# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/101 "2009-12-30T17:37:29Z")
Clover was Strawbridges attempt at a K-Mart style of store. I liked them because they always seemed cleaner than K-Mart or Wal-Mart, but they closed. ---
**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 30, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/102 "2009-12-30T17:46:00Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Clover was Strawbridges attempt at a K-Mart style of store. I liked them because they always seemed cleaner than K-Mart or Wal-Mart, but they closed. There are abandoned barns that are cleaner than the insides of K-Marts. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/103 "2009-12-30T19:06:31Z")
In Texas: Weiners Winn’s Variety ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/104 "2009-12-30T21:07:27Z")
I miss Hornsby’s, Spurgeon’s, and Robert Hall Village. Service Merchandise (I just discovered today before I got to this thread – spooky) is still around. It’s just an online [store](http://www.servicemerchandise.com/). Montgomery Wards is now owned by The Swiss Colony and is also an online [store](http://www.wards.com/home.jsp). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/105 "2009-12-30T21:18:23Z")
There used to be a Service Merchandise-like company in Rochester, N.Y. called **Present Company**. I just checked and, although there seems to be something there called “Present Company”, it doesn’t seem to be the same place. So they seem to be defunct, after all. I was hoping to say that Present Company was Excepted. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/106 "2009-12-30T21:34:22Z")
Stix, Baer & Fuller ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/107 "2009-12-31T02:38:55Z")
I remember Steinbach’s, in the Shore Mall in Pleasantville, NJ. I wonder if Wilmington Dry Goods is still around (Vineland was the other mall close to Cape May, NJ) Miller & Paine in Lincoln, NE became part of Dillard’s (who, like Macy’s, took over a lot of local department stores). Liberty House in Honolulu became Macy’s. JC Penney has left Hawaii, but Kmart is still here. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/108 "2010-01-01T05:32:32Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > [dating myself] \*\*Zodys \*\*[/dating myself] Well, I saw Zodys as more of a five-and-dime sort of store than a department store. ---
**Author:** ![Success20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Success20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Success20)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/109 "2010-01-01T21:54:50Z")
My first thought was Ayrway - we went each Friday night as a kid - I got a 50 cent a week allowance - later I got a dollar - and each week I bought a hard cover book and got change back. Now I have to sell them to pay the bills. Sad to say but many more retailers - even the ones around for a hundred years will soon be added to the closing list. Sad isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488/110 "2010-01-04T23:59:37Z")
Washington DC also had Lansburgh’s (closed in 1973), Palais Royal (vanished long before I was born), and Goldenberg’s, which had big ads in the newspapers in the fifties, but which _nobody_ seems to remember. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/department-store-chains-that-are-now-defunct/522488.md?page=5)