20 Famous Stores From The 1980s, That No Longer Exist!
In this nostalgic video, we reminisce about 20 iconic stores from the 1980s that have vanished from the American retail landscape. From department stores to specialty shops, we explore the once-thriving businesses that are now just memories. Join us as we take a trip down memory lane and uncover the stories behind these lost treasures of the past.
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I miss the old America.
Same here when life was simple 😔
I don't. Everything seemed to revolve around materialism and crass consumerism.
@@mirzaahmed6589 exactly
Back in the day when people had, that thing called, morals!
You can blame Clintons,Obama,Biden and Bush's
I still have my old Blockbuster rental card. I got it in 1985. It's in a picture frame now. (Jan Griffiths).
so do i, i didnt save it on purpose i just happend to get anew wallet and all of my cards and things didnt fit
Those were the good old days.
1:01 Hollywood Video 2:25 Kay Bee Toys 3:48 Radio Shack 5:20 Babbage’s 6:16 Peaches Records & Tapes 7:37 Venture Stores 9:11 Blockbuster Video 10:19 Tower Records 11:35 Toys R Us 13:05 Sharper Image 14:38 Circuit City 16:08 CompUSA 17:34 Borders Books 19:07 Walden Books 20:16 Sam Goody 21:49 Caldor 23:18 Abraham & Straus 24:18 Lionel Kiddie City 26:01 Woolworth’s 27:10 Egghead Software
Venture(s) , Baggages. My greatness, these scream Midwest.😚
Sears. Kmart, Service Merchandise. Safeway (not sure if this is regional though) Grandy fast food Music Boutique
Im old in my 50s and so grateful to have been young at this time.
You think 50s are old?? They're middle aged to me. 80s and 90 is old. Harrison Ford is in his mid 70s and he's still making films.
Now imagine if your parents were poor and you could not afford any of the toys at Kaybee's or Kiddie City.
Same, I'm 45. It's nice but kind of sad.
@@mirzaahmed6589I've been there. I used to go door to door in 1984 asking to cut grass for $10.00 a yard. I earned my own money for KAY Bee toys.
@@josebro352Harrison Ford has had an easy life too. I'm 52 and broke my back getting my way through life.
I can’t believe time is passing by so fast, I wish they still have stores like these again in the future 😢
I remember Hill's and Ames too!
Hills has the hits, LP's or cassettes, Hills.
Gold Circle
Ames brings back memories. It was basically another Kmart, but they weren't able to adjust to the times and Walmart and Target took over. I've read that Ames is trying to make a comeback. Maybe it will work for them as they have name recognition.
these stores as well as others were apart of many of our childhoods
I am a GENERATION-XER at 53 and watching these videos take me back to a decade I wish I could back to.
Same here. 😭
I loved my Realistic stereo from Radio Shack. 2 cassette tape decks, phonograph, and 2 12" speakers.
and a battery on your birthday- even a 9-volt if you want- we were the Kings
Anyone who didn’t grow up in the 80s. You missed out. ✅
You Sure DID!!!😎The BEST Damn job I ever had was working at Bridgeport Video in high school. Met my first girlfriend there and everything!!!🤓🤓
So you met the love of your life there
@@DavidSkeen-lf6kt No. Her old man was Old School Mexican and he didn't care for a black guy dating his daughter. We broke up and became friends. I wound up rapping to two of her g'friends, though. Not for revenge. It just happened.😎🤓
We are all poorer without these public common spaces. I remember when the Sears was a 2 story department store downtown. Then it was in the mall. Then gone.
A lot of these store chains were destroyed by the advents of digital media, smartphones, online shopping, and further compounded through the bad business decisions of their own shareholders, CEOs, and executives. One good example of the bad business decisions aspect would be Blockbuster Video. Blockbuster had a ground floor opportunity to buy Netflix and they refused, thinking that digital video and video game distribution would be just a fad that faded away eventually instead of the evolution of content distribution with staying power it turned out to be.
We have the benefit of hindsight. At the time it was not at all obvious that online video would take over.
Missed picking up Friday movies on VHS at Blockbuster
I miss buying movies really cheap when the extra new releases weren't so new!
I was looking in my closet found VCR still in the box not opened.
now i go and pick up my vhs tapes at goodwill only 25 cents each,.......marius(punk rules).
Yup. That's how it worked. Friday night after work I would get tapes. The location I went had a special where you could get 5 tapes for like $20 or some thing like that. The family didn't always watch all of them, but it was fun to have a selection.
@@garyb8186✅✅✅
Well done, We had Shook, Goldblatt's Weiboldt's, Service Merchandise, among others now just a memory.
Service Merchandise! Decades since I heard or thought of that!
Where is Sears and Montgomery Wards? Boy I miss them
Sears and Montgomery physical stores are closed, they sell online only now.
Sears closed down their catalog sales about a year before Amazon was founded. Imagine if they had gone online instead of shutting it down.
@@georgeharris6851 Sears does have an online websites, I get at least 10 emails from Sears every week.
Yes, and K-Mart is gone too.
Sears still has over a dozen locations in the USA. I live near a nonclosing Sears in Burbank, California
There is one last remaining Woolworth's in Bakersfield, California. The new owners are restoring the historical building and keeping the Woolworth lunch counter. The previous owners also had the iconic lunch counter and a two story antique store. Although the store does not offer the original concept, it's great to see part of the store's history preserved.
Hollywood Video was all over. I lived next to one in Rhode Island. Spent almost every weekend there to rent the hottest movies that hit the shelves. I still could remember the glossy floors by the registers, long lines, lights, candy and popcorn for sale and empty DVD/Blu-ray cases if u didn't get there in time to rent the movie 😂 Nostalgia and I miss it! Radio Shack was my dad's store. I rem he used to drag me there all the time!
Hats off for your dad. I miss radio shack..it had every electronic gismo to build with ...kids these days play with their phones...no imagination... damn listen to me I sound old😂 in 47
Circuit City. I loved that store. They ran circles around the BestBuy. Computer wise, they knew what they were selling you.
Not the one in my home town. The people who worked there clueless, rude, and well.. just not suited to be in retail. Went there twice and laughed when they shut down.
MTX Thunder 4000 subwoofers, buy one, get one free at Circuit City. I took this deal twice. Hard to beat two 12" subs for a hunnerd bucks!
Ill be 61 in june, God I miss the old days. But im thankful that im not growing up now.
So am I.
My school had 4 TRS 80 Radio Shack computers and only honors students could take the class. we learned BASIC. I will never forget IF THEN.
I sometimes think Footlocker should pay homage to it's roots by opening a lunch counter. For those of you who don't know. Footlocker is the last remnants of FW Woolworths.
Might be a good idea to return to the company roots in that way.
I miss Kmart and Toys R US always had great service 🤩
Great Video! I so miss the stores of the 80’s!
Here is the thing. I grew up in the Eighties and I honestly don't remember Peaches Records and Tapes. I've heard of Tower Records but not Peaches Records and TApes.
Same. I wonder what general location they were
I do remember Peaches Records. We would visit their location in Orlando every year on vacation. I even purchased a cassette tape holder with their emblem on it. I still have it! This would have been the early 1980’s.
Me too. I think most are west coast stuff.
Netflix took blockbuster out 😊
There was one in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was born and raised in Ponca City. Mom would take my older sister and me to Tulsa twice a year to shop for fall/winter clothes and then spring/summer clothes. All my sister cared about was going to Peaches for the latest releases. I always looked forward to having dinner at Casa Bonita before we drove back home. 😊
Alll these stores bring back so many memories I used to shop at circuit city
I got my first DVD player at CC. It was actually a DIVX player that could play both formats.
If you could find a parking space!
Rich’s, Richway, Sunshine Dept. Store, Lionel Play World, Camelot Music, Mervyn’s, Big Lots, Service Merchandise, Turtles Records & Tapes Tandy Leather Co. Sears & Roebuck, Kmart
Sears made a BIG MISTAKE when they bought Kmart! It sure seemed like a good idea at the time. We all know now that Kmart was beyond repair when Sears got to them. And among many other things, Sears exec's thought that internet shopping was going to be a passing fad and frankly so did I. Sears didn't adapt and we all know how this is going to end!😭😭😭
Wow I forgot about Tandy leather and, Camelot Music.
I gotta you can still buy stuff from Kmart online. Who knows it may ride from the she's just like Target did. Also Big Lord is still around, you just have to get to the right area.
I miss Mervyns so much. That was my favourite store ever.😭 We still have big lots and radio shack.
“I don’t wanna grow up cuz I’m a toys r us kid…” 😭 Borders closing broke my heart…I loved that place. 💕🥰😭
Please do another one. There are so many awesome lost stores from the 1980s. It used to be kind of an event. - Heather
I remember growing up and my parents shopping at Caldor, Bradlees, and K-Mart. I also would buy my vinyl at Tower Records when I lived in Boston and Dallas.
I’m tired of hearing online shopping killing these stores. I miss a lot of these stores.
My wife is younger than me and she always shops online. I’m old-school I like brick and mortar.
Well, too bad. Most people prefer online shopping. And most younger people prefer paying for experiences rather than physical goods.
It amazes me that I have heard of only about half of these stores! Probably a result of not hanging out on the east coast or midwest. I had presumed that all the major chains were well distributed. The only oddball was Sam Goody that had sort of an appearance at one store (Lloyd Center) in Portland but vanished in a year or two later.
I remember going to blockbuster Friday or Saturday when I was younger with my sister and dad. Those were the days. I used to work at Toys R us when I was in high school or college (90's).
The vast majority of these all meet one of two ends. A) "but then the digital age..." or B) "but then 2008..."
Who remembers Blue Chip stamps and the other trading stamps, the green ones? You got the stamps at various retailers and stuck them into books and then redeemed the books of stamps for small appliances and such. I can't actually remember where you got your goods... I think there was a catalog, not a brick and mortar location to redeem the stamps.
I remember my Mom using the S & H Green Stamps, and another one it seems that used yellow stamps.
We had a Blue Chip stamp store on the east side of town. It was exciting to have saved enough and the family got in the car and drove to the store, turned in our books, and brought home our items. We got our first color TV with blue chip stamps. It was a wood console TV.
I miss radio shack
Should have supported them more
@@shawnkelly695Put in for a personality transplant, please.
We still have a local Blockbuster and Radio Shack store...so much for this video.
You live in Bend, OR? I think your Radio Shack closed.
Look at you, just like a pizza cutter. All edge, no point.
There is a Radio Shack in Fort Myers Florida
@@davidkraus5765 But there's only one Blockbuster left. It's famous for being the only Blockbuster.
@@facely You can order Radio Shack online.
The shopping experience is totally different now. I remember When I was a kid, mom would get “car fare” (bus fare) ready (50 cents or whatever it was😂) drag us onto the bus for a one hour ride to Roosevelt field. I would go “time out” which was the game room. All the game rooms are gone now, although they are starting to slowly reappear in some places. But this was back when dad went to work and most women stayed home to care for the family. Those days are LONG gone. Everyone has to work now just to make it month to month. A house in 1972 was an average of $25,000 and the average salary was $10,000. Fast forward to today?! Average salary is $75,000 and the average house is a million dollars!
Oh I miss Blockbuster.🎉🎉🎉
I used to hang out at Tower Records back then. I got lots of stuff when they closed for good. They were practically giving merch away. (Jan Griffiths).
My favorite stores from the past were Waldenbooks and Warehouse Music.
I remember Two Guys quite fondly (and of course Radio Shack, Montgomery Grant, Alexander's, Woolworth, and others).
There is still one blockbuster in Oregon
Im an 80's baby too and I remember alot of these stores here in michigan.
I shopped at all these except no Venture or Peaches in Dallas, Tx.
Venture was like Target. It was Kmart and, Venture instead of Walmart and, Target. As I type this they say the 2 are affiliated. Ironic timing.😁
Dang. I still miss Tower Records, Hollywood and Blockbuster Video, Border's Books, Sharper Image and most of all, Toys R Us. I remember as a kid, getting the Toys R US "Big Book of Toys" in the mail every Christmas and my brother and I going thru and circling everything we wanted. Then, years later, buying my own children's gifts there. So many fond memories ❤❤
I’m taking a moment of silence to mourn Mervyns. Who am I kidding? I’ve been mourning them for 15 years. 😩😭. BEST store ever.
Perhaps Walmart & Costco will one day be shown in one of these videos.
Quite possibly. Walmart isn't half the chain it once was as far as quality, and prices go.
I really miss Radio Shack. I did my Masters thesis on a Color Computer and Word Star on a cassette tape player with a dot matrix printer. Yes, I am that old. I never heard of Peaches or Ventures.
I was trying to buy a resistor for a breadboard at Radio Shack. They wanted to charge me $10.00 for 1. I bought a bag of 100 for the same price including shipping on line. Every RC toy I bought for my son at Radio Shack failed within a couple weeks. The only thing I still have from Radio Shack is the TV antenna that is still up on my roof, it's useless but not because it was defective. I just never climbed up there and took it down. I'm afraid of heights.
My sister was a manager at Venture for 20+ years in Schaumburg, Illinois. When my sister's store was closing she let my rock band play a concert in the store during it's final days while shoppers were cleaning out the remaining inventory.
There are still open Radio Shack stores in Arkansas.
Toys R Us still exists in Canada. As well as "The Source", which was the successor that bought out the former Radio Shack stores.
I believe Tower Records is also up here still in Canada as well.
Keep in mind. Videos like this are primarily made for Americans. In the meantime, petition to join the US.
👎
Hopefully I can get to Canada to be able to go to a Toy's R Us again.
I miss those stores 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
Sad miss all of them
Sears? K-Mart? Montgomery Wards?
Anyone remember a discount store called Zayre? There was one here in Sarasota, Florida where Office Depot now resides.
I was born in 1996 and I remember getting my first RC Car at radioshack
I still wait by the phone on my birthday waiting for a call from Geoffrey Giraffe. The call never comes …… 😢
Please make a part 2 - more defunct businesses to add - Mervyn’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sears, KMart, Sharper Image, Big Lots, Fry’s, A&W, Carl’s Jr., Kenny Roger’s Roasters, Rite Aid
I just bought a couple sets of glasses at a Big Lots.
@@pattibennett8774As I pointed out to someone else, no doubt a number of privately owned examples of various still exist here and there, which continue using the name. It does not mean in any way the chains themselves still exist. It's a big difference people.
Big Lots still exist in Kansas
Carl's Jr and Rite Aid are still around
Malls will also be a thing of the past.
I remember when Netflix switched to online and thinking, "This will never catch on...." And my Friday night routine was to go to the local Blockbuster and pick out movies to watch over the weekend. I was in there so much the cashier would put aside copies of new movies for me. Now people don't even know how to have a conversation. Sad.
White Front? Levitz Furniture? Cost Plus Imports? Were those only local to me in San Leandro, California? My mother bought all sewing supplies at Fabric Lane. I don't live in the US anymore and can't remember if it was a chain or not.
Blockbuster video will not be missed. They made a good chunk of money just from penalty fees.
So you were the reason i could never find the last copy of what i wanted....swine
I got a penalty fee for not rewinding the VHS tapes I rented. 😂
@@FrankensteinsMonster-1313 "PLEASE BE KIND, REWIND!"
I remember kay- bee toy store radio shack and toys r us 👍
"Rewinding taps was an art form." Who writes this? Did you actually ever rewind a tape? You put it in and pushed the rewind button. I've been able to rewind my own tape since I was like 4, and my parents would rent me CareBears tapes on Bata. It's not an art form. It's a button.
Relax !!! WTF
*tapes
ASMR-... Ahem... It's not Bata. It's [obviously a typo, yr welcome].
Problem was some people didn’t rewind and if the store didn’t check it; the next person started the movie on the ending credits 😂. It wasn’t such a chore. Just press rewind and walk away. It stopped automatically. 😂. Some of the later VCRs automatically rewinded when the tape reached the end.
About a year ago, I was at a bus stop and these school kids were playing an old song on thier phone. It brought back memories and I said “I had this song on tape”. They looked at me and said “what’s a tape?” 😂😂😂. Wow! Am I that ancient 😂😂😂
Peaches doesn't belong on this list. It's barely a 1980s store if it went out of business in 1981. Also not sure why they mentioned streaming. No one was streaming anything in 1980.
Hate to break it to you, but Toys R Us is still open. We have several of them in the Phoenix AZ area along with some Baby's R Us stores. They are pretty run down and don't get a lot of traffic, But they're still here.
I worked for both Sam Goody and Blockbuster. I think I might be old.
Made to 1:01 before getting real sad.
Man, I miss Radio Shack. Always had what I was looking for.
You missed K-Mart.
A & S! The stores looked so elegant in those shots. No wonder I won Best Dressed in elementary school a lot.
Yes I miss the Gallery of sound and yes I still have all of my cassette tapes and cds!
I don't miss magnetic tape as a form of storing media. I do miss having several different video/computer game stores that had their own personalities.
Zayre’s was my favorite discount store over K-Mart, etc.
That explains why Kmart always had great jewelry. My young aunt would buy a lot of stuff over the years.
What about Sears? They had a catalog for almost 100 years. I guess they thought this Internet thing is just a fad.
Also contributing to Blocklbuster's decline: Their reputation for delay in checking in returned video rentals and then billing customers for additional days. It happened to me and that was the last time I rented from them.
We have a few Radio Shack's in my area, granted they are now focusung on cell phones, tablets, Chromebooks and their accessories.
Shopping ain't what it used to be!! 😞
Exactly. EVERY SINGLE pair of shoes I ever bought online went back!
Good. It used to be a hellish experience.
I miss the long gone Tower Records, there was also J&C house of Records. Arthur's Toy stores for kids. Radio Shack 99% percent or more of the time always had what I was looking for.
I definitely miss Hollywood Video & Radio Shack for sure 😔
One correction: CompUSA at it's peak in the late 90's had over 350 stores.
If you know where to look you can still find a they used to have a Radio shack inside a hobby shop in Santee area of San Diego California
I worked for KB toy store in CT back in the late 80s to early 90s.
I was a manager with K-B toys in the 1980's. It was a good place to work and i enjoyed it. The whole Mall experience was fantastic and it's sad its mostly all gone. Cinnabun is another one I miss. Coming in to work early and getting one hot was a almost daily routine ! ( I was sorta sweet on a girl that worked there) .
It makes sense due to technological advancements, vinyl record stores, video renter stores go under. What I don't understand is how it occurs within some industries, like a Circuit City goes under and a Best Buy will thrive. How is it Borders Books went under and Barnes and Noble is still around? I guess it has to do with upper corporate management and how they run their businesses, yet it seems these guys drive companies into bankruptcy, and get new jobs paying them outlandish salaries to drive the next business into the ground.
I'm sorry. I must have missed it, but was MONTGOMERY WARDS listed ?? It was a MAJOR retail store !
Just went to Tower records in Tokyo last week.
egghead is still an online store, there was a shot at some point of a strip mall sign and just about every store on it was gone.
I remember Tandy Co. for leather making kits.
Thank goodness that video stores have disappeared! It rubbed me wrong going to them and browsing videos with 95% of all indecisive other people. Finding videos on Netflix or Amazon is _such_ a superior method!
Well, that’s what basically killed it. The good thing with Netflix is if you don’t like a movie, just stop it and select something else. With a tape rental that was boring, you fell asleep on it and the TV ended up watching you 😂. You woke up when the VCR made the clicking and clacking sounds of rewinding and ejecting the tape😂
Yeah I remember the the peaches in the fort Lauderdale across the street from dunkin' donuts Dennis it is now at least with the musical stop on it at least when I was embarrassed at 10 years ago and the thing that I used to have in the front of it where people would sign it
At Radio Shack : Customer - I just have this one item I'm buying for 1 dollar. Cashier - just need your name , address, phone # , E-mail address , ..... Customer - Never Mind !
I will always remember KB Toys because I would go there every day to see if they had the Double Dragon nes game back in stock as a kid. Never understood how Circuit City went down but Best Buy is still around. I loved Circuit City.
I miss KayBee. My parents used to go to the mall and just leave me in there the whole time so i could wander around looking at all the stuff i knew they weren't going to buy me, lol. I guess shopping online is fine these days, but nothing beat just being at a physical store surrounded by every toy imaginable. I miss the 80's :/
There is a RadioShack in Washington NC!
FAO Schwartz was fun as a kid in the mall
Does it still exist? I used to take my nieces and nephews there in San Francisco in the 1980s. My grandmother took my oldest brothers there in the 1950s. Also shopped at Gumps in San Francisco. I wonder if it still exists.
@@FigaroHey No it's gone down in history
Blockbuster still exists! There is 1 left in Bend Oregon.
Block Buster Video almost put themselves out of business the first week. If you didn't have a credit card, you couldn't get a membership. They changed their policies a week later to just needing a driver's license.
There's a Blockbuster still open in Bend, Oregon
Circuit city and toys r Us are still around in Canada. I'm surprised fedco didn't make this list.
Everything is being gobbled up by Walmart and Amazon. If you're not seeing the writing on the wall, I don't know what to tell you....