20 Famous Stores From The 1970s That Went BANKRUPT! 

I am 66 yrs old and remember many of these stores well. Back then, people actually combed their hair, brushed their teeth, and put on clean clothes before going shopping.

Woolworth was the best! The popcorn smell

I worked at Service Merchandise in 1985, the year I graduated from high school!

Hard to believe that Bradlee's & Caldor have bit the dust-They were fantastic places to shop.

Left out some of the largest chains like Woolworths and Woolco, once the largest reatail chain in the world ! Eckerd Drugs which was the largest drug store company in America. Recvo ?

I used to LOVE looking at jewelry at Service Merchandise!!!

Service merchandise still got a TV playing 33 years old

What about SEARS? They were far bigger than all of these stores!

MISMANAGEMENT is the key word for why these stores folded. I grew up with Zayre, Ames, Service Merch, JC Penney, Sears, and Montgomery Ward.

K Mart better than Walmart

Zayre was cool

I loved Bradleys in the 80s during college. Hills was also a favorite. Good stuff for low prices.

I loved Service Merchandise and Linens-N-Things.

I worked for G.C. Murphy's for 3 or 4 years in the 1980's. I loved it. I was the head cashier. It was so much fun. Department stores were always fun. I would shop at all the local ones. I really enjoyed the stores with electronics and records. Now we have none of that here, only Walmart and their low quality products.

What about these stores ? Newberry, TG&Y, Sprouse-Reitz, Cornet, Wonder World, Gemco, Kress, Spiegel, Pay-Less.

Isn't ironic how most of these businesses has to closed down because of BAD MANAGEMENT who didn't know how to adapt to the changing times.

Bradlees was good. I shopped at Mrs. Bee's in the 1980s when living in New Hampshire. Monkey Ward and Service Merchandise were nearby as well. Kmart too. I think Walmart killed them. Then Amazon was the final nail. You know, I still have some Christmas decorations for my tree bought at Bradlees.

Oh wow i remember Millers Outpost and pick n save 😮

Montgomery Ward still puts a catalog out! I really miss Service Merchandise, Paysavers, Zaire’s, Bradley’s, Kmart, caldor ,A&P (which we still call it in MV)Rich’s …

We had Bradlees and Anderson Little too...Who remembers Cook’s and King’s Department Stores?

Nescott drugs, Woolworth and Woolco. A&S.

Ames, Caldor's, Lechmere, King's, Bradlee's, Zayre. All gone.

I remember EJ Korvettes I use to go to the one that was across from Macy's on 34th street in New York. I brought my first record there.

Growing up in the eighties in rural VT/NH, Ames and Bradlees were our stores. We didn't have Walmart or Kmart. Miss those stores very much. Walmart sucks.

Every small town had a Murphys and Western Auto. esp. where I lived in Western Pa/Md. I remember a shopping mall that started out with Grants, then Hills, then Ames. There was also a Gee Bees. Two others way back were Kings and Westons. They were all in my area as a kid, but now long gone.

I remember going to Montgomery wards, and Woolworths and K-mart. I miss them we even had a Sears but that went out of business and I miss it. Because of the stores that I mentioned I grew up with the store Sears. To bad that all of these stores went out of business.

Connecticut guy here, a kid of the 1980’s my mom shopped at Bradlees and Caldor. I miss those stores. We rarely went to Ames 😔

Worked at Caldors as soft goods children’s, hosiery, shoes and ladies department manager. You forgot some though…. Right out of college in 1979, my first job was at Toys R Us. Store manager, great training program and merchandising techniques. But retail back then hired women who had equal responsibilities and training but crappy pay and no advancement. After ten years, I moved to corporate accounting in tech companies, and retired recently from that work. Oh and don’t forget Crazy Eddie! His prices are INSANE!!! Lol

Though I'd feel bad for the employees, can't wait for Wal-Mart to go the same way as these stores. If I have to drive miles out of my way to spend a couple dollars more for the same item instead of stepping into a Wal-Mart, I will gladly do so. The customers are what make me despise Wal-Mart so... the cream of the crop of humanity.

Pantry Pride, Cooks Discount store, Woolworth’s, McCrorys, Zayres, service merchandise, A&P, Foxmore, Tampa, Fl where I grew up.

Maybe it's the nostalgic Boomer in me, with a little ADD...but I miss Caldor, and Linen's & Things days, when stores were smaller, not so overwhelmingly "Big Box", with 8000 options for buying! We went to Caldor practically weekly, and my big thrill, as a kid and young teen, was to shop the weekly records sales, depending which artist or record label was on sale that week. I'd wait for that flyer in the Sunday paper! Linen's & Things reminds me of buying things to set up my first home...I loved the things I got there.

Growing up in the Northeast ( Philly/NJ area) in the 80s and early 90s. I remember Bradlees kinda being like our Target. Kmart was kinda like our Walmart. Caldor was kinda in between. I feel like so much has changed over the decades and not for the better.

Kmart, Sears

It's not pronounced Lech-meer. It's pronounced Leach Meer. The one in the photo was in the Springdale Mall on Boston Rd. in Springfield Ma. My family used to go there and I remember going in as a little kid and seeing all the tv's and such. The store at the other end used to be a toy chain called Child World . Their stores were designed to look like a castle on the outside. It's why if you look closely at the corners of that part of the mall, they appear rounded. Eventually it was replaced by Bradlees. All of it, including the mall itself are gone now.

I worked at Bradlees in 1985 for $4 an hour. The first of many low paying retail jobs I had in the 80s. My mom used to tell me I'd make more money staying home and not wasting $ on gas.

For all of you who live in the North East US, here are a few that were not included. Let me know if you remember any… Mammoth Mart, Kings, Mars, J.M. Fields, G. Fox, Sage Allen, Top Notch Supermarket, and Finast Supermarket.

Growing up in the 70's in Long Beach,CA I remember Two Guys and Zody's before Target moved into the closed Two Guys location.

Zayre actually turned into an Ames before eventually closing altogether I still have a zares and Ames shopping bag 😂

The common denominator in nearly all of these closures was mismanagement. A properly managed store can still thrive despite fierce competition. Sears is a classic example of how poor management led to its decline. Sears used to pride itself on customer service, but that went out the window in its later years. I recall entering a Sears store in the 1980s and needing help finding what I was looking for. When I asked the employees there, one man rolled his eyes and another scoffed. Very disrespectful, and deserving to lose customers, which it did. I notice in this video that you focus mainly on stores in the East and Midwest. Only a very few of our beloved stores in the Western U.S. are covered. I've never heard of most of the ones you featured. Also, I notice that you don't even mention some of the popular smaller boutiques and specialty stores such as Fashion Bug and Payless Shoe Stores. You did mention Bed Bath and Beyond, but not Target or Gemco (which was a membership store), nor Walker Scott, which used to be very popular here in the western U.S. You failed to mention K-Mart, Value Fair, or Vons supermarket. J.C. Penneys also went out of business. There was White Front, a linens store in southern California and possibly elsewhere. It didn't last long, either. Also, Woolworths, Thrifty Drugstores, Sprouse-Reitz, and Mervyns. You've left out a LOT of our favorite stores that no longer exist. Maybe you can upload a second video to cover those? And how about giving the western regions equal coverage? You seem to be fixated on the Northeast, East and Midwest, as though those are the ONLY areas in the U.S. that count.

Forgot to say, my oldest sons favorite “gikie” blanket, I bought at Caldor in 1995… he was pissed because when he went to camp ( it was just a bunch of knots) but they threw it away never went back to camp…lol

I worked part-time at Caldors in the late 80s. At Caldors we were manually entering the SKU numbers while other stores had scanners and there were constant price checks. Plus, the management was pure evil. BTW we called it "leach-mere" vice "letch-mere." At the time Lechmere was the best place for CDs.

At its peak Western Auto sold a lot more than just car parts ... they sold everything ... appliances, furniture, electronics , anything for the home

In Southern California where I'm from there used to be a store called White front.

If these stores were all so dearly loved and missed muchly, why did they go bankrupt?

2:30 Service Merchandise is an excellent store model perfect for these times. It's un-lootable! 2:56 In fact larger cities might benefit by a "Neo Showroom Mall" concept, borrowing from the Service Merchandise model combined with Amazon. Basically in this mall, small storefronts would exist simply to allow consumers to view and test items they see online. Some items would be available right there, in a Service Merchandise manner, while others can be looked over and just like Service Merchandise did, they would be "incomplete" so that theft would render the item useless. I bought a Timex digital alarm clock once from there. The display model was empty and had no cord. However, like most smaller items it had a chain on it and it was harnessed to the rack to keep it from leaving the area, where it's invoice number was on a card with a description of the item.

I remember Gold Circle that's a name i have not heard in a long time

I'm not familiar with about half these stores. I guess it's because I live in south GA. I certainly remember a few...like Western Auto and the A & P. It's sad that so many things are gone...most especially, SEARS!

I used to shop at these food stores in Indianapolis in the 70s. Preston-Safeway, Marsh, Eisner and Standard,

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I've lived in the US for almost 50 years, and I only knew Montgomery Ward, Miller's Outpost and Western Auto. The others are unheard of. "Famous"? I think not.

They forgot to include Consumer Distribution...they operated from the late 50s until 1996

In the Mid-Atlantic, all the A&P’s became Super Fresh markets for a decade or so before they closed as well.

A store I used to love was Clover. They closed up shop around 30 years ago, and until recently I had a few things left over from them. They were probably too small for this video.

Does anyone from the south remember, “Gibsons”?

Wow. Sounds like Ames was the kiss of death.

ALL THE HARD WORK I PUT INTO HILLS AND FISHERS BIG WHEELS STORES!! THAT WAS SOME GOOD TIMES BACK IN THE 80'S AND 90'S

Um... Pick N Save is live and well here in NE Wisconsin. And why mention a chain with only 27 stores? What about Kmart, Kresge's, ShopKo, Prange's, Prange Way?

What about Jeans West and Whitefront ?

Um I’m confused too, Pick n Save is where I shop, owned by Krogers

I remember most of these retail department stores especially the ones that were here in my state of Oklahoma at the time and there are a lot of stores that aren't included here in the video especially here in Oklahoma that have closed down namely Montgomery Ward near my hometown this was an awesome video of these now defunct stores thanks for the memories. 🇺🇲🏪🏪🇺🇲

You kept saying Midwest, but the only two I ever saw in Wisconsin and Minnesota were Service Merchandise and Montgomery Ward. And nothing of County Seat? I guess you only covered large department store retailers.

linen and things have an online store .you can shop for all that was in the stores

Does anyone remember K-mart, Zodys, or Roscos? Or was that only a So-Calif., thing? How about GemCo or FedCo? Lol... I use to help my mom; fill in Blue-chip (or Green chip) stamp books!

Need to do a part 2 of this

I never heard of GC Murphy or Gold Circle...I'm in the Northeast.

I recognize only a few of these names. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and I don't recall many of these at all.

I live in lechmere....the store and the original train station gone. But the new train station moved across street

I miss Mays it was on 14 Street Union Square in the 70s, also Woolworth, and S klains. 🥺🥺🥺😞😞😞😞☹️

Kmart is alive and well in New Zealand and Australia...they're building new stores out here.

I can remember The huge number of people who used Hill's layaway at Christmas time!

I used to be a janitor at Two Guys Dept in 1975

Montgomery Wards had close to 1000 stores at it's peak. Had 250 when they closed in 2001.

I really miss two guys

Buffums and bullocks,may company,robinsons may are all no longer around. Orbachs,fedco, shrouds.

I guess the nail in your coffin is when Ames buys you

Anyone remember Spurgeon's? They had about 80 stores at their peak in the '80's.

what stores are not going out of business?

Montgomery Ward was created in 1872

I miss K-MART

GREED 😢

You left out FMC and White Modell

Your segment on Pic N Save is completely inaccurate. You’re speaking of Pic N Save but mixed in details of Pick N Save, which is still very much in business.

19 inch JVC

"Lechmere" "Leech - Meere"

I’m confused, Which Pick N Save Does Kroger own?

Peir 1 imports they finally went out of business in 2005.

tss trader horn bohack pathmark huffman koos robert hall modells hermans crazy eddie the wiz pantry pride waldbaums pergament rickels newmark and lewis just to name a few

It is called families taking all the cash out of a business then dumping it on stupid stockholders.

montgomery ward is now wards online

Caldors and Bradlees

Duckwalls!!

Open, Open, Open, Open…lol 😊

Not Lech-mere. Its said Leech-mere

Ames andLiechmeres

Howard Bros ? Selber Bros?

It's pronounced LEECH mare, not lech mare.

Ames was full of cheap products.

I remember Best Products, Their Parma, Ohio store ran from 1973 to1997