Ghosts of Black Friday past: Toys 'R' Us, Ames, Bradlees, Kmart, Two Guys | Rolando's Roadside Roundup
Plus, an iconic New Orleans restaurant sign sprouts a twin, restaurants emerging from their COVID slumber and other headlines from the road.
I’m a pretty nostalgic fellow, you may have figured out by now, but the nostalgia goes on warp speed over the holidays, and Thanksgiving weekend is one of those signature moments.
Today is the much-vaunted Black Friday, as consumers are (allegedly) mobbing stores in search of deals. Of course, in recent years, Black Friday hasn’t quite lived up to the legend. Who can forget the crazy lines of shivering parents in the pre-dawn darkness, the otherwise sane adults mauling each other to grab a Cabbage Patch Kid or Tickle-Me-Elmo? It’s not quite the same in our digital world, where savvy online shoppers can find killer deals any day of the year without getting trampled at the mall with a belly still full of turkey and mashed potatoes.
And while I’m not nostalgic for any mall shenanigans that leave people hobbled in body and spirit, I do think back fondly at some of the stores where we used to shop, that were destinations full of wonder — and terror for a parent — this time of year.
Today, I’m sharing photos of five brands whose ghosts I have been able to capture. With the exception of Toys “R” Us, which has a flagship store at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey and kiosks at hundreds of Macy’s stores, and Kmart, which is down to just a few stores in the United States, these brands are ghosts, haunting our Black Fridays Past.
Note: Check back this weekend for Part 2! And please subscribe to my newsletter, and consider supporting me by becoming a paid subscriber!
1.) Ames
Launched in 1958 and spreading far and wide through acquisitions of other regional brands, Ames finally folded in 2002, but its name has managed to survive in a handful of abandoned locations. In the past year, I’ve shot Ames’ ghosts in Baltimore, Wrightstown, New Jersey, and Horseheads, New York. I took this photo of the old Ames in Horseheads back in May 2022. [Map]
Do you have memories of Ames?
2.) Bradlees
Bradlees was a Massachusetts-based regional chain that launched the same year as Ames and shuttered the year before, in 2001. Gone for 21 years now, it’s remarkable that this sign for Bradlees has survived for all this time, in an abandoned shopping plaza in Hazlet, New Jersey. [Map]
Below is another cool Bradlees ghost, shot near downtown Hoboken, New Jersey, in July 2015, so I can’t say whether it’s still there. Those stripes! The slogan reads: “There’s always a reason to shop Bradlees.”
3.) Toys “R” Us
I’ve written a lot about the rise and fall of Toys “R” Us on my Instagram page. The U.S. portion of the chain succumbed to bankruptcy in 2018, and the brand has stumbled in its attempt at an American revival. The most recent iteration involves an affiliation with Macy’s stores, coupled with a single flagship store at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (I’ll share photos of that location soon.)
For a taste of the Toys “R” Us of yore, you can travel to Canada, where vintage stores remain. (See below.)
In the United States, there are still traces of old TRU stores that have yet to be repurposed (the subject of a future newsletter) but I’d like to remember the chain as it was, and this 2016 picture (top) of the Durham, North Carolina, store captures the essence of that rush of adrenaline you’d feel in the parking lot as you approached.
4.) Kmart
It’s hard to believe there are only three Kmarts left in the United States. Last year about this time, when there were a few more, the news broke that this location in Hamilton, Montana, was closing in a few months.
I wanted to shoot this store because it was the last one left that featured the old Kmart logo, and the mountain setting made it all the more appealing. So I planned an entire trip to Montana around shooting this place, and I could not have been happier with my visit, below. Alas, the sign is already gone. I hope it ended up in good hands.
5.) Two Guys
Two Guys was a discounter that was started by “two guys” from Harrison, New Jersey, and spread as far as California during the post-war years.
I never shopped at a Two Guys but do fondly remember the jingle used in the 1970s into the early 1980s — “We save money for you at Two Guys …. naturally!”
I digitized a number of the old ads when I worked at WPIX — find one here, the cleanest version of the campaign you’ll find anywhere, straight from a station aircheck.
The brand was gone by 1982, but had a brief comeback in 2019, and by comeback, I jest. A ghost sign for a Two Guys store was exposed on Passaic Avenue in Kearny, New Jersey. It was neat to see that Two Guys logo again, if only briefly.
Look for Part II this weekend in The Retrologist newsletter.
Notes From the Road
When New Orleans’ second-oldest restaurant, Tujague’s, moved a couple of years ago, they had to leave behind their iconic blade sign. Now, they’ve just installed a re-creation of the original at their new location. So NOLA now has TWO Tujague’s signs! [My New Orleans]
Great news! Curley’s in Auburn, New York, has reopened! The bar, dating to 1933, closed at the start of the pandemic. Sold by the family that owned it since the beginning, Curley’s in now run by new hands. [Auburn Citizen]
And another historic gathering spot is reopening in upstate New York. [Genesee Sun]
A Covid casualty is about to reopen in northern Maine! Welcome back, Elm Tree Diner! [Bangor Daily News]
Kansas preservationists have listed the state’s seven most endangered buildings. [The Topeka Capital-Journal]
How do you renovate Philip Johnson’s post-modern skyscraper, the former AT&T Building? Snøhetta did it “surgically.” [dezeen]
Could San Jose’s “Dancing Pig” neon sign stay at Historic Park permanently? [Mercury News/Subscription]
“Mousetrap” celebrates 70 years on the London stage today. I’ve never shot the iconic neon sign! [Evening Standard]
Go hunting for the ghost signs of Dublin! [Independent]
The Penny Cluse Cafe in Burlington, Vermont is set to close soon. [Seven Days]
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