I've been posting these photographs online for over a decade now, but I'm sure many of you have never seen these.
They were mostly shot by The Goldstein Group and have not been online anymore in over a decade, but I made sure to save several hundred of them before that happened.
These photos are all from 1997-2000, but mostly it is all from February 1997 through April 1998.
Anyone out there remember The Toy Works? This company thrived in the 80's & early 90's.
They were bought out by Kay Bee Toys in the mid 1990s. This was the Danbury, Connecticut location.
I had one in my hometown too with this same logo. In my grandparents town of Barkhamsted, Connecticut
was a tiny, tiny one in the middle of nowhere on a minor route and with dirt parking lot all by itself.
The ceilings were super low, but the World of Nintendo display was to die for. It never became a K.B. so it closed
well over 15 years ago, ended up converting it to an auction house.
The first time I witnessed Super Mario 64 in action on the kiosk before getting it for Christmas 1996 was there.
A few years ago I even found the fleet of original pre-K.B shopping carts from my town at the Salvation Army.
Here is a very rare sealed game in the fact that it has an original The Toy Works sticker. You don't see this much.
The road sign in Bristol, Connecticut was one of the only ones that never removed
the classic The Toy Works logo when K.B. purchased the chain.
After 1997, many Kay Bee locations took on the "Toy Works" name and looked like this one, from Orange, CT
The photo below was the store in my hometown of Keene, NH. It was orignally a The Toy Works location from 1990-1997, Edward's Supermarket before that.
This was one of the biggest K.B. Toys I've ever seen, it actually became smaller when the Petco replaced CVS around 2001, but was still large.
I have a lot of childhood memories of seeing games for the first time in this particular store. Back in the 90's the videogames had a separate counter from the normal checkouts, and all the games were behind glass. They changed that in the 2000's, I loved the old setup of this store much better. I can still perfectly visualize the first time I ever played Sonic 2 at that counter and the boy next to me taught me that you could spin dash. The last game I can truly remember playing for the first time and remember it perfectly was Crazy Taxi, it amazed me to immediately need a Dreamcast. Shortly after that they remodeled the store and got rid of the original videogame counter.
This particular location lasted until early 2007. It sat vacant for a few years and is now a Dollar Tree.
This was the side of the Keene, NH building, this logo used to be on the front too in the 1990's with "The" instead of "K.B"
Other stores took on a shortened version of the new logo
The classic look of Kay-Bee from the 70's and 80's went along these lines. The nutcracker is the classic 70's mascot.
Or this one in Woodbridge, NJ, the mall locations were typically long but not wide at all, a few eisles usually, and tightly packed
When I would visit my Dad on weekends we would always go to a strip-plaza version that looked exactly like this one.
I miss seeing all of those toys just pouring onto the curb like that. Always used to be those electric weasles on a ball running around...
Some stores had this alternate look from the late 80's/early 90's
My favorite K.B. ever were the ones called Kay Bee Toy Liquidators. The only one I ever knew of was in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area.
Basically in the Late 90's, it was still 1992 in there. In 1992, it was 1986 in there. I used to buy many things you could not buy anymore, action figures, lego, videogames at liquidation prices. I miss that.
The real death blow of Kay-Bee, in the final 2/3 years they did not sell videogames anymore. They bankrupt in 2009.
Everyone's favorite was always Toys "Я" Us though. I loved the classic buildings like this one.
This is when Geoffrey the Giraffe reigned supreme and grabbing tickets was the name of the game.
Their clothing store Kids "Я" Us opened in 1983 and all stores went out of business in 2003
The earliest buildings all had rainbow paneling on the outer walls and in the mid 80's some did not.
Brown shingled roof is the early style staple. They always make me think of the final course on Double Dare
Toys "Я" Us built after 1989 all were made of white brick usually like this one in East Brunswick, NJ
East Brunswick received a sloppy exterior remodel in the late 1990's. This is when Toys "Я" Us was going downhill
and largely tried to remove Geoffrey the Giraffe from their image.
I thought these buildings looked nice originally, but dirty over time, and kind of ugly when they repainted a lot of them blue in the 2000's
Babbage's are the big dogs in videogame retail.
Opened in the Early 80's, they were bought out by Barnes & Noble in 1999 and officially renamed Gamestop the next year.
As a kid I simply thought they went under, though the one nearest to me really did and wasn't replaced by a Gamestop.
This was the Staten Island, New York location.
Here is the Holyoke, Massachusetts location that I always frequented in the 1990's. It closed by 1998.
Of course we all know Gamestop. Very few of us saw this early logo though, like the East Brunswick, NJ location.
There were originally 30 stores opened in 1999 as a side brand to Babbages.
Software Etc. was one of my favorites as a kid. I was sad when they were bought out, these stores had charm.
They were bought out by Babbages in 1994. In 1996 over 100 Babbages/Software Etc. suffered closures.
By 2000 most stores were rebranded with the current Gamestop logo.
I was shocked when Electronics Boutique got bought out. I always thought they were very successful?
In the 2000's most stores were rebranded EBGames. The chain closed for good in 2005.
Once that happened Gamestop had total control of the videogame chain game.
Funcoland was my all time favorite. They knew what used games were before anyone else did. And sold them CHEAP
The bounty was great at this store with thousands of games and accessories for defunct systems for sale...
Barnes & Noble purchased them in 2000 and it really hurt to see all of these stores quickly convert to the new Gamestop concept, I remember it well.
I cannot stress how fantastic these stores were, sometimes I have dreams about the days I spent as an early teen sifting through waves of games.
Of course K-Mart was always a classic place to get games in the 1980's & 90's. The chain opened in 1962.
From the 1970's to November 1990 they were the #1 Department store chain in the United States.
The photo below was the Hazlet, NJ location with the classic 1960's look that was phased out in 1990.
In the late 90s there were still numerous locations with the original logo still on the building
K-Mart updated their look with this logo introduced in 1990
Over the years they became tougher and tougher to find with the Little Caesar's Pizza Cafe inside.
Below was the K-Mart in my hometown of Keene, NH. It opened in 1995, became a Big-K in 1998, became Sears in 2005, and closed several years later.
This is now quite a minor plaza, but is actually the first shopping plaza in Keene,
it was built in the 50's and was once known as "Keene Plaza", Grant Dept Store was the original tennant but moved in 1962 to where Walmart now is.
These days this entire plaza has been remodeled and there is now a grocery store and Kohl's where the Kmart once stood.
This K-Mart was the first place that ever hired me. That is Mt. Monadnock in the background.
In 1997 most locations were rebranded Big-K with grocery sections added in.
Here is the Huntington, NY location the exact moment they put up the new logo.
By this time the chain had lost major ground to Wal-Mart and Target, and their store interiors began looking dated.
To my memory K-Mart never stopped selling NES games, from 1995-2005 I could always find cart-only NES games prominantly displayed.
Bradlees dept store was one of my favorites in the New England/New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania area.
They were prominant in the 70's & 80's with 156 stores in 1986, but faltering by the late 1990's,
and went bankrupt the day after Christmas 2000 with the final 105 stores closed by March 2001.
This was the Bradlees in my hometown of Keene, New Hampshire. It was a Grants from 1962-1976.
So many memories of this store in the 90's right up to the 2001 closing. It became a fully remodeled Wal-Mart in 2003. The Shaws closed in Sept. 2013.
Bradlees was named after Bradley International Airport on the Mass/Connecticut border, where the original meetings planning the chain were held.
Here is the original Nashua, New Hampshire location in the days after the chain closed forever. The building was soon demolished.
Milford, Connecticut Bradlees at Nighttime
Caldor was another big northeast USA store with hundreds of stores. Went out of business in Spring of 1999.
This was the store of choice to my grandparents in Connecticut so I always think of taking trips with them when I think shopping at Caldor.
They were the 5th largest department chain in the USA. The first store opened in 1951, a full decade before Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target opened.
I've heard that Caldor was very close in the 1980's to going nationwide like those three chains, but it never happened and they began falling apart from that point on.
I was truly shocked when Caldor went out of business. Never thought it would happen.
This was the final logo Caldor used from 1990-1999.
Below is the Bedford, NH location, the only location New Hampshire ever had.
The older stores from the 1970's had an orange logo and looked very retro.
Here is an overhead shot of the New Brunswick, NJ location which closed in '97 & never had the final logo
Here is another Caldor in New Jersey that never had the final logo
Most stores built from 1979-1990 had this Yellow/Orange/Brown rainbow logo, but few kept it to 1999.
My favorite department store of all was Ames. They opened in Massachusetts in 1958 and went bankrupt in Summer 2002.
Ames was the 4th largest Department Store Chain in the USA behind Walmart, Kmart, and Target, with over 700 stores in 20 states at one point.
They suffered massive closures in 1990 including the permanent closure of all Florida locations,
but the company actually grew strong again until 1998 when they bought the Hills chain. Ames really suffered the final years.
This was the one in my Dad's town after my parents divorce, West Lebanon, NH, taken from the highway off ramp.
It was originally a Rich's from 1966 to 1997, I went here every weekend from 1995-2002 and often shopped here years before that.
It was the nicest Ames I ever saw and had the final major remodelings of the chain, this store never suffered the decline that most locations had.
I remember as Rich's the videogames section was in a central space in a jewelry type 4 sided counter with NES/Game Boy games in the glass of the counter.
The Kay-Bee Toys I talked about above was slightly to the left of this photo.
You can also see Coconuts Music & Movies to the far left, I bought many games there over the years as well.
I can't believe how long gone these days are. I look at this photo, and it still feels so....tangible. It seems impossible how time flies.
As Ames grew bigger it bought out and took over many stores such as Big N (1977), Zayre (1988) and Hills Dept. Store (1998) The aquisition of Zayre was considered a major mistake by the company and they were forced to close many stores by 1990-1992. They didn't learn though, and the purchase of Hills sent them into Chapter 11, and soon bankrupcy. Ames would have lasted far longer had they never bought out Hills.
Here was the Sanford, Maine location with the original logo
After the first few years Ames switched to a red cursive logo.
This was one of the earliest Ames, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. It was one of the few Ames that was two stories tall.
In 1990 they switched to a mint green color scheme until the 2002 closing. Some stores kept the red color and others updated.
Here is the AP photo of the Middletown, Rhode Island store alive and well on December 5th, 2001.
I loved these types of stores remodeled from former Zayre's, this one had plenty of classic Zayre architecture.
Here is a photo of me (yep that's me!) years back looking worn out in front of an empty Ames near the Atlantic shore in New Hampshire
I have very strong nostalgia for Rich's Department Store, based in Salem, Massachusetts, they only existed in New England, excluding Connecticut.
They had no connection to the legendary store of the same name based in Atlanta, Georgia.
The chain was founded in 1962 and went bankrupt in 1996, closing many locations. The remaining closed forever in 1997.
I fondly remember the giant Legoland Castle & Space and World of Nintendo banners that hung from the ceilings, and the ceiling fan aisle with all the running fans overhead.
I believe by the early 90's they had about 30 locations.
This was the St. Johnsbury, Vermont location (later Ames) from the outside of the mall.
Here was the location in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was open from 1986-1997.
It became an Ames from 1997-2002.
This was the Concord, New Hampshire location at Fort Eddy Plaza. I tacked on a store listing from a flyer to the bottom.
This is how I remember all Rich's doors looking, I can still hear the *whirrr* as they swing open and close...
Here is a copy of Startropics that still has an original Rich's sticker
It is difficult to find much information or photographs of this department store that still exist
Circuit City is not too long gone. The chain opened in 1984 and closed in 2009.
The classic buildings from the 80's & 90's had the "power plug" front facade from their commercials.
Below was the Circuit City in my hometown of Keene, NH while the logo was still on the building.
It was built as a new store in 2005 with the rest of the plaza, and closed in 2009 with the chain.
It has now been vacant for longer than it was opened.
I had several friends who worked here and I actually ran the cotton candy machine during the grand opening even though I didn't work there.
Former Red Sox Trot Nixon also did an autograph signing to open this store and I was there.
A similar store in the Northeast was Nobody Beats The Wiz
They were featured in an episode of Seinfeld right before going out of business.
Service Merchandise suffered a major string of closings in the late 90's and the chain closed forever in 2003.
This was the location I always went to in Holyoke, Massachusetts Mall
Lechmere was another similar chain that went as far South as Buffalo, NY to up northeast in Portland, Maine.
The heyday of the chain was the 70's & 80's, they were bought out by Montgomery Ward in 1994,
and the chain quickly went downhill before closing all Lechmere & HomeImage stores for good in November 1997.
This was the flagship store in Cambridge, Mass. It became and still is a Best Buy after Lechmere's closure.
Montgomery Ward was a U.S. national chain for well over 100 years but hit major struggles in the 1990's.
By 1994 they owned all Lechmere/Electric Ave. stores but had to shutter them by 1997.
Many stores were rebranded "Wards" but the entire chain had to close forever in 2001.
You could often find games at music stores too. What good mall didn't have a Tape World?
Record Town was another chain with a name that was not meant to last.
Suncoast was recently brought back to people's memory with the Topher Grace film "Take Me Home Tonight"
I sure miss the good old days of variety, when each different mall was worth traveling to.
In this Sam Goody store in Wayne, New Jersey, you can see DVD has just been introduced to the public. Twister!
There was nothing too tropical about the store, but I sure bought a lot of Game Boy & SNES games at Coconuts
I used to buy games occassionally at Strawberries as well. They went out of business shortly before Coconuts did (2005?)
Tower Records lasted longer on the West Coast than the East Coast but I believe all stores are closed at this point.
Ever make it a Blockbuster Night?
Hot Topic had a very different vibe in the 80s & 90s
The gas prices back then weren't that bad.
All that travel would make me a bit hungry...
Here is a look at some of the movies that were in theaters at that time
Anybody else have memories going to Discovery Zone?
Here was the location in Brooklyn, NY.
Ohh...the good days when malls had thriving arcades...
