When I usee to DJ we would boost needles formthe turntables from radio shack, they had stanton 500 cartridges with a realistic brand label, miles of speaker wire also
LOL! I never stole anything from Radio Shack, but that does remind me of when my boss let me take cash from the register, go to Radio Shack and buy up enough odds and ends (big spool of speaker wire, wire cutters & several deeply discounted speakers meant for installation in a car or building a stereo speaker from scratch) to add extra speakers all through the back of our store as well as out into the lobby. If you saw what we rigged up, it looked terrible, but functioned fantastically in comparison to the horrid, failing speakers that came with the stereo we kept in back.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I still have not given up on restoring this thread, I am still in the process of fixing all of the dead Photobucket links throughout this thread, and will fully restore everything eventually. Thanks to all who have shared in this thread, I've enjoyed everything that has been shared!
Nothing, but when the computers are outdated the shelves are rusted like they were installed in the 70's then you start to have a problem.
I can understand if a business has a theme going, but they fix up the store and tech. The newest thing at the register for KMart are the little cresit card swipers. At least from the KMarts I have gone to. The computers/regiaters are still pretty old, clunky and seem like a hassle to use.
Nothing, but when the computers are outdated the shelves are rusted like they were installed in the 70's then you start to have a problem.
I can understand if a business has a theme going, but they fix up the store and tech. The newest thing at the register for KMart are the little cresit card swipers. At least from the KMarts I have gone to. The computers/regiaters are still pretty old, clunky and seem like a hassle to use.
I was discussing K-mart, when I was a child, with my wife a few days ago. She claims they always felt like a third-world country but I don't remember feeling like I was going to get cornered by a pack of rabid raccoons 20 years ago. Now I have to put on a go-pro and chronicle my whereabouts...
My local Kmart closed last month, although I'm surpirsed it didn't close 5-10 years ago. The only thing that seemed to keep it alive was Little Caesars and their Hot and Readys! lol
This thread is both exciting and depressing at the same time for me somehow. I love seeing all the old pictures of places that were a huge part of my childhood, but it's sad to know that so many of them are no longer around. I just hope that if I ever do have kids, that ToysRus is still around to some degree, so I can witness the joy and excitement that my parents witnessed in me.
My old K-Mart is getting a new tenant. It's weird to think about. I believe I was the third-to-last person to walk out of that store, and nobody has been inside since they locked the door.
Anyway, I visited one of the last 6 remaining K-Marts in Minnesota, up in God's country. They don't seem to be doing well, unfortunately. They were incredibly short staffed it seems. There weren't enough people to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of retail throughout the entire store, and with no hiring sign in sight, I'd have to imagine they'll be closing up shop in the next round of closures.
Another thing I noticed was that a Sears opened up locally. I heard it was a franchise as opposed to a corporate. I don't see much traffic when I'm in that part of town though.
that Last pic ^^^ game crazy there. Use to clean up at that place. Cheaply priced rares, startegy guides all $1.99 each, picked up several SNES ones there including a earthbound one. Use to get all kinds of good deals.
No mention of Venture stores anywhere in here? The old vertical stripes black/white logo. Some of my fond memories of playing on the table top SNES kiosk and picking up games there.
A thrift I go to has old hand carry baskets and carts from various old stores....was half tempted to ask to buy a few of the hand baskets, including a venture one.
Game Crazy was still around when I started getting deep into video games. Before, I would buy a few games a year. I like games, but only got a game when I was home from school and had time to spare and finished my other games.
But when I started hunting and collecting games I would find some really nice deals at Game Crazy. I can't remember which titles I picked up exactly, but I remember finding some good LoZ titles for about a fourth of the price they go for now, if that.
As for Venture, that's the place my mom used to take me to get my Goosebumps books! That and B. Dalton and Borders.
I miss Hills, it and Kmart were the only places around here for a long time. We had a locally owned toy store but they were overpriced. We had a local chain called Fisher Bigwheel that died off in the early 90s and they weren't bad but usually were very over priced. We had one store that was like a big lots and they had robotech and star wars toys cheap in the 90s.
I stumbled on this Target ad from 1986 online....was surprised to see that games were that cheap each
I honestly didn't know Target was around back then. Same font and logo, too.
I don't remember stumbling across one until the late 90s. (I'm in Chicago.)
We didn't get a Target until the mid 2000s, and I had never heard of it before then, so I thought it was some kind of new cutting edge WalMart competitor.
What's more interesting to me is where the artist for that Duck Hunt ad got a copy where you can shoot ducks on the skeet range.
We didn't get a Target until the mid 2000s, and I had never heard of it before then, so I thought it was some kind of new cutting edge WalMart competitor.
What's more interesting to me is where the artist for that Duck Hunt ad got a copy where you can shoot ducks on the skeet range.
I didn't even notice that crazy Duck Hunt illustration, good catch!
I believe 1999 was when New England first started getting Target stores, before that I'd only seen them on travel or sports advertising. They went national in the 1980s though.
We didn't start getting Wal-Mart stores until the 1990s either, or Kohl's until the 2000s.
New England used to be Kmart/Caldor/Bradlees/Ames/Richs/Zayre country for the most part
There used to be a lot of diversity. Now even Kmart is pretty much wiped out of New England and it's just Walmart-Target.
The Kmart stores that converted to Sears were all miserable failures.
Incredibly, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, & Kohl's all opened their first store the same exact year - 1962.
Jamesway seems familiar but I don't think we had one. We still don't have a target that isn't a half hour away and didn't hear about them until the early 2000s. Then again we didn't know what Walmart was until it showed up in the early 90s out of nowhere. We lost a lot of small locally owned places when walmart and lowe's moved in. We have one big shopping center that had hills as a center piece and it's still nearly empty 20 years after Hills went out of business. Is Gabriel Bros still around? The one near us was crappy but up in Erie it wasn't bad back in the early 2000s. Sears was the worst thing to happen to Kmart. I knew Kmart was doomed when they stopped carrying gaming stuff that's a huge draw to stores.
Comments
When I usee to DJ we would boost needles formthe turntables from radio shack, they had stanton 500 cartridges with a realistic brand label, miles of speaker wire also
LOL! I never stole anything from Radio Shack, but that does remind me of when my boss let me take cash from the register, go to Radio Shack and buy up enough odds and ends (big spool of speaker wire, wire cutters & several deeply discounted speakers meant for installation in a car or building a stereo speaker from scratch) to add extra speakers all through the back of our store as well as out into the lobby. If you saw what we rigged up, it looked terrible, but functioned fantastically in comparison to the horrid, failing speakers that came with the stereo we kept in back.
K-Mart is on its way out. Just a few more years an it'll be no more.
Well, when the entire store looks like it is still stuck in the 70s, uhh yea...
What's wrong with the 70's?
Nothing, but when the computers are outdated the shelves are rusted like they were installed in the 70's then you start to have a problem.
I can understand if a business has a theme going, but they fix up the store and tech. The newest thing at the register for KMart are the little cresit card swipers. At least from the KMarts I have gone to. The computers/regiaters are still pretty old, clunky and seem like a hassle to use.
What's wrong with the 70's?
Nothing, but when the computers are outdated the shelves are rusted like they were installed in the 70's then you start to have a problem.
I can understand if a business has a theme going, but they fix up the store and tech. The newest thing at the register for KMart are the little cresit card swipers. At least from the KMarts I have gone to. The computers/regiaters are still pretty old, clunky and seem like a hassle to use.
I was discussing K-mart, when I was a child, with my wife a few days ago. She claims they always felt like a third-world country but I don't remember feeling like I was going to get cornered by a pack of rabid raccoons 20 years ago. Now I have to put on a go-pro and chronicle my whereabouts...
K-Mart a third world country? This is how I remember K-Mart as a kid, it was the department store 25 years ago...
Minus the video game section, Kmart is still very much the same.
I know I am pointing out its flaws, but I very much wish it could still be around 10 years from now revamped, but I don't see that happening.
Here's a current picture of the former Circuit City in Coon Rapids, MN. It closed in 2009, I believe, and is still vacant.
this just looks like the southern third of Memphis to me.
This thread is both exciting and depressing at the same time for me somehow. I love seeing all the old pictures of places that were a huge part of my childhood, but it's sad to know that so many of them are no longer around. I just hope that if I ever do have kids, that ToysRus is still around to some degree, so I can witness the joy and excitement that my parents witnessed in me.
Anyway, I visited one of the last 6 remaining K-Marts in Minnesota, up in God's country. They don't seem to be doing well, unfortunately. They were incredibly short staffed it seems. There weren't enough people to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of retail throughout the entire store, and with no hiring sign in sight, I'd have to imagine they'll be closing up shop in the next round of closures.
Another thing I noticed was that a Sears opened up locally. I heard it was a franchise as opposed to a corporate. I don't see much traffic when I'm in that part of town though.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/10/03/why-was-there-bradlees-truck-driving-around-boston-this-week/PIwfe7wFdbNZ7mLiMCLhQN/story.html
https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/17-years-later-step-inside-bradlees.1289908/
I stumbled on this Target ad from 1986 online....was surprised to see that games were that cheap each
I honestly didn't know Target was around back then. Same font and logo, too.
I don't remember stumbling across one until the late 90s. (I'm in Chicago.)
Oh, man. Shouldn't have read this at work. Can't--stop--laughing.
that Last pic ^^^ game crazy there. Use to clean up at that place. Cheaply priced rares, startegy guides all $1.99 each, picked up several SNES ones there including a earthbound one. Use to get all kinds of good deals.
No mention of Venture stores anywhere in here? The old vertical stripes black/white logo. Some of my fond memories of playing on the table top SNES kiosk and picking up games there.
A thrift I go to has old hand carry baskets and carts from various old stores....was half tempted to ask to buy a few of the hand baskets, including a venture one.
Game Crazy was still around when I started getting deep into video games. Before, I would buy a few games a year. I like games, but only got a game when I was home from school and had time to spare and finished my other games.
But when I started hunting and collecting games I would find some really nice deals at Game Crazy. I can't remember which titles I picked up exactly, but I remember finding some good LoZ titles for about a fourth of the price they go for now, if that.
As for Venture, that's the place my mom used to take me to get my Goosebumps books! That and B. Dalton and Borders.
I stumbled on this Target ad from 1986 online....was surprised to see that games were that cheap each
I honestly didn't know Target was around back then. Same font and logo, too.
I don't remember stumbling across one until the late 90s. (I'm in Chicago.)
The first Target store opened in Roseville, MN in 1962
Hill's had the best toy and video game selection in town.
I stumbled on this Target ad from 1986 online....was surprised to see that games were that cheap each
I honestly didn't know Target was around back then. Same font and logo, too.
I don't remember stumbling across one until the late 90s. (I'm in Chicago.)
We didn't get a Target until the mid 2000s, and I had never heard of it before then, so I thought it was some kind of new cutting edge WalMart competitor.
What's more interesting to me is where the artist for that Duck Hunt ad got a copy where you can shoot ducks on the skeet range.
Originally posted by: Allegro
We didn't get a Target until the mid 2000s, and I had never heard of it before then, so I thought it was some kind of new cutting edge WalMart competitor.
What's more interesting to me is where the artist for that Duck Hunt ad got a copy where you can shoot ducks on the skeet range.
I didn't even notice that crazy Duck Hunt illustration, good catch!
I believe 1999 was when New England first started getting Target stores, before that I'd only seen them on travel or sports advertising. They went national in the 1980s though.
We didn't start getting Wal-Mart stores until the 1990s either, or Kohl's until the 2000s.
New England used to be Kmart/Caldor/Bradlees/Ames/Richs/Zayre country for the most part
There used to be a lot of diversity. Now even Kmart is pretty much wiped out of New England and it's just Walmart-Target.
The Kmart stores that converted to Sears were all miserable failures.
Incredibly, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, & Kohl's all opened their first store the same exact year - 1962.
Amazing coincidence!
Amazingly, this happened to SEVERAL Jamesway locations in 1989 & 1990 in New York, Jersey, and Pennsylvania!
Apparently none of them had sprinkler systems in the building, no joke!
It sat vacant for 15 years, but has been demolished since this video was taken.
In the 32 minute mark he genuinely stumbled on an intact Ames flyer from 2000 that features the launch of Pokemon Silver/Gold
I have finally restored the original post in this thread 100% to its original form, and off of Photobucket servers.
I figured with the closing of Toys R Us coming up in the USA I might as well make one big final push toward completing it.
There is too much history in these photos to let them be lost! Over time I will continue to go through this thread and restore more of it.