Stores of the Past

14 retail chains that shaped Main Street, the mall, and the strip — browse by type, by location, or by what became of them.

Browse by Type All categories →
Department Stores 3 Discount & Variety Stores 3 Casual Dining 1 Clothing & Apparel 1 Drugstores 1 Toy Stores 1 Electronics 2 Video Rental 1 Bookstores 1
Browse by Location All locations →
Illinois 2 Michigan 2 New York 2 Texas 2 Connecticut 1 Florida 1 Massachusetts 1 New Jersey 1 Tennessee 1 Virginia 1
Blockbuster Video
Blockbuster Video defunct
Video Rental Dallas, TX
1985–2014

David Cook opened the first Blockbuster video-rental store in Dallas in 1985 with a radical insight: video…
Borders
Borders defunct
Bookstores Ann Arbor, MI
1971–2011

Borders was supposed to win. Brothers Tom and Louis opened a bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan in…
Circuit City
Circuit City defunct
Electronics Richmond, VA
1949–2009

You could walk into a Circuit City in the 1980s and 1990s and get educated, in-depth help…
F. W. Woolworth Co.
F. W. Woolworth Co. defunct
Discount & Variety Stores New York, NY
1879–1997

The Greensboro lunch counter sits at the center of Woolworth's legacy. On February 1, 1960, young Black…
Gimbels
Gimbels defunct
Department Stores New York, NY
1887–1987

Gimbels ran Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Starting in 1920, Gimbels sponsored the parade that became as important…
Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's defunct
Casual Dining Quincy, MA
1925–2022

The last Howard Johnson's restaurant closed in Lake George, New York in 2022. A single location. When…
Kmart
Kmart operating
Discount & Variety Stores Troy, MI
1962–present

By the 1970s, Kmart was the dominant discounter in America. It had more stores than Walmart, better…
Marshall Field's
Marshall Field's acquired
Department Stores Chicago, IL
1852–2006

When Federated Department Stores bought Marshall Field's and rebranded all locations as Macy's in 2006, Chicagoans protested…
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward defunct
Department Stores Chicago, IL
1872–2001

Montgomery Ward invented catalog retail. In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward launched the world's first general-merchandise mail-order business,…
Service Merchandise
Service Merchandise defunct
Discount & Variety Stores Nashville, TN
1934–2002

Service Merchandise pioneered the catalog showroom — a format so elegant and efficient it's almost hard to believe it disappeared.…
Toys "R" Us
Toys "R" Us defunct
Toy Stores Wayne, NJ
1957–2018

The final days of Toys "R" Us were heartbreaking. Parents who'd grown up at Toys "R" Us…
RadioShack
RadioShack acquired
Electronics Fort Worth, TX
1921–present

Radio Shack was founded in 1921 as a mail-order radio supply company, but the real transformation came…
Eckerd
Eckerd acquired
Drugstores Largo, FL
1898–2007

The Eckerd drugstore was a neighborhood anchor. Not the big pharmacy chains that exist now, but independent or regional drugstores…
Casual Corner
Casual Corner defunct
Clothing & Apparel Enfield, CT
1950–2005

Casual Corner was a mall mainstay of women's clothing, dressing working women in career separates, dresses, and coordinated outfits across…