Great department stores that are still around

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I was out and about today and headed to Weirton WV to local Gabe’s store. Haven’t been there in about a year. Very nice store inside. Any great stores near you folks that are still around and doing good?
 
The east coast must hang onto old traditions longer than the west coast. Not necessarily a bad thing. Around here, all the big name department store are long gone. Rhodes Bros, Woolworth’s, K-Mart etc. The Bon Marche which was the biggest in these parts is now Macy’s which has been at the edge of the abyss for a while. Nordstrom’s is still around but they are feeling the pressure as well.

Sears, JC Penny’s, are also on the morphine drip. When a store has more employees inside working than customers you know the end is near.

As a child of the sixties I was able to enjoy being in great department stores downtown and not in a mall. In the age of black and white television I was drawn to those old console style televisions with living color. Either football, golf or baseball was on.

Thanks for bringing up some fond memories.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
The east coast must hang onto old traditions longer than the west coast. Not necessarily a bad thing. Around here, all the big name department store are long gone. Rhodes Bros, Woolworth’s, K-Mart etc. The Bon Marche which was the biggest in these parts is now Macy’s which has been at the edge of the abyss for a while. Nordstrom’s is still around but they are feeling the pressure as well.

Sears, JC Penny’s, are also on the morphine drip. When a store has more employees inside working than customers you know the end is near.

As a child of the sixties I was able to enjoy being in great department stores downtown and not in a mall. In the age of black and white television I was drawn to those old console style televisions with living color. Either football, golf or baseball was on.

Thanks for bringing up some fond memories.


Ah yes....The Bon Marche'. Remember Frederick & Nelson's? Both were great stores. And yes, Woolworth's was a fantastic old department store. As a kid I absolutely loved going into Woolworth's in downtown Seattle. The smell of popcorn, the allure of candies of all types...the lunch counter....and all the STUFF a boy could want to poke through.

I miss all that.
 
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
H-E-B is expanding here. Also Walmart, Sam's, and Costco are expanding here.
I was down in McAllen TX last week. H-E-B might be bigger than Walmart there. Crazy to see that!
 
Originally Posted By: andrewg
Originally Posted By: PimTac
The east coast must hang onto old traditions longer than the west coast. Not necessarily a bad thing. Around here, all the big name department store are long gone. Rhodes Bros, Woolworth’s, K-Mart etc. The Bon Marche which was the biggest in these parts is now Macy’s which has been at the edge of the abyss for a while. Nordstrom’s is still around but they are feeling the pressure as well.

Sears, JC Penny’s, are also on the morphine drip. When a store has more employees inside working than customers you know the end is near.

As a child of the sixties I was able to enjoy being in great department stores downtown and not in a mall. In the age of black and white television I was drawn to those old console style televisions with living color. Either football, golf or baseball was on.

Thanks for bringing up some fond memories.


Ah yes....The Bon Marche'. Remember Frederick & Nelson's? Both were great stores. And yes, Woolworth's was a fantastic old department store. As a kid I absolutely loved going into Woolworth's in downtown Seattle. The smell of popcorn, the allure of candies of all types...the lunch counter....and all the STUFF a boy could want to poke through.

I miss all that.




I completely forgot about Frederick and Nelson’s. They were right up there with Nordstrom’s at the time. Yep, the old lunch counters, and candy and ice cream. F&Ns had some really nice eating areas
 
Up here it’s The Bay, It originated with the Hudson’s Bay fur trading company and morphed into a department store. The company is now 350 years old. Somewhat upscale without being too fancy or expensive.

SF
 
When I was a kid,a few I remember are TG&Y,Woolworth/Woolco,Winn's,Ben Franklin,Gibson's,and of course the S&H Greenstamps store.
 
The national downtown department stores I remember were Woolworth and Kress. Local high end downtown department store was Litchenstein's.

First discount stores I remember were Woolco (from Woolworth) and Gibson's. Later came KMart (from Kress), then later after that Wal-Mart, then even later Target.

Five & dime were Winn's & Ben Franklin.

After a major hurricane in 1970 downtown where I grew up really declined, and malls and strip centers in the residential areas along major traffic arteries took off. By the time I was in High School, going downtown after dark approached going to Mos Eisley space port. "A more wretched hive of scum and villiany . . ."
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: andrewg
Originally Posted By: PimTac
The east coast must hang onto old traditions longer than the west coast. Not necessarily a bad thing. Around here, all the big name department store are long gone. Rhodes Bros, Woolworth’s, K-Mart etc. The Bon Marche which was the biggest in these parts is now Macy’s which has been at the edge of the abyss for a while. Nordstrom’s is still around but they are feeling the pressure as well.

Sears, JC Penny’s, are also on the morphine drip. When a store has more employees inside working than customers you know the end is near.

As a child of the sixties I was able to enjoy being in great department stores downtown and not in a mall. In the age of black and white television I was drawn to those old console style televisions with living color. Either football, golf or baseball was on.

Thanks for bringing up some fond memories.


Ah yes....The Bon Marche'. Remember Frederick & Nelson's? Both were great stores. And yes, Woolworth's was a fantastic old department store. As a kid I absolutely loved going into Woolworth's in downtown Seattle. The smell of popcorn, the allure of candies of all types...the lunch counter....and all the STUFF a boy could want to poke through.

I miss all that.


Woolworths was always essentially a junk store in my time, growing up in the 80s/90s. Water pistols and blank cassette tapes, sure. Not much high value stuff worth buying.

I do recall when sears still had a candy and nut stand. So much of that stuff was just dying off in my time, replaced by target for those who wish to feel fancy, and Walmart for the unwashed masses.
 
Originally Posted By: Snagglefoot
Up here it’s The Bay, It originated with the Hudson’s Bay fur trading company and morphed into a department store. The company is now 350 years old. Somewhat upscale without being too fancy or expensive.

The one here isn't quite the same, at least in my rose tinted memory, as it was when it was on its own rather than in the mall. I remember Eaton's used to be another good one for some upscale items, and lots of nice stuff at Christmas.

I don't know if you remember Robinsons, or even had that in Alberta.
 
[/quote] Ah yes....The Bon Marche'. Remember Frederick & Nelson's? Both were great stores. And yes, Woolworth's was a fantastic old department store. As a kid I absolutely loved going into Woolworth's in downtown Seattle. The smell of popcorn, the allure of candies of all types...the lunch counter....and all the STUFF a boy could want to poke through. I miss all that. [/quote]

Yep, the old lunch counters, and candy and ice cream. F&Ns had some really nice eating areas [/quote]

WOW, does this bring back memories. I too remember these shopping plaza stores. Even our Penny's(and other local to our area dept stores) were at an outside Plaza. Altier's Shoes, Woolworth's, a local diner, a small grocery store and even Western Auto. And several Five & Dime stores.

Penny's had their own bakery in the back and the store had actual sales personal selling and fitting people for shoes and in the clothing section where one could be fitted for their dress or suit.

Today we still have these plaza's in their same location however, the stores are fly-by-night(in today/gone tomorrow) and so many sections are just vacant. Now there is just a Dollar Store and maybe a STAPLES or similar store.
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
[/quote] Ah yes....The Bon Marche'. Remember Frederick & Nelson's? Both were great stores. And yes, Woolworth's was a fantastic old department store. As a kid I absolutely loved going into Woolworth's in downtown Seattle. The smell of popcorn, the allure of candies of all types...the lunch counter....and all the STUFF a boy could want to poke through. I miss all that.


Yep, the old lunch counters, and candy and ice cream. F&Ns had some really nice eating areas [/quote]

WOW, does this bring back memories. I too remember these shopping plaza stores. Even our Penny's(and other local to our area dept stores) were at an outside Plaza. Altier's Shoes, Woolworth's, a local diner, a small grocery store and even Western Auto. And several Five & Dime stores.

Penny's had their own bakery in the back and the store had actual sales personal selling and fitting people for shoes and in the clothing section where one could be fitted for their dress or suit.

Today we still have these plaza's in their same location however, the stores are fly-by-night(in today/gone tomorrow) and so many sections are just vacant. Now there is just a Dollar Store and maybe a STAPLES or similar store.


[/quote]
Yep...exactly! The horrid "Dollar Store". No personality or history in those types of places.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac


Sears, JC Penny’s, are also on the morphine drip. When a store has more employees inside working than customers you know the end is near.



Sears is now officially dead in Canada, it's last 32 stores closed their doors for good yesterday. We also saw all of our Kmarts close their doors back in the late 90s.
 
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