# Which Dead National Retail Chain Would You Magically Resurrect? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965 "2025-03-22T23:09:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/41 "2025-03-23T03:58:10Z")
Radio Shack was awesome. Back in '09, I read of a way to activate the factory cruise control in my '08 Yaris. It required two momentary push button switches, resistors of particular values, a reed switch, and wire. One trip to the Shack and the parts were acquired. Another hour later, the car had cruise control. There is simply no place left to go buy parts like that. Radio Shack also helped me build some nice car stereo speaker setups. Their car stereo stuff was overpriced, but good. Fortunately the stuff went on sale at least yearly for half price which made it a great deal. Back when I was in high school and college, Kmart couldn’t be beaten for price on certain things. Their auto department was awesome for oil, filters, tune-up kits (points, rotor, condenser… yeah, I’m that old), brake shoes, etc. Before my car years, Kmart was the place for bike accessories, tires, and inner tubes. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/42 "2025-03-23T04:05:48Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Much more on the nostalgia side: The Sharper Image. The other one like them, Brookstone, was fun to browse around. I think they’re all gone now. ---
**Author:** ![Apodder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apodder/32/17727_2.png) [@Apodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apodder)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/43 "2025-03-23T04:27:54Z")
Omg, so this! Sweet Tomatoes was the other name for it. We’d look for them any time we’d travel. Such a good deal. Probably the reason they no longer exist… 😭 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/44 "2025-03-23T04:34:57Z")
In restaurants: The Ground Round. Casual dining chain, where I hung out a lot in high school and college. Though, it appears that it is only _mostly_ dead; there may be a few locations left. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/45 "2025-03-23T05:05:31Z")
I have some vague but fond memories of going to Fedco with my grandma when I was a kid. Can we bring them back? > **[Fedco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedco)** > > Federal Employees' Distributing Company, known as Fedco, was a membership department store chain that operated in Southern California from 1948 to 1999. > The chain was unusual in that it was a nonprofit consumers' cooperative. It was founded by 800 U.S. Post Office employees who wanted to leverage their buying power by purchasing goods directly from wholesalers, and eliminate the additional markup of a retail store. The Board of Directors, headed by Robert Kee, established the first store on Sla... ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/46 "2025-03-23T05:45:18Z")
The Tempe Tower Records was within walking distance for me, and I shopped there monthly, until a Zia Records opened around the corner from them. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/47 "2025-03-23T11:03:09Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Woolworths. We have a Woolworth nearby. Not Woolworth’s. I wonder what the relationship is, if any. > **[Woolworth · Trier](https://maps.app.goo.gl/wkqgVCh4Tqp96DgHA)** > > Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. Edit to add: answered my own question. The Euro Woolworth stores are indeed a vestigial remnant of the original company — sold off, but using the same name. > **[F. W. Woolworth Company](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._W._Woolworth_Company)** > > The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's or simply Woolworth) was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, setting trends and creating the modern retail model that stores follow worldwide today. > The first Woolworth store was opened by Frank Winfield Woolworth on February 22, 1879, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" in Utica, New York. Though it initially ap... ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/48 "2025-03-23T11:37:40Z")
Do mail order catalogs count? Sears started as a mail order catalog… Anyway, i really miss [ThinkGeek](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkGeek#:~:text=ThinkGeek%20was%20an%20American%20retailer,Geeknet%2C%20a%20subsidiary%20of%20GameStop.). Ooh, Wikipedia tells me they had a few physical stores, too. They used to have such a great catalog. We did half our Christmas shopping there. We still have an awesome cake pan shaped like a sleeping dragon we got there that we use every year. Sears was the Amazon of its time. They sold everything. My cousin lives in a house sold by Sears. I would like to see a Woolworths or a Radio Shack, too. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/49 "2025-03-23T12:02:06Z")
Spiratone. All the niftiest photography stuff you can imagine. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/50 "2025-03-23T12:06:59Z")
B Dalton (am I the only one who misses them?) or Waldenbooks/Borders. We have a BAM a couple towns over, but I don’t like them as well. And in the food category, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour Restaurants. Not quite a dinner-and-a-show place, but good food, and the waiters were fun to watch. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/51 "2025-03-23T12:18:01Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Woolworths. > I used to go there when young (11), get make up, a burger and a shake. That’s where my friend Denise and I would go and get Cokes and a big order of fries with ketchup. We had to be in our early teens at the time. I never was much for shopping, tho early in our marriage, my husband and I would do a lot of mall-walking as cheap entertainment. We’d window shop, dream, and end the evening with a cookie in the food court. Honestly, I can’t think of any chains that I’d want to bring back. Oddly, a small local store near where I grew up - Baynesville Electronics - closed its doors fairly recently and that hit me a bit. I remember going in there with my dad to test vacuum tubes from our TV. It’s one of those places that was always there. Now it’s not. And even tho I left that neighborhood in 1973 and my folks bought another house and moved in 1979, it feels weird that Baynesville Electronics is gone. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/52 "2025-03-23T12:27:34Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Back when I was in high school and college, Kmart couldn’t be beaten for price on certain things. Their auto department was awesome for oil, filters, tune-up kits (points, rotor, condenser… yeah, I’m that old), brake shoes, etc. Before my car years, Kmart was the place for bike accessories, tires, and inner tubes. Oh, yeah, and shoes! They had cheap shoes, and actually carried something that approximated my size (neither of which is something you can get, any more). If I couldn’t get K-Mart back, I’d at least like Pay-Less Shoes, but K-Mart had a bunch of other stuff besides. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/53 "2025-03-23T12:39:43Z")
As others have already mentioned: Sears, Borders, Radio Shack. For restaurants, I wish we still had Godfather’s Pizza. Regionally, there was a chain of record stores, Streetside/Penny Lane. Streetside started in St Louis and Penny Lane was in KC but IIRC they merged at some point in the 80s. I miss flipping through racks of vinyl LPs. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/54 "2025-03-23T12:54:52Z")
Sears, with a boss-strong online sales system, a true threat to Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/55 "2025-03-23T13:21:42Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Fry’s Electronics. One of the most poorly run chains I’ve ever run into, and awful in a lot of ways–nevertheless, if I needed some piece of equipment _now_, whether a few resistors or some RAM sticks or some oscilloscope probes, I could get it there. Plus, where else could you buy that stuff and be surrounded by Tahiti, Aztec, Wild West, Ancient Rome, etc themes? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/56 "2025-03-23T13:22:02Z")
For retail , it would have to be Toys R US - they naturally had a larger selection of toys than any other retailer and I could walk through and find toys I didn’t know existed. For restaurants ,it’s not exactly a certain chain - it’s a certain type. I miss the Sizzler/Ponderosa/Bonanza sort of restaurant. They were better than fast-food but cheap enough for some of my friends. I suppose these restaurants might still exist somewhere, but I only know of one company that operates in a fairly limited area. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/57 "2025-03-23T13:24:54Z")
Does anyone else remember **Peaches Records & Tapes**? I thought it might be a local chain but The Google tells me that there were 45 stores at its peak, nationwide. The store was known for its supermarket-level size, its deep inventory, and its knowledgeable staff. Oh, and the wooden “Peaches” record crates. I’ve spent many happy hours there. Also a mild mention to **Circuit City**. And **Borders** was my first thought, but I see it has been well-covered in this thread. mmm ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/58 "2025-03-23T13:31:04Z")
> [@Apodder](#): > > Omg, so this! Sweet Tomatoes was the other name for it. We’d look for them any time we’d travel. Such a good deal. Probably the reason they no longer exist… 😭 I think it was covid that put them out of business. Godspeed, baked potato bar. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/59 "2025-03-23T13:41:36Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > There’s no question—I’d bring back the [Horn & Hardart Automat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_%26_Hardart) in a heartbeat. It brings to mind a comedy song – was it from _That Was the Week that Was??_ – with the lyric and title _It’s Autumn At The Automat_. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965/60 "2025-03-23T13:41:53Z")
**Henry’s Hamburgers**. Liked their burgs a lot more than McD or the others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-national-retail-chain-would-you-magically-resurrect/1015965.md?page=4)