescending! Some of those managers were real pieces of work. Our dad had to go through some of that. Our folks had shopped at Sears for decades and bought just about everything from them. But then they started getting uppity in their attitude toward customers, and that was the beginning of the end.
Service Merchandise was a wondrous place for me as a child. The one in Kokomo IN had everything secured to it's display location like bricks of gold. The workers were upstairs and our orders rode down a conveyor belt where my dad's name was loudly called out for pick up. Like magic 🌠
I remember the fancy department stores like Gimbels, Wanamaker, Strawbridge &Clothiers. They had tearooms, fashion shows, charm schools, and so many events!
In the Pittsburgh area, it was Gimbels, Kaufmanns, and Horns, all a step up above stores like K Mart, Zayre, Kresge, which ended up as K Mart, Hills, stores like that were for poor people. Middle class people shopped at JC Penney's and Sears.
This brought back so many bittersweet memories🥲. My grandparents were loyal Montgomery Ward customers. Every kitchen appliance, washer/dryer and even furniture were all MW. My grandparents have been gone for 30yrs and I still miss them. This was like a memorial to them. Thank you!
This brings back memories: I worked for Marshall Field's in their Oakbrook, IL store from 1967 through 1974. I had various jobs during that time, starting out as a stock boy and ending up as merchandise manager of three departments. I have very fond memories of those times, and I was sad as it went downhill under the various owners in the eighties and nineties. Thankfully, Macy's kept the downtown Chicago store as one of their Flagship stores, and they left the clock and the Marshall Field brass plaque below it on the building.
My Great Aunt bought a house out of a Sears & Roebuck catalog and had it built on her land in the 40's. I remember it as a child, it was beautiful stained wood and large 8 and 10 inch boards!
My grandparents also built a house ordered from the Seats catalogue around 1924. It had two staircases, one of the circular, and five bedrooms upstairs. So many wonderful memories in that house. The farm was sold in the mid 70s but the house is still there.
@robert heberlein I agree I've shopped at both of those stores a lot. I remember back in I think 2002 or 2003 my mom and I bought 3 ac window units from Sears down in Missouri and they worked great. Heck I remember in the early 90's I bought a rc car from them. I had a hand me down microwave that was a kenmore and it lasted 24 years before giving up the ghost in 2020
Wish you would have covered Dayton's, the Minnesota based chain that gave birth to Target and served as the backdrop to the iconic opening of the Mary Tyler Moore show when she tossed her hat in downtown Minneapolis.
Sears was THE go-to store in our neighborhood in the 60s and 70s for everything. I loved the catalogues and loved going to the store for dresses and to look at things like tools and appliances as a kid. If you told us then that Sears would no longer be a vital part of America we would have called you crazy.
Growing up on a farm in west Texas, it was a great treat to get ready for a new school year.We couldn’t wait for the Sears catalog to come in the mail. Later, as we got older, we would make the 90 mile trek to a bigger town where we could actually try on clothes and shoes.
Service Merchandise is one of those names I'd forgotten about! Best Catalog Stores seemed to be a similar entity! I still get catalogs from Montgomery Ward but haven't ordered anything yet! I did own one of their Signature Brand microwaves that lasted 13 years until a power outage surge killed it! A bit ironic that here in San Francisco a few years after the Mervyn's closed a Target took over the same space in the shopping center and it's still open today!
@@jons.6216 I must look into that. There was a none too large Wards around where I spent my early years. My parents hand built a house around that time, and I have reason to believe that most of the extra tools came from there. The building remains last time I checked to serve as a happy reminder.
@@joewoodchuck3824 The name and trademarks were purchased by another company after Montgomery Ward went into bankruptcy and the new company started another catalog business. I’ve never purchased anything from the new catalog. It was nice surprise to get one in the mail several years ago. Talk about nostalgia.
In Mississippi the Service Merchandise store buildings in Biloxi and Jackson were Wilsons stores. The both Wilsons in Jackson and Gulfport sold camera equipment..Nikons. also they sold Kodak papers and developers. Plus both Wilson's had a staffed watch repairman in jewelry dept
I remember as a child the wonderful aroma of popped corn when we walked into the Woolworth’s store. That - and all the merchandise (especially the toy section) was a sight to behold!
These stores take me back to my own childhood and even my children's life when they were toddlers. Sad to go back down memory lane when life was simpler and slower. Little did we realize back then how fast paced, high tech and chaotic our culture would become. I want to go back....
I remember these not mentioned in vid. W.T Grant, Alexanders, Gimbels, Bamberger’s, Stern’s, Lord and Taylor, Abraham & Straus, Ohrbach’s, Two Guys, McCrory’s, Filene’s, Bradlee’s. All defunct or merged with other stores.
My parents owned a very successful Sears catalog store in Bullhead City Arizona until they divorced in the mid-90s and Sears started shutting them down. It was a huge money maker for them until the KAA KAA hit the rotary oscillator. Mervyn Morris was the key speaker at my wife's graduation from Long Beach State University in Long Beach California in 1984. He was an excellent speaker. He soon retired after his speech. I can also think of TG&Y, Woolco, ZODY's, White Front, and Newberrys. For furniture Levit's.
@@lisapolanski9379 I used to go for their Yo-Yo’s of course, but also their super balls that would almost bounce back as high as from where you dropped them. The last one I ever saw was when we were taking back roads through Florida on our way back home. I don’t think it was still open, but just seeing it brought back memories.
@@Cheetahwoman7 To this day now my sister has inherited all the furniture we bought at Levit's in February 1971. Two lamps, Sofa, the stories it could tell, a love seat, two end tables, a coffee table, a 12-foot dining room table, and 8 chairs. Plus a stereo console with 8 track and record player. Yes, it still works.
@@thedreadtyger - These days, younger people probably relate to C. Montgomery Burns, Homer Simpson's ancient boss, and head of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.
The crazy thing is, most of these department stores started as mail order / catalog stores and in the end, their market was taken by Amazon... a mail order "store".
The shocking thing is that Sears, which at one time was every bit as influential as Walmart is today, failed to see the impact of online sales. They were slow to innovate, clinging to large department stores in downtown buildings and suburban malls even as Walmart and Amazon chipped away at their sales. They sold off profitable division after profitable division to keep the retail stores alive, not realizing it was a dying sales model.
Like Sears, you could get anything at Montgomery Ward. Furniture, window blinds, tools, vision care etc. I can remember the Montgomery Ward we would go to was always remodeling it's store.
In Cleveland we had May Company, Higbees, Halles and Sterling Lindner which had the huge Christmas tree. We went downtown at Christmas time to see Santa and the store window displays. No malls yet. The movie a Christmas Story was filmed there. Also remember when the department stores had nice restaurants. It was a treat to take the bus downtown to shop and have lunch at the department store restaurant. Good old days.
Wow...I'm old. I remember being in many of these stores. As a kid we went to the Marshall Fields store at Christmas to see the window decorations and then Santa
Those ideas and the electric model trains were widespread from the post-war 1940s, and a wonderfully nostalgic bit in the 1983 movie, "A Christmas Story" with Peter Billingsley. He is related to the 1957-63 iconic TV show, "Leave It To Beaver" star Barbara Billingsley ("June Cleaver").
As someone who grew up in Michigan, but spent a lot of time in Chicago, both Hudson’s and Marshall Field’s were places I knew really well. My grandparents remember the main Hudson’s store in downtown Detroit, but I grew up with many Hudson’s stores in malls, as downtown Detroit in the 80’s and 90’s was not a great place to be. The mall Hudson’s stores were always great though. Still, I wish I could have visited the downtown Detroit store in its heyday. The downtown store was a retail juggernaut, right up there with icons like Macy’s in Manhattan, Harrod’s in London, KaDeWe in Berlin, or Marshall Field’s in Chicago. They had so many firsts, and the store was very much like a small city it was so huge. I’m glad the site where it was is finally being redeveloped after all these years since its demolition in 1998, with some nods to the past. They even started Detroit’s annual Thanksgiving day parade down Woodward, either the same year or maybe a year before or after the famous Macy’s parade in New York. Marshall Field’s was also I store I grew up visiting in downtown Chicago, and I still call its iconic building there “Marshall Field’s”, despite any name changes. It’s corner patinated clocks are still an image that instantly says Chicago. As time went by, some of the Hudson’s mall stores I used to go to also turned into mall locations of Marshall Field’s, along with some other mall anchors like Elder Beerman. I always loved both stores though, and I miss so many different physical stores I’ve always known that are now gone, seemingly with no replacements.
I remember the Hudson's Department Store in Downtown Detroit. I,used to work for Hudson's Eastland Mall Store in Harper Woods,Michigan. The,Eastland Mall has been demolished. Eastland Mall has been renamed Eastland Commerce Center. Class A Warehouse and Distribution Center is going on the Eastland Mall site.
@@davidsquires154 I grew up closer to Central Michigan, so my main malls were the Fashion Square Mall, Meridian Mall, and then Midland Mall once it opened around 1990. But I had relatives in Troy, Royal Oak, and Huntington Woods. So some malls in the Detroit suburbs like Oakland or even Twelve Oaks I was occasionally at.
Downtown Hudson’s at Christmas was so exciting. The trains and kids shopping for their parents. My first credit card was from J L Hudson’s in 1972 and I purchased a Texas Instruments electric calculator for college. I still have that credit card because it showed that I was an adult.
Does anyone remember Consumer's Distributors? It was similar to Service Merchandise, but they closed up before Service Merchandise. There was also Alexander's, Korvette's, Sterns, Ohrs, Steinbach, Jamesway, Gimbal's, Bambergers, Bradlees & Two Guys department stores...
My grandmother lived in Paramus N.J. At the intersection of Route 4 and 17, there was a huge Alexander's with a giant mosaic of the world on the front of the building facing Route 4. I must have passed by that store a thousand times as a kid. Only went inside once though.
@@athos1974 I live in central New Jersey and I remember that Alexander’s you’re talking about I think my family and I were in there a couple of times we used to pass by it on the way into New York to see my grandmother that was the one that had the painting on the wall. Just remembering all those stores brings back a lot of nostalgia…
I do miss those days and stores. It was so much fun to go shopping, to touch and feel and see the products and being around people, especially at Christmas with all the decorations and music. It wasn’t just about buying stuff, it was just a fun experience.
I also bought my daughter's school clothes at Mervyn's. Every year until she was about 8-9 years old I bought her a pair of saltwater sandals for summer at Mervyn's. I loved that store!
My dad used to work in the kitchen of the downtown Dayton’s in Minneapolis when he got home from WW2. It was one of the many jobs he had while going to Northwestern Bible College. He said while he worked there, Mr. Dayton would stand by the door on .Friday night and hand people their paychecks. Thanking each one by name.
How about Toys r Us? Even when I was grown up I would spend a couple hours in their stores. Later on, I would spend all my Friday nights at Fry's electronics and searched for specials and bargains. I miss window shopping in these stores. There aren't many stores left to window shop anymore ☹️
Fry's was my favorite store to idle away the weekend afternoons or evenings. Get a meal in their in store diner, then walk the computer aisles looking at all the latest computer components and then hit up the computer software / game aisles, and finish in the camera dept. I think it was a big loss for those of us that had Fry's electronics available locally. I think I was able to go to 7 or 8 of their California stores all differently themed. My favorite being a toss between the Burbank U.F.O store and the bay area's Aztec themed stores.
@@youtubecensors5419 They we’re both wonderful and horrible. Wonderful for a child but if you’re concerned with adult things like civil rights, they could be horrible. But life was so much simpler then.
Marshall Field & Co. and Hudson's occupied a different niche than the rest of the department stores mentioned in this chapter. They were the prestige department stores in their respective markets, and offered all sorts of customized services, including restaurants, proprietary food products, confectionary, tailoring, etc.
In CT, every Caldors, had a Bradleys right next to it, sometimes with an adjoining door between the two that connected one store, too another, very similar merchandise too. Why was this ?
Heartbreaking. I will miss Kmart until the day I die. Hudson’s was special when I was young, and the downtown Marshall Field’s was magical when I was older. My grandma loved Montgomery Ward, but I thought it was trash because their toy department was terrible. Wasn’t sad to see it fail.
I won't miss Kmart a bit, I couldn't even get a can of barbasol in there for trying.. their buyers edged it out for awhile.. the store was old and stale looking inside.. many stores in the same town had the same Floorplan, or a flip thereof
I was born and raised in Chicago, and our parents would take us downtown every year to look at the Christmas windows at Marshall Fields, and then walk through the toy section. Great memories.
Central Illinois here - every year my parents & their best friends drove to Chicago for a week before Christmas for shopping , shows, dinners , etc. I got out of school a couple days each time to go on the train w/ my grandmother to join them . Wonderful memories & loved Marshall Fields !
What about Carson Pirie Scott---and Company? (There was a rather well-known photo taken in front of their sign in the '70s entitled "Company." I once met the photographer). There was Mc Dades---"The Catalog House." Zayres, Wieboldt's (They had ceiling-mounted kid-sized monorail at Xmas that took you around the store (downtown Chicago). The Fair (bought out by Wards), Madel's, Goldblatt's, and more. It all started going south, with the '75 recession, at least in Chicago, and just kept getting worse over the next 30 years.
There was also a few that I noticed that got missed as well. There was Zayre, which changed to Ames. And there was a place called Phar-mor which was like a Walgreens type place. There are just so many that didnt make it past the 90s. The internet killed brick and mortar.
@@johnwyblejr6460 That's what I was about to write. Hills, as I understand it was later called Ames, then, Ames, went out of business in the early 2,000.
I grew up with a Grant's down the road from. One of the first department stores that I'd went to that had a cafeteria. Bradlees was a cool regional store as well.
I,live in Detroit,Michigan. And,I remember the local Department Stores that either closed permanently or have been bought out by National Department Stores. They are: 1. Arlans 2. Crowley's 3. Federal Department Stores 4. Hudson's 5. Shoppers Fair 6. Spartan Atlantic Department Stores 7. Yankee Department Stores 8. Kmart,when Kmart was owned by S.S.Kresge Company 5&10. 9. Montgomery Wards 10. Sears Roebuck and Company 11. Lord and Taylor 12. Kresge's 13. Woolworth's 14. Neisner's 15. E. J. Korvettes
You took it all the way back with Arlans and Federal's Those stores have been gone so long I thought they were a figment of my imagination. But I have one for you... Topps. It was kind of like Arlan's.
Arlan’s! I grew up near GR, we went there every weekend. My mom refused to go to Meijer because they planned to build in our backyard and she fought like hell to keep them out. My parents would’ve bought the land but couldn’t afford it yet. Everyone thought it would be good for the neighborhood, so she was alone. They built, the neighbors were sorry and we moved. She never went into a Meijer. And we lived in Greenville, home of Meijer.
I grew up near 7 mile and Gratiot in the 70s. I remember that big blue green Federals sign that used to be there. My mom also liked going to Shoppers Fair too.
In the early 2000s, I worked in a drugstore across the street from a K-Mart. Our handheld CB radios were on the same band as K-Mart's. We used to radio things like 'clean up on aisle four' just to confuse them.
Toledo, Ohio had the legend of department stores that Started with L. It Lazarus, Lasalle, Lion Store. They all competed in their peak. But shopping downtown in Toledo as kid at Christmas Time was magical. The decorations were everywhere with outdoor music and vendors outside sells treats and candy apple and popcorn. The window decorations displays for Christmas were gorgeous.
Couple things. #1, how many remember that on Wheel of Fortune, back when the puzzle winner would go "shopping" that any money left over was put on a Service Merchandise gift certificate? #2, when I was growing up we had a department store chain called Two-Guys. They were ahead of it's time. They had both a supermarket and department store connected as well as a automotive center out front. Also gone but not forgotten are Bradlees, Wilmington Dry Goods, Burlington Coat Factory, Woolworths, Gimbels.
I remember when you could go & just hangout at the shopping centers until criminals ruined that for everyone going in shoplifting & causing problems. Besides the economy, and bad management, buying online didn't help shopping centers either. Also learned something from this video, had no idea that Kmart was the offshoot of Kresge's. Kresge's was always a favorite place to go as a little kid, however Kmart wasn't my choice of shopping.
I remember as a little kid looking through the Sears Christmas catalog and seeing all the toys. I was in high school when the nearest mall opened up and it was just so great. All the great shops, the food court, eating in a luncheon at at Frederick and Nelson and having Frango mint milkshakes or pie.So sad seeing all these things come to an end.
I really miss the Christmas displays in the stores and malls. Everything is soulless now. Stores today are drab colors, cold industrial lighting, and bland floor displays. There's no character anymore- it's all industrial cookie cutter boring.
Red , We Had Sibley's On Main Street and they did Christmas up very Big . Across the Street Was Midtown and McCurdy"s Department Store . For Decades we went Downtown for Christmas . The Kids got to see 3 Santas in One Day .Ha ha . All those stores are gone now but they are still around in our Memory .
Also buildings long before I was born had character too. By the 1970s and 80s they had switched to boxes and beige. They removed in the 90s the water fountains. In the 2000s they removed the trees. Now the malls are all being bulldozed. Not only malls, but main streets, banks, and small towns used to put up tinseled decorations and lights, big bells, Santas, angels, and signs saying Merry Christmas. I think as they aged they were not replaced, and due to fears of a few people who are anti-Christmas and anti-religious they abandoned decorations altogether. With Covid making everyone worldwide so depressed I really wished for governments and social workers/mental health people to work together to decorate up the towns EVERY holiday, every season having nice things up. Christmas red and green cheer, autumn/halloween/thanksgiving leaves and pumpkins and black kittens, springtime/Easter painted eggs and baby chicks and bunnies in pastels, valentine hearts and arrows, patriotic holidays with red white and blue stars and ribbons. Fear of haters shouldn’t stop towns from creating cheerful places. We really need it, even the haters need it.
@@joejordan1259 Governments hate Christmas, and other religious holidays! Competition in worshipping government is not anything governments desire! But guess who beats them in the end, in the war to end all wars?
Another great store that went out was "Radio Shack" They had the best electronics. Unfortunately they got rid of so much of it and basically went to a humdrum toy store. Never was the same. I really miss "Sears". Loved the tools!
Downtown Pittsburgh. Streetcars everywhere, and department stores with many floors and elevators with attendants. Kaufmann's, Gimbels, Joseph Hornes and Rosenbaums. The streets were alive with the hustle and bustle of shoppers.
I say this often in discussions with my wife. I hate that my children will never know what it’s like to hang out at the mall for a few hours on a Friday or Saturday night. You looked forward all week to hang out at the mall with your friends. We had Aladdin’s Castle (Video Arcade), Oshman’s Sporting Goods, Sam Goody, the Food Court, Bama Fever/Tiger Pride, Spencer’s, and many other good hang stores. It’s a shame my kids won’t know that excitement. Also, the big toy stores, Toys r Us, Kay Bee, Babbages, and the toy sections in Montgomery Wards and Sears. Those were the good old days I wish my kids could see and experience. Great channel.
We also had Woolworth's out in my part of the country. They had a nice little cafe on the side where you could get a grilled cheese sandwich and a Coke... I miss Sears the most. Still have so many Craftsman tools in my garage... Oh well, you can't fight the future. Walmart, the internet and Amazon took them out just like cars took horses out of the metropolitan areas...
In Texas, it was the big three departments stores - Joske's (San Antonio), Foley's (Houston), and Sanger-Harris (Dallas); plus the upscale stores - Frost Bros. (San Antonio), Sakowitz (Houston), and Niemann-Marcus (Dallas).
I loved dreaming over the doll section of the Sears wish book each year. The actual store was dull, and cold. The clothes had strange dye lot colors. Don't miss it. Stores I do miss are KMart & Payless shoes. Stores I vaguely remember were Zayres & Venture dept. stores.
@@samanthab1923 Kinney shoe stores. I had to have G.A.S.S. “Great American shoe stores”, Shoes. Going to Kinney in August meant summer was soon to be over but you got new “school” shoes!
I am a retired mechanic when I first started out I worked for Sears auto center and later Montgomery Wards auto center and I remember working at Service Merchandise my last year of high school, and there were many other cool stores I remember from my childhood. Zayres,McRorys,Woolworth and GC Murphys ! Not really a dept store but Franklins Five and Dime was cool lil store too!
I remember my Mother, her parents/my Grandparents shopping at Montgomery Wards, Sears. My wife & I shopped, Montgomery Wards, Sears, K-Mart. Miss them all.
I miss Sears very much. So many of the tools that I use as a heavy truck mechanic came from Sears and have fed my family for 30 years. Such a sad story when Sears went out of business.
You have sparked my memory and I enjoy watching your videos! Was with a old friend recently and we were talking about some stores long gone the in Washington DC metro area - Woodward and Lothrop, Garfinkel’s and the Hecht Co - I miss the wonderful customer service of those stores. There was also Memco and Bradlees; and Evan which was similar to Best Co in the 1970s.
I got my first VCR in 1984 at Caldor. Still have the receipt. $600 for a Magnavox top loading VHS with wired remote. If you grew up in Northeast NJ, you might remember Two Guys department store. I remember buying a Mego Planet of the Apes soldier figure there. One of the few toys I still have left from childhood.
Great historic video! Very nicely done, love the vintage photos of the many early shopping centers and locations. Brings back many fond memories. Excellent narration too! Thanks for providing this look back in history. ~
Just in the city of San Francisco alone there have been a whole hoard of department stores that have closed their doors during the last half century or so. Some of them were before my time, but others were quite recent. A few that come to mind are: Weinstein's Department Store (located on Market Street), The White House(located on Grant Street), The City of Paris (located in Union Square), both I Magnin's, and Joseph Magnin's, The Emporium, Gumps, Woolworths, and last and least, Merrill's Drug and Discount store (also located on Market Street). Things do change, but sometimes it's not for the better. 🙁
I miss going to the mall and spending an entire day shopping at our wonderful stores of the past. Lunch at Woolworth mid day❤ a new outfit from Lerner always made me look forward to another week!
One of the joys of being a kid for me and my sister was when the Sears Christmas Wish Book would arrive. So sad to see all these once great stores gone now.
When I was a kid I never dreamed that Sears, and for that matter Montgomery Ward, would ever close. They were staples in our lives. Ghosts from the past.
Right! I definitely remember their wish books and getting to pick out what I wanted “Santa” to bring. Lol.
And I feel the same way about car brands. First car I ever rode in was a '48 Plymouth, and that decades old brand no longer exists. I believe that Oldsmobile was the second oldest car marque in the world when they got axed. No more Pontiacs, and no more Mercurys. Not to mention whole companies, that were iconic, that died off in the 60s and 70s. American Motors, Studebaker, Packard...these were huge car companies. Poof, they're gone.
❤️ sear& montgomery ward , kmarts, sears seem like the perfect stores, kmart couldn,t get into the grocery store stuff, mejer, walmart, target, everybody got the grocery store business , gas stations
@@lloydkline1518 In my opinion Sears blew it by not going whole-hog catalog again, but with the internet. They should have sent out spiffy catalogs every year that directed people to their site, and go back to selling EVERYTHING, even pre-fab buildings (which they used to sell). They should have, and could have, made arrangements with manufacturers for every thing from planes to houses. They coulda been bigger than Amazon.
Sears was the Amazon of the early 20th century. Makes wonder where Amazon will be a hundred years from now.
Sears, K-Mart and Montgomery Ward were huge places for me growing up. So sad to see them all gone.
Now we have Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores..
Not for long, the Retro Decade Revival Project is gonna bring them back for sure.
Loved them all too!
Sears is not gone. I work at a Sears store.
@@reneastle8447 Wannnna bet ?
I miss buying craftsman tools in the Sears store
i have a bunch of memories and will list below. as a point of reference. my roots are in the greater hartford connecticut with a family homestead in windsor locks ct. and a summer camp in vershire vermont and tax-free west lebanon new hampshire. and a brother in the greater syracuse new york state area.
i bought a cement mixer from a Montgomery ward
👍👍
@@mrwaterschoot5617 you got that right buddy
@Oats J. Mule me too friend
@@MoeLarrycurly1 thank you buddy
I'll never forget looking at the Christmas catalog and making an enormous list for Santa Claus. What a lovely time to be alive.
Yes, I think you'll find it's called 'childhood'.
The idea that the general consensus of humankind was to believe in a person bringing gift to kids in one night all over the world . No one “knew” how he did it an we (most of) all went along with it.
Yes we did the same thing. I was born in 1964.
I remember waiting for the Montgomery Ward and Sears catalog to come out. It was so much fun to look through them and choose the toys that we wanted.
The Sears catalog was the premier reading material in the throne room.
Barbie section was impressive. Lol
Montgomery Ward wasn't a thing here in northwest GA, but Sears sure was .... and like you, I loved the Christmas catalog as a kid! I remember anxiously awaiting it to arrive every fall.
Yes, both were the beginning of Christmas!!
Sears had at least four pages of "chemistry sets". I finally got one.
Kids today will never get the wonder of having the Christmas wish books from Sears and Wards. Getting those big catalogs with the toy section in the back was exciting. As a kid you could spend hours looking at all the toys and marking the items you wished for Christmas. Even the smell of the catalog was a treat because it brought up the wishes. Going to the mall to visit these big brick and mortar stores was also a treat. Walking in made you feel in awe. Sears became that store you looked forward to going into first.
I loved it when I could look through the Sears and JC Penny's catalogs for Christmas
Amazon and others still send catalogs for kids because they know they don't have a smart phone yet.
We not only had the Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogs in our home, we also had Spiegel. Our mother used to call Montgomery Wards, "Monkey Wards". It was slang commonly used in our area for that store. Our folks shopped a lot at J.C. Penney's, too.
I think there was a catalog named Alden's does anyone else remember?
My mom worked at Montgomery Ward when I was in 5th grade. It was a blessign when our refrigerator broke down and we were able to afford a new one with her employee discount.
40 years ago we bought a chest freezer at Montgomery Wards and we are still using it.
My dad worked part-time at Sears to make extra money and we were able to buy a lot of home appliances with his discount, which was especially nice when an item was on clearance or being discontinued.
@@kimroe9282 My father bought our house in 1960. The house was built in 49'. It had the original Stove and Fridge. We sold the house in 2001 with all the original appliances that still worked like new.
@@matrox Can't say that about what the make now a days.
@@kimroe9282 Foreign made stuff today.
Miss the Sear’sWish Book!
For Sure!
I'd go page by page and circle 1 item I would get Santa to bring to me. If it were an all girl page I'd ask my sister what she wanted.
Me too Michelle
Yes!
You can purchase an old one EBay. Just looking at the cover takes me back!
When I was little in the early 1960's, I'd dream over the "wish list" section of both Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs. But what I really miss is the Woolworth's, W. T. Grant and J. J. Newbury's stores in the brownstone blocks in the center of my childhood town. I bought my first Beatle album at Woolworth's. As soon as strip malls came in, the town's business section was done for. Buying what I need on the internet is OK, but is nothing like the experience of visiting my favorite old stores, saying hello to the store employees and actually holding what I want to buy.
And not having a CC bill b/c you paid cash.
I really miss all the 5 and Dime stores as well.
YES SO TRUE! When you buy on Line lots of times it does not fit you What a Hassel.
No saving, no thrift. Just order and buy, charge and borrow. The piper has already started playing his song. These car notes are gonna be the first to flop.
AND being able to inspect what you want to buy BEFORE buying it. Internet shopping doesn't allow you to do that. You take your chances, which is one of several reasons neither hubby nor myself shop online.
I remember circling my wishes for X-mas gifts in Sears, JCPenney, and Montgomery Ward catalogs every November.
My girlfriend’s daughter would look through it and say “I want this page and I want this page” as she went through the catalog.
My parents purchased a Montgomery Ward refrigerator in the early eighties. I think it came from the store at Springfield Mall in Northern Virginia. That frig still works and is used in their garage in Alexandria. My very expensive refrigerator ceased all operations after seven years. The old MW frig is still kicking!
I have a Montgomery Ward refrigerator that I bought in 1983 - still works perfectly. I cannot recall who made them but, as I recall, they were made by a manufacturer whose own appliances were much higher priced.
@@michaelinhouston9086 I used to fix refrigerators for a living,but retired years ago. Montgomery Ward used Admiral and Westinghouse,two different suppliers. Probably Admiral- I think they made most of MW units.
My old employer Sikorsky has elevator made by Montgomery Ward even we owned OTIS which was United Technology.
They make things to last the warranty nowadays, you're lucky if it lasts longer.. years ago a appliance fails, there was a repairman in town who would fix it economically, now it's $100.00+ to pop the cover and that's carry in, and you still may end up without it being fixed.
Had you said Sears, it could have been a derivative of the current merged companies of Amana, Maytag or Whirlpool and whatever else they have, I live less than a hour from Amana IA, most of the works is now in Mexico, if that bugs you keep it in mind shopping, it bugs families and communities here where job losses occurred in droves.
Sears was a huge loss. I miss Kmart too. 😭💔
I miss everything..
Those are the two I miss the most. Sears Craftsman tools were the best. I you broke a screwdriver all you had to do was bring it back and they would give you a new one no charge.
Sears and Kmart were driven out of business by a CFO who concentrated more on ROI than on customer service.
You got that right
@@Jean-ni6of me too
Anyone remember the conveyor belt in service merchandise?
Bought my HP Calc from them.
Service Merchandise was also a great place to work they still had an online, store don't know how well they are doing being up against Amazon.
@@ladyk63200 I thought they closed all the service merchandise store's?
Yep! I bought some great Nintendo games there as a kid
@@gofishingwhenyoucan
They did I closed the last one in my area but they have had an online store for years you could still get their jewelry up until last year I know of, you may still be able to.
Ah, Kmart was awesome in the 70s. Cherry slush and a bag of popcorn was a Saturday treat.
The sad part - THE REALLY SAD PART - is MOST if not all sold items MADE IN AMERICA. We made and sold our own stuff. America could survive on its OWN. We as AVERAGE Americans could support a family working at one of these AMAZING STORES or a Factory producing their products. I remember these AMAZING stores & their QUALITY mechandise.
I completely agree with you. The primary reason that America was so great in the past is because we made all of our own products and sold them to ourselves and the rest of the world. This infusion of cash for value added products from the rest of the world is what enabled our country and it's middle class to become more affluent year after year.
Er no, AMERICA was working hard on stealing from the rest of the world to support people back home. I don't find that AMAZING.
NAFTA
Well we could still buy things made in America if we were willing to pay a living wage to people who make our shoes and clothes, but Americans want cheap clothes and stores don't want to pay its employees a good wage or give them benefits.
I have Fieldcrest (made in America) sheets that are over 30 years old that are still in impeccable condition. Sheets we purchased 8 years ago are dunzo. There is NO comparison for quality for just normal products. It's a shame.
The demise of the mall is a tragedy I think. That was a culture in America and frankly I thought it made a lot of sense to be able to park one time and
be inside out of the heat/cold to do your shopping, eating, and yes, visiting with EVERYONE you ran into :) I remember going there at Christmas time
and it was like a giant party! I miss 70's America... it was just a more settled easier time.
Malls are big in Asia now
My childhood mall is on its last leg. People do go to the larger, nicer malls or outdoor shopping.
Right On I hate going in and out in the heat or Cold Loved the malls.
My childhood mall is just hanging on, and is the only mall I knew every invh of (I’m 67). I agree, they are great one-stop places for shopping and people-watching.
Due to different Urban planning, Malls luckily still thrive where I live (Germany)
Does anyone remember Lerner Shops, the place for good quality, reasonable cost, and stylish women's clothes and accessories? They began in 1913 and blossomed in the boom years of the 1920s. By the 1960s there was at least one location in every city and town of any size in the United States and Canada, and in big cities there were multiple locations. My mom and aunt worked as bookkeepers for decades in their New York home office, and I worked some summers while in college. Long gone now....
I remember Lerner's - used to shop there all the time in high school. Good times.
Yes! I remember Lerners!
Yes -- I remember Lerner's! It was one of my favorite clothing stores to shop when I was a teen and into my 20s. Foxmoor Casuals was another favorite back in the 1970s/80s.
I forgot about Lerner! I also got clothes & other things there - so sad to lose all of these great stores and deal with crappy stuff now!
I shopped there in the 1980s.
I'm glad I lived in the times of the Department Stores ....
Me too.I like catalogs but I still want to handle the products.It is such a hassle to have to return things and have to worry about porch pirates , too. I hate on-line shopping and ordering.
I also loved the pretty displays , of course.
@@sharonl.chandler8428 Window shopping!
Same here. My favorite store was Anthony’s. The clerks had to send the money or checks upstairs by the old vacuum system. Like they do at banks.
Me too!
@@TexasRose50 My dog nearly fainted 1st time she heard that at the bank.
I still have fond memories of shopping at Kmart and Sears.
Sears had delicious popcorn….among other things. Craftsman tools. Great washers and dryers, etc.
My mom and dad took me to Kmart and bought me a new bicycle, it was a 3 speed, it was a beautiful bike. I remember it wouldnt fit in the car so I got to ride it home with them following closely in the car. I must have put a million miles on that bike. Good memories of the 70s.
Bigger doesn't always mean better . Bring back the Mom and Pop stores .🙏🇺🇲❤️
If they HAVE it, and you can afford it. They're often very expensive.
Ever increasing rent, utilities, common area maintenance fees, , real estate taxes, licenses, credit card fees,, who can open a store theses days. And people want to pay low prices.
Smaller doesn't mean better either.
Seeing the photo taken inside of Marshall Fields original store brought on a rush of childhood memories.
Me too, I grew up in La grange and Hinsdale in the 1970s.
I have their employees cookbook. In NW Pennsylvania we had Halle, I have wonderful memories shopping or having afternoon tea with my mom. Macy's is not the same. We also had Trask and Boston Stores that had great stores that went all out for the holidays
The mall was more fun than Amazon
I used to love going to the mall just to people watch. Best show in town :)
Mall were free hangout, restaurants, stores, books stores , had everything
I totally agree, but we have voted with our wallets. That includes me, an Amazon Prime, Fresh, etc customer. 😆
@@lloydkline1518 and if you couldn’t afford lunch, you could walk around Hickory Farms and eat enough samples for a boost. lol
@@oneminuteofmyday lots of people go to sam club, costco , get very cheap hot, pizza for lunch. Dinner , one or two dollars soda hot dog& soda, pizza & soda
So many of these closures make me very sad.
Me too.
Same here. I get nostalgic for these stores. Instead of bars I would hang out at malls and of course loved shopping.
I miss the Sears window displays. They spent so much time on them. We were poor and it was something for all 10 of us for free
I don’t recall those displays, then again my earliest memory of Sears was when they moved to a new mall, leaving the downtown storefront
Everyone talks about how online retailers are destroying brick and mortar stores... I wonder how long it will take, (And I'm sure it will happen sooner or later) before physical stores make a big comeback due to future generations discovering the 'novelty' of being able to pick the item up and look it over with your own two eyes before buying.
Starting already. People like to pay cash and not have a big bill later.
With all the cheaply made junk and counterfeits out of china flooding the online market, its definitely time to bring stores like SEARS back. There is nothing better than being able to handle and see for yourself the quality of the things you are buying. Of course, now a store like SEARS would have the same mass shoplifting problems that are closing stores like wally world. The average, law abiding person takes in the shorts as usual.
Unfortunately picking up an item, looking it over, and walking out without paying for it is now a civil right.
Yes, the novelty of seeing, touching, and smelling. Ahhhhh, awesome!
Walmart is to blame.
This was like watching a funeral.
It is a funeral. For our once great society. 😢
@@iVenge MAGA
I agree. I watch the Recollection Road Videos and enjoy the trips to the past. But, this video was different. This one made me sad, and brought tears. All the memories of years growing up and shopping in the older now stores. First remembering your own childhood, and then your childrens. When shopping was fun and the kids always wanted to go with you.
@@pamelaz.7659 yes, there definitely was something different about this , it started out like oh yes I remember but as it went on it was like watching your old friends pass away...
@Oats J. Mule Facts 💯 !!👈
So many of the companies shown that were sold, ended up being raped for their profits by greedy shareholders, which was much of the mismanagement. There were so many regional stores that boomed through the 60’s and 70’s, that ended up just like the big retailers. Most people today don’t have any clue what it was like to shop at the grand stores of our past. Really a shame.
The internet shopping and shipping thing is what caused a lot of the downfall of all of this.
While there are many contributing factors to the downfall, including online shopping, the beginning of the downfall was CEO's and COO's raping the profits out of companies. Kmart and Sears were led by the same man who decided to give himself raises, bonuses, preferred stock, "loans" to himself, and not pay vendors or companies for goods from purchase orders. He used Kmart's assets to buy Sears and then bled both companies dry.
@@ThisIsMyRealName You got that exactly right. The dude got ahold of those companies and choked every last penny out of them for himself and then tossed the remains in the alley. I hope that dude gets his due one of these days.
You idiot marxistnazisocialist. Shareholders have no power to rape a company for profits. You have absolutely no understanding of corporate ownership and are just hate filled due to all the marxistnazisocialist and communist propaganda you have been programmed with.
It was the managers who ran the companies that were greedy not the shareholders who became victims of the bankruptcies.
Sears Christmas catalog was a dream for a kid to just look at !!!
And the J C Penney’s Christmas catalog.
And then they both ended up being used in the building with the crescent moon!!! ;-)
@@brianwilson6403 remember those beautiful women in teddy's and bikinis? 😁
I miss getting those sears catalogs in the mail
Mays, Woolworth/Woolco, Zayre, and Venture also come to mind.
I remember stores such as Sage, Highland, Weiners, and Best (not Best Buy).
Hetch….?
I miss so many of these stores. My engagement ring came from Service Merchandise in 1981. I miss going to the stores to shop at Christmas, it's just not the same anymore. Shame that Walmart isn't on this list.
They will be. Trashy clientele.
From what I heard, trashy with the way they treat their employees...
Walmart sells absolute junk
I remember going to Walmart the first time when I was stationed in Texas in '84. Sam Walton had a good store running then . The chain hadn't expanded out that far yet. It wasn't until he passed away and his children took over that Walmart began to decline. Today it is a junk store with lousey products.
@@atlantic_love , Walmart is basically a large multi-purpose grocery store now.
I never thought Sears would decline and fade. The retailer could have been prospering better than ever, and maybe even been a challenge to Amazon, if it only had the right management as the internet age was taking off.
My husband says the same thing! Sears and Montgomery Ward both started as catalogs and it should have been a no brainer for them had they jumped on board with the rise of the internet and e-commerce!
@@maryellenaylward5457 I agree. You could order from the catalog over the phone and either pick it up from the store or have it delivered. Never understood why they blamed Amazon for their failure when they invented that business 100 years ago!
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer. So is Sears.
it was the Amazon of its time, you could even order an entire house from that catalog, it was poor management that killed that business, remember "the softer side of Sears" campaign?
@@knitterscheidt Sears even offered its own store brand car in the early 50s, the Allstate! It was a re-badged Kaiser Henry J. The older folks on this channel will at least remember Kaiser-Frazier, and later Kaiser-Jeep.
I miss Bullock’s and Bullocks Wilshire, Joseph Magnin, I Magnin, and The Broadway stores. I was very lucky to land a job as the assistant to Rosemary Troy Fashion Director of Bullocks Wilshire in the 1980s. It’s a beautiful Art Deco building on Wilshire @ Vermont just west of Downtown LA. I acquired free Chanel jewelry from the Display Department and fabulous discounts on Model’s Room dressing stock and incredible markdowns before they were put on the floor. Ah, the Good Ol’ Days. Janet
Fun times! Luxurious shopping 🛍️-we need classics and style returned as it deteriorated with times.
My mom and I practically lived in K+mart when I was growing up in the 1960s and '70s. There was one within walking distance from my home. I came close to working there, but never did. Lady across the street walked to work there, worked there for 20+ years and retired from there. A single mother, she was able to buy a car and move to a better home. My daughter even worked at one in another town where we lived at the time for a while in the early 2000s when she was in high school. Just before they merged with Sears. Lots of emotional memories. Miss it very much.
But seriously, I must have spent a million dollars at Kmart over my lifetime.!
Visit Australia and shop at Kmart
Great cafeteria in our Escondido K-Mart!
@@dianabeurman364 Escondido -- in southern California? Right around my former haunts. You folks still have a K-Mart down there? We haven't lived there since June of 1995.
Six children in our family in 1956 and the toy section of the Christmas catalog was totally destroyed by the 1st of Dec.
I never thought I'd ever see a big store chain like Sears go down. I can remember going to many a Sears store with my dad and looking through the Craftsman tool section.
They looked raggedy in the 80s. That's always a death knoll.
Sadly, it’s a reminder of that “too big to fail” possibility.
I do wonder if the likes of WalMart and Amazon could ever crumble down.
Sometimes, that's how it goes...they get too big for their britches
@@devinbiz Amazon? Not likely. They are an octopus, in terms of sectors they rule on. The only thing that will take them down is building so many facilities and having so many issues employment related. Walmart could easily crumble. Most of their stuff is garbage, and I note that the quality of their raw foods has gone down drastically.
@@fanaticat1 Yes, and some of their management became arrogant and forgot that good customer service is what made those businesses. In their latter years, Sears became very uncooperative and unaccommodating when customers had complaints about their merchandise. And condescending! Some of those managers were real pieces of work. Our dad had to go through some of that. Our folks had shopped at Sears for decades and bought just about everything from them. But then they started getting uppity in their attitude toward customers, and that was the beginning of the end.
Service Merchandise was a wondrous place for me as a child. The one in Kokomo IN had everything secured to it's display location like bricks of gold. The workers were upstairs and our orders rode down a conveyor belt where my dad's name was loudly called out for pick up. Like magic 🌠
Imagine making "A Christmas Story" today and having Ralphie show his dad an Amazon link.
I remember the fancy department stores like Gimbels, Wanamaker, Strawbridge &Clothiers. They had tearooms, fashion shows, charm schools, and so many events!
In the Pittsburgh area, it was Gimbels, Kaufmanns, and Horns, all a step up above stores like K Mart, Zayre, Kresge, which ended up as K Mart, Hills, stores like that were for poor people. Middle class people shopped at JC Penney's and Sears.
I used to work at Gimbels! It was a great store!
Are you from the Philly area?
@@michaelaugustine6271 no...NY
@@jaynefulton473 Ok
This brought back so many bittersweet memories🥲. My grandparents were loyal Montgomery Ward customers. Every kitchen appliance, washer/dryer and even furniture were all MW. My grandparents have been gone for 30yrs and I still miss them. This was like a memorial to them. Thank you!
This brings back memories: I worked for Marshall Field's in their Oakbrook, IL store from 1967 through 1974. I had various jobs during that time, starting out as a stock boy and ending up as merchandise manager of three departments. I have very fond memories of those times, and I was sad as it went downhill under the various owners in the eighties and nineties. Thankfully, Macy's kept the downtown Chicago store as one of their Flagship stores, and they left the clock and the Marshall Field brass plaque below it on the building.
They have nasty crackhead bums coming in. They need to code lock the bathrooms and make people come from outside, not druggies from the subway door.
My Great Aunt bought a house out of a Sears & Roebuck catalog and had it built on her land in the 40's. I remember it as a child, it was beautiful stained wood and large 8 and 10 inch boards!
My grandparents also built a house ordered from the Seats catalogue around 1924. It had two staircases, one of the circular, and five bedrooms upstairs. So many wonderful memories in that house. The farm was sold in the mid 70s but the house is still there.
The Henry J car, I understand could even be ordered through a Sears catalog I have read.
they had several floor plans ...
@@danbasta3677 I remember our dad had a Henry J. car. The one our mother learned to drive in was a Willys.
Hell I really miss Sears!
I worked for them for four years. I don't miss them at all. It was really bad management that put them out of business.
So do I I've bought quite a few things from there and my Mom and stepdad bought even more there my Stepdad loved sears.
I miss a lot that was. Todays shopping may be exploding but so much bought is not worth while.
@robert heberlein I agree I've shopped at both of those stores a lot. I remember back in I think 2002 or 2003 my mom and I bought 3 ac window units from Sears down in Missouri and they worked great. Heck I remember in the early 90's I bought a rc car from them. I had a hand me down microwave that was a kenmore and it lasted 24 years before giving up the ghost in 2020
@@ScottGrammer : Except we aren't out of business. I work for Sears.
Wish you would have covered Dayton's, the Minnesota based chain that gave birth to Target and served as the backdrop to the iconic opening of the Mary Tyler Moore show when she tossed her hat in downtown Minneapolis.
Then there was Donaldson's. A slightly lower version of Dayton's.
Sears was THE go-to store in our neighborhood in the 60s and 70s for everything. I loved the catalogues and loved going to the store for dresses and to look at things like tools and appliances as a kid. If you told us then that Sears would no longer be a vital part of America we would have called you crazy.
Growing up on a farm in west Texas, it was a great treat to get ready for a new school year.We couldn’t wait for the Sears catalog to come in the mail. Later, as we got older, we would make the 90 mile trek to a bigger town where we could actually try on clothes and shoes.
Service Merchandise is one of those names I'd forgotten about! Best Catalog Stores seemed to be a similar entity! I still get catalogs from Montgomery Ward but haven't ordered anything yet! I did own one of their Signature Brand microwaves that lasted 13 years until a power outage surge killed it! A bit ironic that here in San Francisco a few years after the Mervyn's closed a Target took over the same space in the shopping center and it's still open today!
I didn't know Wards was still around.
@@joewoodchuck3824 I didn't either until a neighbor of mine said she ordered something from them!
@@jons.6216 I must look into that. There was a none too large Wards around where I spent my early years. My parents hand built a house around that time, and I have reason to believe that most of the extra tools came from there. The building remains last time I checked to serve as a happy reminder.
@@joewoodchuck3824 The name and trademarks were purchased by another company after Montgomery Ward went into bankruptcy and the new company started another catalog business. I’ve never purchased anything from the new catalog. It was nice surprise to get one in the mail several years ago. Talk about nostalgia.
In Mississippi the Service Merchandise store buildings in Biloxi and Jackson were Wilsons stores. The both Wilsons in Jackson and Gulfport sold camera equipment..Nikons. also they sold Kodak papers and developers. Plus both Wilson's had a staffed watch repairman in jewelry dept
I remember as a child the wonderful aroma of popped corn when we walked into the Woolworth’s store. That - and all the merchandise (especially the toy section) was a sight to behold!
These stores take me back to my own childhood and even my children's life when they were toddlers. Sad to go back down memory lane when life was simpler and slower. Little did we realize back then how fast paced, high tech and chaotic our culture would become. I want to go back....
I would love to go back to the good times
Yes I totally agree with you, such fun times growing up back then. I really believe that we were blessed to have experienced those days 🤔
I remember these not mentioned in vid. W.T Grant, Alexanders, Gimbels, Bamberger’s, Stern’s, Lord and Taylor, Abraham & Straus, Ohrbach’s, Two Guys, McCrory’s, Filene’s, Bradlee’s. All defunct or merged with other stores.
Me too! You must be from NJ.
Aw thanks for the photos of Service Merchandise. My wedding rings were purchased there in 1985 😀
My parents owned a very successful Sears catalog store in Bullhead City Arizona until they divorced in the mid-90s and Sears started shutting them down. It was a huge money maker for them until the KAA KAA hit the rotary oscillator. Mervyn Morris was the key speaker at my wife's graduation from Long Beach State University in Long Beach California in 1984. He was an excellent speaker. He soon retired after his speech. I can also think of TG&Y, Woolco, ZODY's, White Front, and Newberrys. For furniture Levit's.
Otasco was kind of like TG&Y, when I lived in Kansas, we had Western Auto too, WA became Advane Auto I think.
@@Stache987 Ahhh. Western Auto. My first 2-wheel bike came from there.
@@lisapolanski9379 I used to go for their Yo-Yo’s of course, but also their super balls that would almost bounce back as high as from where you dropped them. The last one I ever saw was when we were taking back roads through Florida on our way back home. I don’t think it was still open, but just seeing it brought back memories.
Everyone sing the jingle with me: "You'll love it at Levit's" Funny how those jingles stick in your head even from decades ago.
@@Cheetahwoman7 To this day now my sister has inherited all the furniture we bought at Levit's in February 1971. Two lamps, Sofa, the stories it could tell, a love seat, two end tables, a coffee table, a 12-foot dining room table, and 8 chairs. Plus a stereo console with 8 track and record player. Yes, it still works.
Dad always called it “Monkey Wards”.
My mother did too.
I remember my brother calling it that too.
California here, we called it Monkey Wards too….
don't name your kid Montgomery.
@@thedreadtyger - These days, younger people probably relate to C. Montgomery Burns, Homer Simpson's ancient boss, and head of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.
The crazy thing is, most of these department stores started as mail order / catalog stores and in the end, their market was taken by Amazon... a mail order "store".
Remember the Speigel catalog? I loved it.
Very true. I hate this shopping and shipping thing, it destroyed everything in sight.
Ironic isn’t it. Still delivered.
The shocking thing is that Sears, which at one time was every bit as influential as Walmart is today, failed to see the impact of online sales. They were slow to innovate, clinging to large department stores in downtown buildings and suburban malls even as Walmart and Amazon chipped away at their sales. They sold off profitable division after profitable division to keep the retail stores alive, not realizing it was a dying sales model.
Wal-Mart and Target also had a big part of that. It wasn't just Amazon.
Service Merchandise was and Kmart were both popular stores for our family. This brings me back to some very fond memories.
Like Sears, you could get anything at Montgomery Ward. Furniture, window blinds, tools, vision care etc. I can remember the Montgomery Ward we would go to was always remodeling it's store.
In Cleveland we had May Company, Higbees, Halles and Sterling Lindner which had the huge Christmas tree. We went downtown at Christmas time to see Santa and the store window displays. No malls yet. The movie a Christmas Story was filmed there. Also remember when the department stores had nice restaurants. It was a treat to take the bus downtown to shop and have lunch at the department store restaurant. Good old days.
Wow...I'm old. I remember being in many of these stores. As a kid we went to the Marshall Fields store at Christmas to see the window decorations and then Santa
Those ideas and the electric model trains were widespread from the post-war 1940s, and a wonderfully nostalgic bit in the 1983 movie, "A Christmas Story" with Peter Billingsley. He is related to the 1957-63 iconic TV show, "Leave It To Beaver" star Barbara Billingsley ("June Cleaver").
As someone who grew up in Michigan, but spent a lot of time in Chicago, both Hudson’s and Marshall Field’s were places I knew really well. My grandparents remember the main Hudson’s store in downtown Detroit, but I grew up with many Hudson’s stores in malls, as downtown Detroit in the 80’s and 90’s was not a great place to be. The mall Hudson’s stores were always great though. Still, I wish I could have visited the downtown Detroit store in its heyday. The downtown store was a retail juggernaut, right up there with icons like Macy’s in Manhattan, Harrod’s in London, KaDeWe in Berlin, or Marshall Field’s in Chicago. They had so many firsts, and the store was very much like a small city it was so huge. I’m glad the site where it was is finally being redeveloped after all these years since its demolition in 1998, with some nods to the past. They even started Detroit’s annual Thanksgiving day parade down Woodward, either the same year or maybe a year before or after the famous Macy’s parade in New York. Marshall Field’s was also I store I grew up visiting in downtown Chicago, and I still call its iconic building there “Marshall Field’s”, despite any name changes. It’s corner patinated clocks are still an image that instantly says Chicago. As time went by, some of the Hudson’s mall stores I used to go to also turned into mall locations of Marshall Field’s, along with some other mall anchors like Elder Beerman. I always loved both stores though, and I miss so many different physical stores I’ve always known that are now gone, seemingly with no replacements.
I remember the Hudson's Department Store in Downtown Detroit. I,used to work for Hudson's Eastland Mall Store in Harper Woods,Michigan. The,Eastland Mall has been demolished. Eastland Mall has been renamed Eastland Commerce Center. Class A Warehouse and Distribution Center is going on the Eastland Mall site.
@@davidsquires154 I grew up closer to Central Michigan, so my main malls were the Fashion Square Mall, Meridian Mall, and then Midland Mall once it opened around 1990. But I had relatives in Troy, Royal Oak, and Huntington Woods. So some malls in the Detroit suburbs like Oakland or even Twelve Oaks I was occasionally at.
I grew up in Detroit and have great memories of the main store. 😢
As a kid, I spent a lot of time at the Eastland Mall in Harper Woods in the late 70s. Fun times.
Downtown Hudson’s at Christmas was so exciting. The trains and kids shopping for their parents. My first credit card was from J L Hudson’s in 1972 and I purchased a Texas Instruments electric calculator for college. I still have that credit card because it showed that I was an adult.
Does anyone remember Consumer's Distributors? It was similar to Service Merchandise, but they closed up before Service Merchandise.
There was also Alexander's, Korvette's, Sterns, Ohrs, Steinbach, Jamesway, Gimbal's, Bambergers, Bradlees & Two Guys department stores...
My grandmother lived in Paramus N.J.
At the intersection of Route 4 and 17, there was a huge Alexander's with a giant mosaic of the world on the front of the building facing Route 4.
I must have passed by that store a thousand times as a kid.
Only went inside once though.
@@athos1974 I live in central New Jersey and I remember that Alexander’s you’re talking about I think my family and I were in there a couple of times we used to pass by it on the way into New York to see my grandmother that was the one that had the painting on the wall. Just remembering all those stores brings back a lot of nostalgia…
I do miss those days and stores. It was so much fun to go shopping, to touch and feel and see the products and being around people, especially at Christmas with all the decorations and music. It wasn’t just about buying stuff, it was just a fun experience.
I loved Mervyn's. I bought a lot of my kids' baby clothes at Mervyn's.
Mervyns was my moms go to store for new school clothes. They were always busy in Tulsa.
Mervyn had great chothes
I did also and they were cute and very well made.
I also bought my daughter's school clothes at Mervyn's. Every year until she was about 8-9 years old I bought her a pair of saltwater sandals for summer at Mervyn's. I loved that store!
I thi.k i still got my mervyn crrdit card
My dad used to work in the kitchen of the downtown Dayton’s in Minneapolis when he got home from WW2. It was one of the many jobs he had while going to Northwestern Bible College. He said while he worked there, Mr. Dayton would stand by the door on .Friday night and hand people their paychecks. Thanking each one by name.
A wonderful story.
How about Toys r Us? Even when I was grown up I would spend a couple hours in their stores. Later on, I would spend all my Friday nights at Fry's electronics and searched for specials and bargains. I miss window shopping in these stores. There aren't many stores left to window shop anymore ☹️
I think they are back.
I have a $50 kids r us gift certificate. You snooze you lose.
We had Play World when I was a kid in the 60s.
@@lavapix kaybee toys!
Fry's was my favorite store to idle away the weekend afternoons or evenings. Get a meal in their in store diner, then walk the computer aisles looking at all the latest computer components and then hit up the computer software / game aisles, and finish in the camera dept. I think it was a big loss for those of us that had Fry's electronics available locally.
I think I was able to go to 7 or 8 of their California stores all differently themed. My favorite being a toss between the Burbank U.F.O store and the bay area's Aztec themed stores.
I grew up in the 1950s and
60s. So many memories.
I'm jealous! I was born in the 70's, so my childhood was pretty awesome, but man, the 50's and 60's seem like they were amazing!
@@youtubecensors5419 They we’re both wonderful and horrible. Wonderful for a child but if you’re concerned with adult things like civil rights, they could be horrible. But life was so much simpler then.
Marshall Field & Co. and Hudson's occupied a different niche than the rest of the department stores mentioned in this chapter. They were the prestige department stores in their respective markets, and offered all sorts of customized services, including restaurants, proprietary food products, confectionary, tailoring, etc.
Mervyn's department store is also gone
Caldor was the place to be in the mid 90s especially during Christmas time.. so many memories of days gone by.
You got that right friend, I wish it was still the 90s myself.
Loved Caldor in the 70s in NY, miss it
In CT, every Caldors, had a Bradleys right next to it, sometimes with an adjoining door between the two that connected one store, too another, very similar merchandise too. Why was this ?
@@TheMormonPower in the CT town I'm from they were on the same street but not next door, I never heard of that
@@TheMormonPower in Poughkeepsie Ny Bradlees had a Stop and Shop, but Calador was in the same parking lot as a Finest grocery store
Oh yes the Sears Christmas wish book, spent many childhood hours making my Christmas list from that book
I have a few Sears catalogs from the 1970s. Wow it's like time travel looking through them today. The toys!!!
Heartbreaking. I will miss Kmart until the day I die. Hudson’s was special when I was young, and the downtown Marshall Field’s was magical when I was older. My grandma loved Montgomery Ward, but I thought it was trash because their toy department was terrible. Wasn’t sad to see it fail.
I won't miss Kmart a bit, I couldn't even get a can of barbasol in there for trying.. their buyers edged it out for awhile.. the store was old and stale looking inside.. many stores in the same town had the same Floorplan, or a flip thereof
Unless the Retro Decade Revival Project is gonna change all that for good.
I Love this Video !!!
The memories it brings back to me. 👍🏻
Good Ole Service Merchandise. The Stereo Sound Room was second to none and will never forget my first color TV traveling down the conveyor belt.
The conveyor belt was my favorite part of Service Merchandise!
I was born and raised in Chicago, and our parents would take us downtown every year to look at the Christmas windows at Marshall Fields, and then walk through the toy section. Great memories.
Central Illinois here - every year my parents & their best friends drove to Chicago for a week before Christmas for shopping , shows, dinners , etc. I got out of school a couple days each time to go on the train w/ my grandmother to join them . Wonderful memories & loved Marshall Fields !
Great memory for me too
YES!!!!
I remember going to River Oaks in Calumet City during Christmas as a child. No roof yet and that smell from the candy counter in Sears
What about Carson Pirie Scott---and Company? (There was a rather well-known photo taken in front of their sign in the '70s entitled "Company." I once met the photographer).
There was Mc Dades---"The Catalog House." Zayres, Wieboldt's (They had ceiling-mounted kid-sized monorail at Xmas that took you around the store (downtown Chicago). The Fair (bought out by Wards), Madel's, Goldblatt's, and more. It all started going south, with the '75 recession, at least in Chicago, and just kept getting worse over the next 30 years.
There was also a few that I noticed that got missed as well. There was Zayre, which changed to Ames. And there was a place called Phar-mor which was like a Walgreens type place. There are just so many that didnt make it past the 90s. The internet killed brick and mortar.
oh yeah! Zayre! I haven't thought about that place in probably 40 years.
No, Walmart killed these stores as well as NAFTA. Blame Billary and the GOP as well.
Ames bought out Zayre,then bought out Hill's.
Zayre was a great 👍 store
@@johnwyblejr6460 That's what I was about to write. Hills, as I understand it was later called Ames, then, Ames, went out of business in the early 2,000.
I shopped at Montgomery's and Sears back in the day and even K Mart once in a while.
You're so young...
I,used to work for Kmart from the late 1980's until the early 1990's.
@@morbidmanmusic You don't know what you missed. Sorry. Too late.
I loved the Sears catalogs. Especially their Christmas catalogs.
I grew up with a Grant's down the road from. One of the first department stores that I'd went to that had a cafeteria. Bradlees was a cool regional store as well.
I,live in Detroit,Michigan. And,I remember the local Department Stores that either closed permanently or have been bought out by National Department Stores. They are:
1. Arlans
2. Crowley's
3. Federal Department Stores
4. Hudson's
5. Shoppers Fair
6. Spartan Atlantic Department Stores
7. Yankee Department Stores
8. Kmart,when Kmart was owned by S.S.Kresge Company 5&10.
9. Montgomery Wards
10. Sears Roebuck and Company
11. Lord and Taylor
12. Kresge's
13. Woolworth's
14. Neisner's
15. E. J. Korvettes
You took it all the way back with Arlans and Federal's
Those stores have been gone so long I thought they were a figment of my imagination.
But I have one for you...
Topps. It was kind of like Arlan's.
Arlan’s! I grew up near GR, we went there every weekend.
My mom refused to go to Meijer because they planned to build in our backyard and she fought like hell to keep them out. My parents would’ve bought the land but couldn’t afford it yet. Everyone thought it would be good for the neighborhood, so she was alone. They built, the neighbors were sorry and we moved. She never went into a Meijer. And we lived in Greenville, home of Meijer.
Lazarus was part of the Federated Dept Store chain, based in Columbus, Ohio. I worked there in the 1980's as a buyer.
I grew up near 7 mile and Gratiot in the 70s. I remember that big blue green Federals sign that used to be there. My mom also liked going to Shoppers Fair too.
It's cannibalisation!
In the early 2000s, I worked in a drugstore across the street from a K-Mart. Our handheld CB radios were on the same band as K-Mart's. We used to radio things like 'clean up on aisle four' just to confuse them.
That is hilarious 😂😂
Sure you did
Toledo, Ohio had the legend of department stores that Started with L.
It Lazarus, Lasalle, Lion Store. They all competed in their peak. But shopping downtown in Toledo as kid at Christmas Time was magical. The decorations were everywhere with outdoor music and vendors outside sells treats and candy apple and popcorn. The window decorations displays for Christmas were gorgeous.
Tiedkies downtown store was unique and great place to shop. It was not upscale but that was part of it's charm and had something for everyone.
Couple things. #1, how many remember that on Wheel of Fortune, back when the puzzle winner would go "shopping" that any money left over was put on a Service Merchandise gift certificate? #2, when I was growing up we had a department store chain called Two-Guys. They were ahead of it's time. They had both a supermarket and department store connected as well as a automotive center out front. Also gone but not forgotten are Bradlees, Wilmington Dry Goods, Burlington Coat Factory, Woolworths, Gimbels.
"I'll take the ceramic dalmatian, Pat." Burlington still exists.
I remember when you could go & just hangout at the shopping centers until criminals ruined that for everyone going in shoplifting & causing problems. Besides the economy, and bad management, buying online didn't help shopping centers either. Also learned something from this video, had no idea that Kmart was the offshoot of Kresge's. Kresge's was always a favorite place to go as a little kid, however Kmart wasn't my choice of shopping.
@@southernfried19 I guess its not PC to mention the obvious. 😉 I've never worried about being PC though.
I remember as a little kid looking through the Sears Christmas catalog and seeing all the toys. I was in high school when the nearest mall opened up and it was just so great. All the great shops, the food court, eating in a luncheon at at Frederick and Nelson and having Frango mint milkshakes or pie.So sad seeing all these things come to an end.
I really miss the Christmas displays in the stores and malls. Everything is soulless now. Stores today are drab colors, cold industrial lighting, and bland floor displays. There's no character anymore- it's all industrial cookie cutter boring.
Red , We Had Sibley's On Main Street and they did Christmas up very Big . Across the Street Was Midtown and McCurdy"s Department Store . For Decades we went Downtown for Christmas . The Kids got to see 3 Santas in One Day .Ha ha . All those stores are gone now but they are still around in our Memory .
In Australia they go all out decorating the malls at Christmas 🎄.
You're 100% correct you're not alone lots of us notice this And we don't like it whatsoever.
Also buildings long before I was born had character too. By the 1970s and 80s they had switched to boxes and beige. They removed in the 90s the water fountains. In the 2000s they removed the trees. Now the malls are all being bulldozed.
Not only malls, but main streets, banks, and small towns used to put up tinseled decorations and lights, big bells, Santas, angels, and signs saying Merry Christmas. I think as they aged they were not replaced, and due to fears of a few people who are anti-Christmas and anti-religious they abandoned decorations altogether.
With Covid making everyone worldwide so depressed I really wished for governments and social workers/mental health people to work together to decorate up the towns EVERY holiday, every season having nice things up. Christmas red and green cheer, autumn/halloween/thanksgiving leaves and pumpkins and black kittens, springtime/Easter painted eggs and baby chicks and bunnies in pastels, valentine hearts and arrows, patriotic holidays with red white and blue stars and ribbons. Fear of haters shouldn’t stop towns from creating cheerful places. We really need it, even the haters need it.
@@joejordan1259 Governments hate Christmas, and other religious holidays! Competition in worshipping government is not anything governments desire! But guess who beats them in the end, in the war to end all wars?
Another great store that went out was "Radio Shack" They had the best electronics. Unfortunately they got rid of so much of it and basically went to a humdrum toy store. Never was the same. I really miss "Sears". Loved the tools!
@@mvpfocus I understand that. Was just sayin.
Downtown Pittsburgh. Streetcars everywhere, and department stores with many floors and elevators with attendants. Kaufmann's, Gimbels, Joseph Hornes and Rosenbaums. The streets were alive with the hustle and bustle of shoppers.
I say this often in discussions with my wife. I hate that my children will never know what it’s like to hang out at the mall for a few hours on a Friday or Saturday night. You looked forward all week to hang out at the mall with your friends. We had Aladdin’s Castle (Video Arcade), Oshman’s Sporting Goods, Sam Goody, the Food Court, Bama Fever/Tiger Pride, Spencer’s, and many other good hang stores. It’s a shame my kids won’t know that excitement. Also, the big toy stores, Toys r Us, Kay Bee, Babbages, and the toy sections in Montgomery Wards and Sears. Those were the good old days I wish my kids could see and experience. Great channel.
We also had Woolworth's out in my part of the country. They had a nice little cafe on the side where you could get a grilled cheese sandwich and a Coke...
I miss Sears the most. Still have so many Craftsman tools in my garage... Oh well, you can't fight the future. Walmart, the internet and Amazon took them out just like cars took horses out of the metropolitan areas...
@@lisapolanski9379 I'll bet that a huge chunk of your "Social Networking" happened in those 15 minutes between bites and sips....
In Texas, it was the big three departments stores - Joske's (San Antonio), Foley's (Houston), and Sanger-Harris (Dallas); plus the upscale stores - Frost Bros. (San Antonio), Sakowitz (Houston), and Niemann-Marcus (Dallas).
I loved dreaming over the doll section of the Sears wish book each year. The actual store was dull, and cold. The clothes had strange dye lot colors. Don't miss it.
Stores I do miss are KMart & Payless shoes.
Stores I vaguely remember were Zayres & Venture dept. stores.
I miss Shoe Town!
Venture was a Macy store
@@samanthab1923 Kinney shoe stores. I had to have G.A.S.S. “Great American shoe stores”, Shoes. Going to Kinney in August meant summer was soon to be over but you got new “school” shoes!
Yes just thought of those two..
I loved going to Ventures with my mom
I am a retired mechanic when I first started out I worked for Sears auto center and later Montgomery Wards auto center and I remember working at Service Merchandise my last year of high school, and there were many other cool stores I remember from my childhood. Zayres,McRorys,Woolworth and GC Murphys ! Not really a dept store but Franklins Five and Dime was cool lil store too!
I remember my Mother, her parents/my Grandparents shopping at Montgomery Wards, Sears. My wife & I shopped, Montgomery Wards, Sears, K-Mart. Miss them all.
I miss Sears very much. So many of the tools that I use as a heavy truck mechanic came from Sears and have fed my family for 30 years. Such a sad story when Sears went out of business.
You have sparked my memory and I enjoy watching your videos! Was with a old friend recently and we were talking about some stores long gone the in Washington DC metro area - Woodward and Lothrop, Garfinkel’s and the Hecht Co - I miss the wonderful customer service of those stores. There was also Memco and Bradlees; and Evan which was similar to Best Co in the 1970s.
Woodward and Lothrup had a branch on the concourse of the Pentagon, I s;ent many lunch times in there with my revolving credit card.
My Family moved to the DC area in 1975. Remember Hechinger?
I mispronounced it constantly, But what a city it was. Springfield Mall was the best.
I got my first VCR in 1984 at Caldor. Still have the receipt. $600 for a Magnavox top loading VHS with wired remote. If you grew up in Northeast NJ, you might remember Two Guys department store. I remember buying a Mego Planet of the Apes soldier figure there. One of the few toys I still have left from childhood.
I knew Two Guys from visiting my grandmother in Bethlehem, PA.
Great historic video! Very nicely done, love the vintage photos of the many early shopping centers and locations. Brings back many fond memories. Excellent narration too! Thanks for providing this look back in history. ~
Just in the city of San Francisco alone there have been a whole hoard of department stores that have closed their doors during the last half century or so. Some of them were before my time, but others were quite recent. A few that come to mind are: Weinstein's Department Store (located on Market Street), The White House(located on Grant Street), The City of Paris (located in Union Square), both I Magnin's, and Joseph Magnin's, The Emporium, Gumps, Woolworths, and last and least, Merrill's Drug and Discount store (also located on Market Street). Things do change, but sometimes it's not for the better. 🙁
When my husband was stationed at the Navy Base, we Bought a washing machine at the Emporiam.fabous dept store.
I'd almost forgotten about Service Merchandise.
On the East Coast we had a store named Arthur’s that functioned exactly like Service Merchandise.
I miss Kmart. I remember Caldor it was short lived. The Sears wishbook during christmas was a part of my childhood.
I remember one store called Robinsons May and another called pick and save.
Robinson's and The May Co. were two separate department stores in the West in the '80s. Somewhere in there, they merged to become Robinson's-May.
Pick and Save pretty much became Big Lots! It's not really the same anymore though.
I miss going to the mall and spending an entire day shopping at our wonderful stores of the past. Lunch at Woolworth mid day❤ a new outfit from Lerner always made me look forward to another week!
One of the joys of being a kid for me and my sister was when the Sears Christmas Wish Book would arrive. So sad to see all these once great stores gone now.