What stores now closed do you happen to miss?

[CannonStreak]

This could be any store in any country, from the USA, to Great Britain, to France, etc. So, what store you liked that has since closed down do you miss, if it does not hurt to ask?

I will start off: The stores I miss are K.B. Toys, Blockbuster, Circuit City and a science toy store called Zany Brainy. I remember going to those places when I was a kid in the 90s. Man, I miss those stores so much.

So, what about you all? What stores now closed do you miss?

 

[FazDude]

It'd be easy to say something like Toys R Us (despite that kinda getting revived as of late), so instead I'm going to tell you about 77Kids, a kids' clothes store that was around when I was a youngster and was owned by American Eagle. Being a clothes store, it wasn't too crazy, but I liked the aesthetic; The dressing rooms designed as if they were a clubhouse, interactive elements like floor lighting that depended on movement in-store, photo booths, that sort of thing. The location pictured isn't the one I had at the mall I went to, but hopefully it paints a good picture of what it was like.

The brand was eventually bought out and turned into RUUM, which maintained this similar aesthetic until they shuttered their physical locations in favor of an online-only store around 2014... which was then converted into KidPik (no relation to KidPix) and got rid of the aesthetic in favor of that weird corporate minimalism everyone likes nowadays.

So yeah, I guess 77Kids isn't entirely gone from a technical standpoint, but I'll miss what it was, even if I'm too old to shop there anymore.

 

[Shroob]

I kinda just miss malls in general tbh.


They still exist here, but a lot of the ones that I grew up with just are gone, and the ones that still exist aren't doing soo great either and have started to fall into disrepair.

 

[nirvanafan]

Definitely Blockbuster, good memories of being bribed into getting good grades & behaving well for the promise of renting a new videogame for a couple weeks. There was some fast food restaurants nearby that wed sometimes stop at too.

Remember going to Radio Shack a few times. Got lucky & got my Wii at Circuit City when they were still hard to get. Also remember getting a gift card at some point & using it at Toys R Us to preorder Brawl, the game that admittedly really got me into the series (although still had fun with Melee)

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I remember CompUSA and Circuit City, played a lot of video game demos at those stores when I was still in elementary school. Toys R Us was also fun during my early childhood.

And yes, while some of the malls I visited are doing fine, something like 50% of the malls from my childhood have like a third of their stores closed and are complete ghost towns (like a post apocalypse) a lot of the times.

I don't know if restaurants count (maybe should be in a separate thread, but similar in spirit), but a lot of the ones that were my favorites growing up closed down during the pandemic. Most of these were local ones that people of the thread probably wouldn't recognize, but the big chain one for me was Hometown Buffet/Country Buffet, which as far as my knowledge goes, went completely bankrupt and shuttered all locations.

 

[CannonStreak]

Another place I miss is a discount store called Ames. That, and a place exclusive to some parts of the east of the USA called Caldor.

Mushroomguy12 Yes, restaurants can be included, too.

 

[dezeray112]

There are so many stores that I really missed here in the United Kingdom:

• Toys R' Us - I had a load of fond memories going in to Toys R' Us when I was a child. Every time I enter, I always either go to the Power Rangers section or the Thomas the Tank Engine section (where my parents used to purchase ERTL models for me) and sometimes the video games section.
• Wimpy - This fast food chain used to be so big back when I was young, but it is a real shame that a lot of the chains closed (including ones that used to be in my area.)
• Woolworths - Like Toys R' Us, I had a load of fond memories of Woolworths that used to be famous for its pick 'n' mix sweets.
• Disney Store - There used to be a Disney Store within my area which unfortunately closed down due to the pandemic situation.
• Comet - This used to be one of the largest retailers that sells a load of electronics (which also includes video games too) and it closed down eleven years ago after it went into administration.

There used to be quite a load of video game stores in my area back in the day, but now there is only one GAME shop and CeX, a store that sells second hand games.

 

[Khaoticnoize187]

toys r us used to be lot of them in my area but now not so much these days sadly

 

[Jotadé]

Disney Store and Dibuplanet easily.

 

[Lioncache]

i miss the wendy's that used to be open nearby. i had a buddy who worked there and they'd let me punch the hamburger patties through the bun real hard into the table before they were served out to customers

 

[Yashichi]

i miss the wendy's that used to be open nearby. i had a buddy who worked there and they'd let me punch the hamburger patties through the bun real hard into the table before they were served out to customers

That's awsome!! I'd miss that too. Unfortunately im content with my everything