Western Auto Stores.

I remember going in a nice Western Auto Store when I was a kid with my dad and seeing military surplus M1 Carbines crammed in a barrel by the door for fifty bucks, your choice... (This would be mid/late 60's).

In those days many of the catalog and other stores sold ammo & firearms... Before the Gun Control Act of 1968 virtually every hardware chain sold their own brands.

Western Auto- (Relevation)
Sears- (J.C. Higgins, Ranger, Ted Williams)
Montgomery Wards- (Western Field (Mossberg), Hawthorne, Trailblazer, Premier)
J.C. Penny- (don't remember)
Ace Hardware- sold guns as well as most family-owned hardware stores
Rose's Department/Dime Stores- sold guns
Best Showroom- sold guns
Woolworth's- sold guns
Service Merchandise- sold 'em for sure
K-Mart- sold guns
Abecrombie- sold high-end firearms

I'm sure I'm missing a number of store chains that don't exist that used to sell ammo and firearms.

This was mainly in North Carolina-

Weingarten's

Gemco
Montgomery Wards
Licorice Pizza (record store...get it?)

Gibson's discount stores.

quote:

Originally posted by P226RN:
Woolworths

That was first one that came to mind.

Caldors was the other

Yeah, all those. But it's funny. Sometimes the name goes away, but the business is still around in some other form, and pops up when you least expect it.

Case in point: When I was a kid, McDonald's was blowing up into a major national franchise. This inspired copycats. In NYC metro, specifically Long Island, there was a one called Wetsons. They did the same thing as Micky D''s back then, stand alone hamburger stands, with unique architecture. Specifically their color was orange, done in glazed brick. It was unique. With my various sisters, I ate in few of these we're talking something like mid to late 70s, timeframe-wise. The chain didn't make it, and faded into history.

Or so I thought. Fade forward a good solid 35-40 years. There's a local barbecue chain around NYC called Dallas BBQ. Truth be told, it's not anything particularly great in the realm of BBQ, but it's convenient, relatively cheap, and the have some stuff I like.

So I'm in the one by me one night a couple months ago. I walked back by the kitchen and saw some employee signage. It had the name of the parent company - Wetsons Restaurant Group. I did some Googling. Yup, same company.

So apparently it didn't die. It just mutated.

For me like several of you it was

Western Auto
Otasco
Hill's Department Store (they had the best cap gun selection and water pistols around)
Service Merchandise

Children's Palace.
Tokyo Shapiro
BEST

Duckwalls
Sound Warehouse
Soundtrak
IGA Stores
Safeway (not really gone, but they left Kansas many years ago)

Delchamps

Schwegmann

K&B drug stores

Revco
Thom Mcann retail shoe stores
Few if any independent hardware stores anymore.

Here are a few I remember from my childhood.

Ben Franklin
Pamida

When Flint Michigan was a decent place to live, we had
Arlens dept stores
Yankee stores
Hamady groceries
Kmart-50 Pk of .22LR for $.49
Peoples furniture store
AM Davison- men's fine clothes
Miller wool- fabrics
Jacobsen's Dept stores
JL Hudson
MAAS-ladies clothes
The Vogue-ladies clothes
Smith-Bridgeman dept store
Bill Knapp
Winschullers
Winklemans
United Shirt
The Fair stores- dept stores
Ram charger car parts
Marshall music stores
Grinnell music stores
Cinema theater chain
Fanny Mae candy

And while I was travelling I liked

Howard Johnson
Stuckey
Baskin Robbins


Just off the top of my head. There were so many more of the local stores that I can't remember. This stuff sure takes me back.

quote:

Originally posted by pbramlett:
For me like several of you it was

Western Auto
Otasco
Hill's Department Store (they had the best cap gun selection and water pistols around)
Service Merchandise

Hills is where the toys are!

E J Korvette. Anybody remember that store?

Peoples Drug Store. Still around, now known as CVS.

Joe the Motorist's Friend. An auto parts chain.

Just a few from my childhood.

Klopfenstein's in Seattle. I remember going there occasionally as a kid with my dad when he was picking up a new suit or hat. He bought for me my first sport coat there when I was in sales. I still have a couple of his hat boxes. Memories.

Silent

Two Guys

quote:

Originally posted by 2Adefender:
E J Korvette. Anybody remember that store?

Yes, I do! My high school buddies and I would all pile in Jim's 67 Chevy Impala 2-door and go to E J Korvette's to buy albums. then we'd take em back to Jeff's house and play em on his stereo and try to read the liner notes by black light...great memory that.

I add: Marshall Field department stores.

Fedmart
Pup and Taco

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BillF,

SS Kresge
Ben Franklin
Turtles Records
Montgomery Ward-remember my mother buying a cool car toy called Sizzler.

Showbiz pizza and Eckerds come to mind, bought out by Chuck E. Cheese and CVS