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Brands that were once popular....

Ah, good old Tower Records. I remember there was a HUGE one in San Francisco when I was a kid.

Another place I thought of today: Howard Johnson's restaurants. I remember, as a little kid, looking for that horrid orange roof. We would stop there for ice cream in the summer during long family trips.
 
There was at least one Tower Records in Chicago in the 80's.

It was a lot of fun taking the train downtown & walking around to get to that store.
 
Another place I thought of today: Howard Johnson's restaurants. I remember, as a little kid, looking for that horrid orange roof. We would stop there for ice cream in the summer during long family trips.
There are still two remaining locations in Bangor, Maine and Lake George, New York. Only the Lake George location has the orange roof and was recently restored. The Bangor location may close in the somewhat near future.
 
Pan Am.. TWA.. PSA..LOTS of Airlines gone..

And Eastern. I still miss it. When I was little I wanted to be a stewardess for Eastern!

Damn the Airline Deregulation Act of '79. That messed up the industry something awful.

Another place I thought of today: Howard Johnson's restaurants. I remember, as a little kid, looking for that horrid orange roof. We would stop there for ice cream in the summer during long family trips.
There are still two remaining locations in Bangor, Maine and Lake George, New York. Only the Lake George location has the orange roof and was recently restored. The Bangor location may close in the somewhat near future.

So sad. I used to look forward to going to HoJo's for their clam rolls.
 
I just learned The World's Biggest Bookstore located on Edward St. off Yonge St. and north of Dundas in Toronto is now gone (as of Mearch of last year).

Serious bummer. For thirty-four years that was an amazing place to go for books. The science fiction section alone could make one drool.
 
I do miss the old airlines. There are basically only four left now (United, American, Southwest and Delta) and so fliers have precious little choice.


And only one in Canada, not counting the little guys. Seriously, bad move on the part of the government letting that happen. When they allowed the merger between the other big one to happen, they essentially removed any form of competition, and we pay higher rates as a result. Those who live close enough to the border tend to just drive across and take a plane there instead, where the rates are much lower in comparison even when taking into account the exchange rate.

Another place I thought of today: Howard Johnson's restaurants. I remember, as a little kid, looking for that horrid orange roof. We would stop there for ice cream in the summer during long family trips.
There are still two remaining locations in Bangor, Maine and Lake George, New York. Only the Lake George location has the orange roof and was recently restored. The Bangor location may close in the somewhat near future.


There's a diner we discovered in Upstate NY (Malone, I think), that I think was a former HJ. There's still a very recognizable roof in a different colour and inside, precious little has changed, and they even claim to have the same menu they had when they were HJ. Ohhh, and they bake their own bread.
 
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Chi-Chi's. I'm not sure if it was ever "popular", but I do have memories there. I don't really recall any "Mexican" places other than them when I was growing up in the Springfield-Hartford area. We used to have dinners there for special occasions, such as birthdays. I don't know how widely spread they were but I know there was at least one 800 miles away in Cincinnati before I first lived there.

These days, it only survives in grocery store products after some company brought out the brand, I believe
 
When I was a kid, I remember getting all excited to go shopping at The Emporium--a department store. I thought it as the biggest, coolest store ever. In reality, it was nothing more than another version of Macy's. I'm pretty sure all the stores ended up being bought by Macy's, in the end.

I also remember LOVING to go shopping downtown with my mom at Marshall Field's because, *gasp*, they had a restaurant in the store. I felt very grownup and we had some good mother-daughter time.
 
Sears bought Kmart, not the other way around.

Um, no.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Kmart is buying Sears, Roebuck & Co. for $11 billion in a deal that will marry two of the nation's oldest retailers that had trouble keeping up with the changes in American culture around them.
source:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/

K-Mart Holdings did rebrand itself as Sears Holdings, though, so maybe that confused you...
You may be right. I definitely remember them becoming Sears Holdings.
 
Naugles Mexican Restaurant

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKABF67BLuY[/yt]

Got bought out by Del Taco....
 
Chi-Chi's. I'm not sure if it was ever "popular", but I do have memories there. I don't really recall any "Mexican" places other than them when I was growing up in the Springfield-Hartford area. We used to have dinners there for special occasions, such as birthdays. I don't know how widely spread they were but I know there was at least one 800 miles away in Cincinnati before I first lived there.

These days, it only survives in grocery store products after some company brought out the brand, I believe

There was a Chi-Chi's near us in the western suburbs of Chicago when I was growing up -- it was our most frequent post-Mass lunch destination on Sundays. My biggest memory of it is that they had cheese and onion enchiladas on the menu, and I would always order them without the onions (because I was a picky, fussy child), and nine times out of ten, the onions were still in there. They also had a nachos dish that was basically an open-faced quesadilla that my Mom loved.
 
Bill Cosby. He was so popular back in the 80's and 90's. I wonder what happened to him....
 
When I was a kid, I remember getting all excited to go shopping at The Emporium--a department store. I thought it as the biggest, coolest store ever. In reality, it was nothing more than another version of Macy's. I'm pretty sure all the stores ended up being bought by Macy's, in the end.

I also remember LOVING to go shopping downtown with my mom at Marshall Field's because, *gasp*, they had a restaurant in the store. I felt very grownup and we had some good mother-daughter time.
Shopping? Sounds like a nightmare. No matter what people say, there's a big difference between boys and girls.
 
Wag's restaurants (owned by Walgreen's) from the 70's & 80's. The ones in my area were all in smaller malls and had counter seating as well as booths.
 
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