Bradlees, Caldor, Zayre?
Gold Circle, Hills?
In Maryland?
Not sure if they were in MD, but they were in SW PA, not far from western Maryland
with discount store chains such as Kmart, Ames, Two Guys, Gibson’s Discount Center, E. J. Korvette, Mammoth Mart, Fisher’s Big Wheel, Zayre, Bradlees, Caldor, Jamesway, Howard Brothers Discount Stores, Kuhn’s-Big K (sold to Walmart in 1981), TG&Y[ citation needed ] and Woolco (closed in 1983, part sold to Wal-Mart) among others.[6]
Walmart, Kmart, and Target all opened their first locations in 1962. Kmart was a venture of S. S. Kresge Company that was a major operator of dime stores. Other retail companies branched out into the discount store business around that time as adjuncts to their older store concepts. As examples, Woolworth opened a Woolco chain (also in 1962); Montgomery Ward opened Jefferson Ward; Chicago-based Jewel launched Turn Style; and Central Indiana-based L. S. Ayres created Ayr-Way. J. C. Penney opened discount stores called Treasure Island or The Treasury, Sheboygan, Wisconsin based H. C. Prange Co. opened a chain of discount stores called Prange Way, and Atlanta-based Rich’s owned discount stores called Richway.
In my old home state of Wisconsin, in addition to Prange Way, there was Shopko, based in Green Bay, which was an independent discount chain – it was maybe a small step above Kmart, but not much. Shopko also bought another regional chain, Pamida, at some point.
They operated in most of the Midwest and Northwest at various points, but went into bankruptcy in 2019, and closed all of their stores (though they continue operating optical centers under the Shopko name).
Shopko tried to expand ca. 2000, but they bit off way more than they could chew, and I think this contributed to their recent demise. Very few of those newer stores stayed open longer than a few months.