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Anyone remember University Stereo or Zody's? (stores that aren't around anymore) (1 Viewer)

Gary->dee

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I thought it would be interesting to start a thread about all the stores we grew up with that are no longer around. Perhaps you visited these places with your parents as a kid or maybe as a teen or heck maybe even an adult! :)

Ok I'll start.

University Stereo To be honest I don't think I've ever been in one of these stores but I definitely recall seeing their distinctive black and white signs around town here in L.A. and down in San Diego. I think the SD store was one of the last ones to close in the 80's. I remembered this store when I recently gazed upon my album Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip and right below the Annie billboard is a University Stereo sign. I believe it's where Tower Video currently is now. At any rate, I think they sold stereo equipment.

Moving on, Zody's, a big chain store that, much like Target or Best Buy of today basically sold everything. Actually I remember them being more like K-Mart in terms of quality of merchandise. They weren't exactly Gemco or even Fed-Mart which were all similar stores that I frequented with my family an awful lot. Heck, I think I damn near lived in Gemco! I bought a ton of Atari video games and record albums, most of which I still have! Gemco was great. I thought it was funny when I found out Target was actually going to open in the U.S. in the 80's or early 90's because I remember shopping at the Target stores with my parents in Australia in the 70's.

Karl's Toy Store, fond memories of buying stuff from there or at least looking around a lot in my young age!

Anyone remember some stores that aren't around anymore?
 

Dennis Nicholls

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You mean like Pacific Stereo, and discount places like Whitefront?

Didn't Fed-Mart morph into Costco starting in San Diego?

Around here a lot of the Target stores are in old Gemco buildings.
 

Bob Graz

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Let's see. When I was going to school in Buffalo we had Super Duper (Love that Super Duper-Joey) and Uncle John's Pancake House which was a poor man's (or students) Perkins. I believe both are gone.
 

Eric_E

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Around here we had Venture, sort of like K-Mart or Wal-Mart, with big black and white diagonally striped storefronts. Now that I think about it, they were pretty ugly.

Or how about Children's Palace instead of Toys 'R' Us?
 

Zen Butler

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OMG! Zody's, that is too funny.
Gemco
Alpha-Beta
Market Basket
Dillon's (are they still around somewhere?)
Hungry Tiger
 

Gary->dee

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Two more I can remember, Smith's Food King, the supermarket we usually shopped at besides Vones, which is still around of course. The magazine sections of stores like this were the main target. While mom did her thing I was checking out Starlog, Mad Magazine and Crazy(remember that one?).

Also, there was a large warehouse type catalog store called Unity. They had a big annual catalog that contained everything, like a Sears catalog. I'd look forward to that thing every year to check out the newest Star Wars toys and such. No internet back then!
 

JasonMC

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We used to have a store in Denver called Incredible Universe. It was an electronics store similar to Best Buy but they carried higher end equipment and had a huge inventory. It was probably because of this inventory that the store no longer exists in Denver.
 

Ted Lee

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that is too funny! i used to go to zody's with my uncles and aunts when i was little.

let's see...as a child, two stores come to mind:

vons - grocery store. if i behaved, i always got a cupcake when we left.

sambos - like a denny's. used to always go there for my b-day.

some other stores that have bit the dust:

gemco - my first job was in a gemco. technically it was the grocery store section...which i think was a ralph's. too bad i got fired for eating a yogurt and string cheese that i didn't pay for.

ben franklin - my girlfriend mentioned this store. kinda like a 5 and dime.

montgomery ward - didn't they just recently bite the dust? i know the one near my home closed shop. they just built a lowe's on top of it.

woolworths - another generic department store. kinda like a sears i think....

silo - an attempt to knock out circuit city.

federated - stereo shop. anyone remember the "fred rated" commercials?
 

JeremyFr

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hehe too funny I remember Silo, Pacific Stereo, Ben Franklin, Mont. Wards, Pay N' Save was one here in Washington it was like most drug stores, Ernst Home Improvement, Incredible Universe was up here to owned by Tandy of course.
 

Danny Tse

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Hahaha :D This thread is too funny!!

I will mow my lawn tomorrow with my Montgomery Ward lawn mower. 23 years old already. I think it's finally dying....planning to get a Honda.

Gemco??!! There used to be a Gemco around where I lived. Remember to pay that $1.00 membership fee and flash your membership card when you enter. The supermarket section of Gemco was actually Luckys, which became Alberson's. At least around here.

And good old Alpha-Beta....with the untimely passing of John Ritter last week, reminded me of Alpha-Beta spokesman Alan Hammel, Suzanne Somers' husband.

Pacific Stereo....purchased a VCR head cleaner from them. That's all I remember of them.

Anyone remember Liberty House, the department store?? Sort of a Macys. What about Pizza Time Theater?? It's just now Chuck E. Cheese.
 

Shane Bos

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Super Sams was a grocery store that was only 2 blocks from my house as a kid.

Woolco(sp?) bought out by Wal-Mart in the early 90's

Consumers Distributor's - you ordered from a catalog while in the store and took the order sheet to the counter and they went into the back and got the product for you.

so many more that I just can't remember the names of too.
 

Jesse Skeen

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Sambo's became Season's and is now Baker's Square.
I always thought "Record Factory" was a cool name for a store. I remember Wherehouse took over one of their stores in this area, and subsequently closed.
 

Bob Graz

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Ah, Lechmere, I bought my Advent Legacy speakers there in early 80's. I still have them but the woofers need to be refoamed so they aren't useable for now. They also had very cheap VCR Movies for rent back when VCR's were just emerging.

How about Grandway,I think they disappeared in mid 80's or so.
 

David Lawson

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We also had Zayre's in south Florida, as well as Richway, which was known as Gold Circle in other parts of the country. There was also Lionel Play World, the competition to Toys R Us until they closed in the early 90's.

What about Service Merchandise? ;)
 

Gary->dee

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Oh yeah, I remember Alpha-Beta, Sambo's(I think you can still see a Sambo's near the gas station scenes in the movie The Jerk) and Federated. I used to love those wacky Federated commercials with what'isname? Shadow Stevens? My family got our first VCR there back in 1984 for $1,000. Piece of crap that was, still have it though! Maybe for sentimental reason.

I also remember Service Merchandise, which was a bit like the Unity store I mentioned above but SM was much smaller in scale by comparison. I remember seeing Pacific Stereo stores around too.
 

Ted Lee

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oh yeah...as far as stereo gear goes...don't forget about rogersound labs. i bought a full stack of sony es gear (with extended warranty) from those fools. they went under a few months later. :rolleyes
 

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