I had one nearby growing up. It seemed like a gigantic store, and with two floors! I remember they had a cafe on the second floor (and toys).
The building is still there, but now a Macy’s. Depressing to go into it because it’s always empty. I really don’t know how/why they keep it open.
**Burdines- “The Florida Store.” **It was only in Florida and was uniquely Florida in its interior design and colors. For many years, the east coast of Florida has Burdines and the west coast of FL had Maas Brothers. Then Burdines took over Mass Bros before being swallowed by Macy’s. Many of the “indoor palm tree columns” still remain in the Burdines that became Macy’s. It was one of the few places you could still find summer clothes in the winter.
I loved Bonwit Teller (before they were bought by the May Co.) Bonwit’s was a bit pricey but when I needed something special I could always find it there. I still wear a coat that I bought about 30 years ago there - had it relined because I loved it so much.
Definitely Woolworths.
Woolco, but quite specifically because they had a cafeteria and I really liked jello as a little kid.
Thank you for saying that. I came into this thread thinking about it but could not remember the name, and scanned the Wikipedia list and still could not remember. There was one pretty close to my house when I was a kid and I loved going there, lots of neat stuff I wasn’t supposed to touch 
Most of the ones on the Wiki page I’ve ever never heard of or seen in person. I did enjoy rummaging through Value City, sometimes you could find some good cheap stuff.
Do stores like Venture count? My mom used to work for them in the corporate offices - I loved it, especially when she came home with bags full of cheap random stuff from ‘sample sales.’ Venture was always cooler than Kmart or Walmart and was the hip place before Target caught up and Venture sank.
Service Merchandise - I always thought there ‘catalog showroom’ layout and concept was a very odd design; I was not at all surprised when they folded.
Remember their original name? E.L. Rice.
And Korvettes…ahhhh, yes. The ‘All-Label’ record sale that arrived every six months or so (I recall albums being $3.69). I’d go there on payday - worked right next door - and spend $40 for an armload of albums. Then: (Dad): “What the HELL do you need all those for!!! Jesus Christ!!!”
I still own every album I ever bought.
mmm
John Wanamaker in downtown Philadelphia, with the Christmas light shows, the eagle and the ceiling train in the toy department.
I remember Sevice Merchandise. I think it was a bit ahead of it’s time.
In Chicago we had McDade Catalog as well, which was similar to Service Merchandise. They were pretty good as well.
Hubby and I have constant reminders of Service Merchandise. 13 years ago, we bought our wedding bands there. I always loved the place.
Back home, we had a department store called Hub Frankel. It was an expensive (for us) clothing store, but I always loved to go in there and look. They had the cashier station off the sales floor, and the people who were checking you out would take your money and put it in one of those pneumatic tubes. As a kid, I always thought it was fascinating to watch the money go away and exact change come back.
McRae’s in Jackson, MS.
It was a Very Big Deal to go when I was little. My aunt and my grandmother used to take me. It was where I got Patent Leather shoes, and church dresses.
I miss Ames because while they were second rate they had stores in a lot of smaller towns that now have nothing.
I miss Caldors because they used to have good record sales and I bought a large part of my record collection there.
I miss Lloyds because they were the first store that combined a department store and a supermarket. Plus they had a really good book department.
I miss Playtogs because it was a really good department store even if there was only one of it. It was a huge part of downtown Middletown - enough so that people still use it as a local landmark even though it’s been closed for almost twenty years.
I miss Maas Brothers and Woolworths because the idea of eating in the same place as you shop is intriguing and convenient. And in the case of Maas Brothers, tasty as well, although you would’nt see the restaurant anywhere approaching busy except during the holiday season, usually there were only 2 or 3 other parties with us in a space that could fit 20 parties easily. And was comparable in price to today’s expensiver casual dining.
I missStix, Baer and Fuller. When I was a kid, they carried EVERYTHING - sewing supplies, books, and they had a very nice restaurant. It was quite a treat to go to the one near us for dinner after 5pm Saturday mass. They had some cool specialities - crusty ‘alligator rolls’, and for dessert the gold brick sundae, which was fantastic - solid chocolate about an inch thick over a ball of ice cream. You had to hammer it open, almost. Magic Shell does NOT compare!
Marshall Field & Co.
Service Merchandise (we had them in Chicago–or at least the burbs did)
Lytton’s
Ben Franklin (ok, not really dept store, but a five and dime)
Sears in its heyday.
Gold Circle - They had great sales for back to school. As a kid, I don’t think I wore anything that wasn’t from Gold Circle.
Hudson’s and Crowley’s. The former was absorbed by the horrid Macy’s label, and the latter became Value City. Value City! Dear God.
What a blast from the past . . .
So many stores, so many memories . . .
J.L. Hudson - The Macy’s of Detroit.
Marshall Fields - An absolutely full service dept. store.
Woolworth’s - Tried and true but found more profit selling shoes.
Kresge’s - Morphed into K-Mart and then went broke.
Service Merchandise - The catalog showroom idea that was inherently flawed, spewed a lot of clones and then disappeared. Clones: LaBelle’s, Great Western and whatever.
Caldor, You can’t pretend to be Wal-Mart.
Alaxander’s - In NYC but couldn’t compete with Bloomingdale’s.
Montgomery Ward’s - At one time was the #2 retailer in America.
Retail is a cutthroat business. If you don’t stay on top of your game every day you are doomed to fail.
I was just thinking the other day about how much I miss Ames. I don’t have a Walmart close to me and Target and Kmart don’t sell crafts. I have the big craft stores near me, but I don’t always want to got to multiple stores. Sometimes I want to buy shampoo and socks and yarn in one stop.
Plus sometimes I need something I’m only going to use once (like a tool) and don’t need it to be high quality and Ames was generally cheaper than everyone else.
