Extinct local retail stores

[Blue Heaven]

Old School's thread about restaurants got me thinking about some of these places:
Airway- located on Preston Highway became Target
Zayres- also on Preston across from Guardian Angels
CSC ( Consolidated Sales Company)- I loved this store as they seemed to have the best deals on Star Wars toys( or so my parents say)
Service Merchandise-Hasn't been closed for too long. It was located in the strip mall that has the Krogers adjacent to Jefferson Mall.

I can think of tons of others but what do you guys remember?

[UK78ALUM]

Mr Wiggs. They were the first to challenge (defy) Lexington's "blue laws" in the early 70's by opening on Sunday afternoons. Sort of a step down from K Mart.

Thornberry's Toys

Graves Cox and Dawahares for nice men's clothes

Wallace's Book Store

The Chevy Store in Chevy Chase. Remember the big mural on the wall?

[surveyor]

I recall a store over on Berry Blvd by the name of Arlen's.

Ben Snyder's at Dixie Manor Shopping Center, as well as Gibson's.

Topps Department Store was across Dixie Highway where Home Depot is now.

Target on south Dixie in the old Raceland Mall was formerly T.G. & Y., as well as other stores. In the same development was Consolidated Sales Co.

South Dixie, east side, north of Valley High School once stood a Woolco Department store.

[surveyor]

Service Merchandise-Hasn't been closed for too long. It was located in the strip mall that has the Krogers adjacent to Jefferson Mall.


Up the road toward Preston (behind Buckheads) was Service Merchandise's competitor, O.G. Wilson.

The oldest Service Merchandise was located over on Shelbyville Road across from Mall St. Matthews. Bought quite a few boombox, car stereos as a kid in highschool.
Bought our first home theatre equipment there in `94.

[TrueblueCATfan]

When Service Merchandise closed I got some great bargins on Jewelry
I loved that place
or how about O.G. wilsons//this is where my hubby bought my engagement ring

[moody85]

Graves Cox and Dawahares for nice men's clothes

The Chevy Store in Chevy Chase. Remember the big mural on the wall?[/QUOTE]


Leonard Cox still has a store on the first floor of what used to be Festival Market. He has really good sales.

I loved The Chevy Store tshirts with "Beat Tennessee" on the back. A former deadbeat boyfriend never gave mine back. Grrrr....

[cumberlandredskin]

Woolworth's and Wards are two biggies from the past that are gone. Eckerd Drug has been bought out by Rite Aid and are no more.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Bacons at Bashford Manor Mall......I loved that store ..

[wanderingcat]

On a site for UK fans, Kentucky Sporting Goods definitely needs a mention.

[capcat]

What about Newberry's? We had one in Paris, but I don't recall where else they were. My friends and I would walk to town on Saturdays and get an order of fries and a Coke at their soda fountain, then to Begley's for butter pecan ice cream.

[hoosierhateruklover]

VERY sad news....It was announced this month that my favorite store, Steve & Barry's is going to be going out of business. So much for affordable clothes.

[Jeff Craddock]

Wallace's Book Store

I worked at Wallace's in the Student Center for a couple of years while i was at UK. :thumbup:

Other retail outlets long gone....

Baynham's shoe store (on Main St.)
Wolf Wiles
Stewart's

[Blue Heaven]

On a site for UK fans, Kentucky Sporting Goods definitely needs a mention.
Speaking of sporting goods stores, no one has mentioned Allied Sporting Goods.

[ukfubar]

Do not forget Hills is where the toys are....

[CATHYnKY]

We had WT Grants. My pals and I would always go there the night before school started and finish up our supply list. Usually it was late and we alreayd had our hair rolled in curlers (back in the day we slept in hair rollers) and then stayed up half the night with excitement. :icon_mrgreen:

[The Old School JPS]

Ah, lots of memories here, though many that came to mind were mentioned by others:

Gold Circle - this is what the Target near the mall in Lexington used to be. I guess Target bought the chain? In the late 1980s maybe?

Venture - I think this chain too might have been bought up by Target

Shillito's, McAlpin's, Hess's, Lazarus, Heck's - I remember these chains too, from the 1980s I think (Shillito's was earlier) - Shillito's was a mainstay in the major Louisville and Lexington malls, then suddenly gave way to a series of changes of ownership/branding.

SuperX Drugs which was bought up by someone I think and eventually became part of CVS. They used that Rexall logo that used to be ubiquitous. There was one in Middletown near the TG&Y mentioned below.

ayr*way - I think it was maybe bought out by Target? We used to go there all the time back in, I guess, the 70s I think. They had multiple Louisville locations I think.

bigg's - they opened one in Middletown to great fanfare; the place was huge and I liked it but others didn't and it did not last that long. I don't know if it still operates in the Cincinnati area or not.

Incredible Universe - one of many electronics stores that are no longer around; they had a lot of TV ads

Musicland - I wonder how many mall-based music stores that made money selling LPs and cassettes and then CDs (and posters) have gone out of business? This is one such chain that I remember. Funny how back then their anti-theft measures were the big plastic cases on the cassette tapes and the big long boxes that enclosed CDs; now, anti-theft measures are subpoenas to file networks and lawsuits for damages under the DMCR.

Levy's Hardware - a mainstay in Louisville with several locations; the one I remember best was off Dupont but I think there was one in what is now Camelot. Back before Home Depot and Lowe's this was the place you went in Louisville for wood, building supplies and any sort of do it yourself home improvement. They ran the same sort of commercials for years; they ended with a sawing sound and the (hollow, coconutty) sound of boards hitting a floor while the locations appeared on the screen.

TG&Y - They ran these jingles that sang "Your best buy / Is at TG&Y!" there was one in Middletown in the same shopping center as the SuperX Drugs.

CSC - as mentioned by others, always had Star Wars toys in stock, and cheap. I remember the one near Dupont well. The building is still there but I'm not sure what is in it (part of it is Pep Boys I think). CSC also sold gas there; that's now a Chevron operation.

Giant Foods - does anyone else remember this grocery chain? There was one on Shelbyville Road in St. Matthews at the far end of that strip mall opposite the Mall St. Matthews, at the end opposite where Service Merchandise was. I think it may have closed down in the 1970s. I don't know if it was part of a national chain but I kind of think that it was.

KMart - still around, but I remember them having a grocery store in Louisville at their Breckinridge Lane location. I think it was a KMart, anyway - it was right next to the KMart and I think it was KMart Foods or something like that. I think it ceased operations in the 1970s.

Thornberry's Toys - was in operation until at least 1989 or so. I remember the monkey peddling the bicycle at the St. Matthews location. Great store.

Woolco, Woolworth's - I remember those

O.G. Wilson - I remember the one in the Mall St. Matthews, at the front corner near the Watterson. When did it shut down?

Allied Sporting Goods - great memories. I bought my football equipment there among other things. When did they close? The 1990s?

It's funny how so many of these places were staples of weekly life back then, and probably regarded as sound, solid long-term companies. I wonder which of today's well-known retailers will be gone in 10 years?

[DenCat]

I think Giant is still around. At least they were back in the late 80's and early 90's when I lived outside DC.

Anyone remember S&H Greenstamp stores. I remember one being here Louisville(there may have been more than 1).