# Department store chains that are now defunct **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 24, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488 "2009-12-24T22:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/21 "2009-12-25T03:37:03Z")
And after looking at **SirRay** ’s list how could I forget [Higbee’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higbee%27s) and May Company? ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/22 "2009-12-25T03:50:46Z")
Just found out KB Toys went out of business ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/23 "2009-12-25T04:11:30Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > My first thought was [Venture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_Stores). I was going to post Venture as well. I remember it most for that awful black- & white-striped color scheme they had. (See the photo at the bottom of **interface2x** ’s link.) I also would like to add [Pic ‘n’ Save](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pic_%27n%27_Save). I knew that they were all gone, so I was surprised to see a grocery store named Pic ‘n’ Save in Milwaukee a couple months ago. It turned out that the grocery store was actually named Pic **k**'n Save. (Note the K and the difference in apostrophes.) ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/24 "2009-12-25T04:48:22Z")
Two Guys (from Harrison) Channel Lumber Rickel Hahne’s Kresge’s McCrory’s Klein’s (S. Klein on the Square) Valley Fair John’s Bargain Stores Rainbow Shops Loft’s (chocolate) Fanny Farmer (chocolate) Fortunoff Best & Co. Edwards (supermarket) Roy Rogers Jack in the Box Linens 'n Things May’s Expo Design Center (division of Home Depot) Guess that’s about it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/25 "2009-12-25T06:22:45Z")
I believe it was limited to Pennsylvania, but Gee Bee is long deceased. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/26 "2009-12-25T06:40:14Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > **Remember the yellow lines on the sides of the escalators there, where you were never ever ever meant to put your feet? That’s because of my cousin, who had his foot up against the side of the escalator, got his shoelace caught in the step and lost his toes and about 1/3 more of the front of his foot in the ensuing calamity.** > In terms of department store chains, Macy’s has a lot to answer for. Kaufmann’s. Robinsons-May, Famous-Barr, [Foley’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley%27s), [Hecht’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecht%27s), Lord & Taylor, Filene’s and Marshall Field, all eaten by the Macy’s juggernaut, and turned to crap. You left out The Emporium stores. and I agree with the F— Macy’s. Escalators are dangerous and it is unbelievable what parents will allow kids to do on them or what they will do with kids. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/27 "2009-12-25T07:50:18Z")
Pic’n’Save became Big Lots, at least in SoCal. I remember Montgomery Ward, and also FedMart, which didn’t survive the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/28 "2009-12-25T09:03:46Z")
I think most of these were local to the Washington, DC area/Northern Virginia… [Woodward & Lothrop](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodward_%26_Lothrop) (department store) [Hechinger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hechinger) (home improvement) [Dart Drug](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dart_Drug) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/29 "2009-12-25T10:16:08Z")
There was a Rhodes store near where I grew up, and the only reason I remember it is because my mother kept calling it Rhodes for a couple years after the name was changed to Liberty House. Liberty House has also gone the way of all things. And the shopping center it was in has been torn down, rebuilt, torn down, and rebuilt again. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/30 "2009-12-25T11:43:25Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > But the one I miss the most is [Kaufmann’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaufmann%27s). ☹ Me, too, and I only lived in Pittsburgh for three years. In addition to being a darn nice store, they had the perfect name! (Well, for us language geeks, anyway.) My home town had Watt & Shand, which only had two stores - one downtown, one in the local shopping mall - so barely counts as a chain. The Park City store is now The Bon-Ton; the downtown store was stripped to its facade, which is now the front of the Lancaster County Convention Center. At least Park City still has its four anchor stores: Sears and JCPenney have been there since the mall opened; Gimbels became Boscov’s and Watt & Shand became The Bon-Ton. An addition added what you might call a fifth anchor store, which was originally Strawbridge & Clothier’s discount chain, [Clover](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover_Discount_Store). Then S&C was eaten by Macy’s, which wasn’t interested in the discount chain; the location is now a Kohl’s. Clover was better. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/31 "2009-12-25T15:16:39Z")
Service Merchandise. W.T. Grants (where I bought my first album - the Rolling Stones). Shopper’s Fair. (sort of like K-Mart) Murphy’s. (sort of like Woolworths) Caldor’s. (which I knew, the minute I walked in the door, was never going to last even a year, and I was right) Bonwit Tellers (THE most gorgeous boutique-y, ladies wear store - every item for sale looked like it came out of the Metropolitan Museum. There were Italianate murals on the walls and gold leaf and marble and chandeliers — it was replaced by an H&M and all that was torn out, painted over, flat screen TVs nailed up playing rap videos.☹ Silk scarves and cashmere sweaters replaced by ugly wrinkly sweat-shop made rags.) Big Lots and Family Dollar seem to have replaced Murphy’s and Woolworths. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/32 "2009-12-25T15:29:45Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > Me, too, and I only lived in Pittsburgh for three years. In addition to being a darn nice store, they had the perfect name! (Well, for us language geeks, anyway.) > > My home town had Watt & Shand, which only had two stores - one downtown, one in the local shopping mall - so barely counts as a chain. The Park City store is now The Bon-Ton; the downtown store was stripped to its facade, which is now the front of the Lancaster County Convention Center. > > At least Park City still has its four anchor stores: Sears and JCPenney have been there since the mall opened; Gimbels became Boscov’s and Watt & Shand became The Bon-Ton. An addition added what you might call a fifth anchor store, which was originally Strawbridge & Clothier’s discount chain, [Clover](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover_Discount_Store). Then S&C was eaten by Macy’s, which wasn’t interested in the discount chain; the location is now a Kohl’s. Clover was better. I had no idea you were originally from Lancaster. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/33 "2009-12-25T15:35:34Z")
Uncle Bill’s Gold Circle Hill’s Higbee’s Halle’s May Co. Zayre Fisher’s Big Wheel Kresgee’s Ooh…from when I lived outside of Ohio…is Parisian still around? ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/34 "2009-12-25T15:38:20Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I believe it was limited to Pennsylvania, but Gee Bee is long deceased. It wasn’t totally limited to PA, there was one in Frederick, Maryland. I worked at it for a bit. They then changed over to a Value City, which is now also gone. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/35 "2009-12-25T16:05:37Z")
The first discount department store in my hometown was a [Mammoth Mart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth_Mart), built in 1968. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/36 "2009-12-25T17:34:37Z")
Wow…no Canadians have chimed in yet. We’ve had our share of department store chains that went defunct. Some were so prevalent that Americans and others who visited Canada would undoubtedly recognize them: Eaton’s. The biggest, oldest, and best-known nationwide department store in Canada just died some years ago. Nothing, apparently, could save it. Sears bought some Eaton’s stores and ran them as “eaton’s” (complete with lower-case “e”) for a while before getting rid of them. Simpson’s. Another nationwide chain. Bought by the Bay (another department store). Woodward’s. Based in western Canada, it was also bought by the Bay. Towers. Discount department store. Older Ontarians would remember this one because of its jingle: “At Towers everything connects–the last day of one sale is the first day of the next.” Bought by Zellers (the Bay’s discount department store). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/37 "2009-12-25T18:30:07Z")
Just curiosity…is the Bay a direct descendant of the Hudson’s Bay Company or is the name unrelated? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/38 "2009-12-25T18:54:16Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Just curiosity…is the Bay a direct descendant of the Hudson’s Bay Company or is the name unrelated? It’s the same company. “The Bay” is what the signs on the stores say, and it’s how the store is often referred to by ordinary people (“There’s a sale on \_\_\_\_ at the Bay”), but as I understand things, the official company name is still “The Hudson’s Bay Company.” While they have diversified in various ways over the years (fur trading, distilleries, mortgages), they have always taken pride in tracing their roots back to 1670, when they were originally founded. So while it is the same company, “direct descendant” is probably the best answer to your question. ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/39 "2009-12-25T19:00:43Z")
In my area of western Washington state, I remember: Wig-Wam Gov-Mart Silo’s People’s Frederick & Nelson’s ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/40 "2009-12-25T19:28:19Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > It’s the same company. “The Bay” is what the signs on the stores say, and it’s how the store is often referred to by ordinary people (“There’s a sale on \_\_\_\_ at the Bay”), but as I understand things, the official company name is still “The Hudson’s Bay Company.” While they have diversified in various ways over the years (fur trading, distilleries, mortgages), they have always taken pride in tracing their roots back to 1670, when they were originally founded. So while it is the same company, “direct descendant” is probably the best answer to your question. It seems like it would be kind of cool to shop at a place that’s been around for 330 years. Okay, not the actual building itself, but still… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488.md?page=3)