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Businesses long gone


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Western Auto

J. C Higgins

Charlie Brown's

Sambo's

Howard Johnsson

F. W. Woolworth

Ben Franklin

Builder's Emporium

FedCo

Fed Mart

Ponderosa Steak House

Spudnut

The Bluebird Restaurant...and Cafe

Western Airlines

Santa Fe RR

Burma Shave

UTOCO

 

Name  your favorite long gone places.

 

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White Front

Zodys

Gemco

McDonnell Douglas  (They treated us really well....)

Oshman's

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I worked in restaurants for 8 years as a teenager and college student.

They are gone:

Bonanza

Steak&Ale

Bennigans

Rock-ola

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Was JC Higgins actually a business? I thought it was just a brand name Sears roebuck put on their guns.

 

 

Thom McAn shoes

Buster Brown shoes

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Western Gear Corp.

Crown Books

Low Cost Drug Stores

ZCMI

Studebaker, Packard, Nash, Kaiser-Frazer, Edsel, American Motors, Crosley....and lots more

Marx Toys

B inB Mushrooms

Waco Aircraft Co.
Ozark Airlines and Texas International

Riverside Motor Speedway

Fearless Farris gas stations

Signal gas stations

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Mrs. Winner’s Chicken

Studebaker/Packard

S-K Tools

Pepsodent Toothpaste 

Oldsmobile

Burger Chef

 

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"Monkey" [Montgomery] Wards  :mellow:

 

Montgomery Ward carried a line of firearms under the Western Field brand that were made by Savage/Stevens, Mossberg, Marlin, Glenfield, Springfield, High Standard and others, including European built Mausers.  Some were actually pretty darned decent!  :)

 

1960's vintage Western Field 724A Mauser-Mannlicher .30-06.  Manufactured in West Germany by Heym, and sold by Montgomery Wards:

 

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3 hours ago, Alpo said:

Was JC Higgins actually a business? I thought it was just a brand name Sears roebuck put on their guns.

 

 

Thom McAn shoes

Buster Brown shoes

 

I'd read this years ago, but from "Wiki:"

 

Quote

The brand name, J. C. Higgins, was based on a real person, John Higgins who was a Sears employee. He moved from his birth country of Ireland to the United States in his late teens and began working for Sears in 1898. He spent his entire working career with Sears and was Vice President for the company for a period of time. He was actually born with no middle name but the Sears Co. presented the idea of labeling their sporting good line with his name and saw it more presentable labeling the brand as J.C. Higgins. He worked with the company until his retirement as head bookkeeper in 1930. Higgins died in 1950.

 

The "brand" was later replaced by the Ted Williams marque....  :rolleyes:

 

Ted was a real person, too - a decorated WW II and Korean War fighter pilot (Navy), who also appeared on the Wheaties box and even played a little baseball once in a while.  :)

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Here’s a blast from the past!

 

 

IMG_0383.jpeg
 

The Checker Marathon!

CHECKER MOTORS!!

 

 

 

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S&H Green Stamps 

A&P Grocery 

Hudson

Ipana Toothpaste 

ARCO

TWA

 

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(Idaho)
Stinker gas stations
Fearless Farris was the genius behind them.
He ran constant "gas wars" which I remember at $0.179 per gallon to fill my Honda 50.

Moon's Sport & Tackle.
My dad's office was right down the alley from the back door of Moon's.
As a very young 'un, Dad used to send me with a $5 bill to buy a box of Panatella cigars.
They always gave the correct change, and didn't think a thing of it.

Sad to say, that whole way of life in Boise is now gone.
Replaced by wall-to-wall overpriced housing, bad air and horrendous traffic.

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The names I was going to list are already listed. Except for some that were local to where I lived. 
 

Technology, the economy and bad business decisions have done all the businesses listed in. 
 

There are a couple restaurant chains that I miss. 
- Texas Land and Cattle Company. Made Texas Roadhouse and Longhorn’s look like amateurs. 
- Sticky Fingers. Fantastic food. 
- Bob’s Big Boy


To name a couple. 

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Scottys (Fl based hardware stores)

 

Chief Charlies (best steakhouse around here for years)

 

The House of Hobbys (local hobby house that you couldn't even hardly walk around in, yet the owner, Bob, knew where every item was)

 

Shooter's Shack (one of the coolest local gun stores around)

 

Woolworths

 

Zaires

 

Maas Brothers

 

Piedmont Airlines

 

Pontiac

 

Frisch's Big Boy (my first real job was at Frisch's, I ate pretty good working there as a freshly moved out of the house teen and they had REAL food)

 

Biff Burger (always loved their double cheeseburgers)

 

The Sandpiper Bar (had a lot of good times there...too good...glad they closed 45 years ago)

 

Ryan's Gyms & Junk

 

Concadora's (best place for Italian food, especially for pizza and Italian sausage/Parm sub).

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The original Abercrombie & Fitch - Gun Room with the full price range, basic up to Maharajah grade and price.  Gunsmith always on duty! Knives, factory and custom, bought my Randall there.  Fishing gear basic to sublime, expedition clothing, everything for the Sportsman.  Truly amazing.  I remember buying a rifle, having a scope mounted and bore sighted.  Leaving the store with it and ammunition in a gun case to get on public transportation home. 1966 0r 1967 in New York City!

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I think what I miss most, and quite honestly, I have adapted well to all the above vanishing, I miss Mom & Pop type shops and stores. These have pretty much gone away in every state I have lived in. There are still a few around, but not like they used to be. 

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Phoenix AZ shops

Bill Johnsons Big Apple - the lady's serving all wore a holstered shooting iron on their hip w/ sawdust on the floor, swept up nightly and new placed before shop opened for the next day.

Mary Coyle's Ice Cream Parlor

Bob's Big Boy (Big Boy & slice of Strawberry pie [ pre-Marie Calenders restaurants]

Brookshires

Bobby McGee's

LaBelle's (catalogue showroom type store) later became BEST.

Service Merchandise

GEMCO

Fedmart

HandyMan store (had character that looked like Dagwood Bumstead in their ads)

K-mart (switched to K-MOMO and petered out)

Fuddrucker's

Yellow Front (Checker auto parts usually right next door)

Chief Auto Parts (owned by Southland Corporation & 7-11 was in same building.

Woolco/Woolworths (had the lunch counter and soda jerk stand)

Newberry's

McCrory's

TG&Y

Sprouse Reitz

Wards

Levitz

Yates

Super X (drug store)

REVCO

Lou Grubb Chevrolet

SuperShops

Lopers (race car parts)

Farrells Ice cream Parlor

Appetitos (italian grinder shop)

Alpha Beta

AJ Bayless (they gave green stamps)

Lucky's

Smitty's

O'Malley's

Entz-White

Payless Cashways

Goldwater's

Bullocks

Diamonds

Circles Records and Tapes

Popular Surplus (renamed Popular Outdoor Outfitters - until they went under)

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9 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

Here’s a blast from the past!

 

 

IMG_0383.jpeg
 

The Checker Marathon!

CHECKER MOTORS!!

 

 

 

The Humber Super Snipe:

 

560px-Humber_Super_Snipe_Series_II_first

 

I had one for a while. Got the engine running, got the transmission put together and installed it. Sold it still needing brakes. The next buyer got it driving.

 

Really interesting car, designed for driving by a chauffeur, had gorgeous folding burl wood trays in the rear seats for the passengers. Full leather interior. Company closed in '67, someone still owns the name.

 

 

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7 hours ago, Pat Riot said:

The names I was going to list are already listed. Except for some that were local to where I lived. 
 

Technology, the economy and bad business decisions have done all the businesses listed in. 
 

There are a couple restaurant chains that I miss. 
- Texas Land and Cattle Company. Made Texas Roadhouse and Longhorn’s look like amateurs. 
- Sticky Fingers. Fantastic food. 
- Bob’s Big Boy


To name a couple. 

There’s 2 Bobs Big Boy still alive here in Ohio. 
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bob's big boy ohio&iaxm=maps&source=places&iai=5060327

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Good Guys Electronics (TV, Stereos). West coast, bought out by Comp USA.

 

Fry's Grocery stores. Last to use union checkout employees, folded due to costs of not utilizing bar codes on products, costs of putting price stickers on every item.

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We still have Fry's grocery stores, Del Taco, Sinclair gas and Casa Bonita here in Arizona.

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