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Old 12-23-2019, 11:21 AM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
18,780 posts, read 18,130,585 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidWebb View Post
You do realize this is an old post and most of the stores you mentioned have already been posted here.....
It does bring back good memories. Of course at the time of these stores there was not a lot of competition in the area and we had to travel many miles to shop. When you go back to the 1950's the Interstate road system wasn't even started and those trips were long. But Sugarman's always treated us fairly and gave us great prices. We also ran down to Vanity Fair in Reading; that trip took some time. By the way; VF I think is either closed or in its final days now - another one bites the dust.

I still have many items from Service Merchandise; which was kind of like Pier 1 today. They gave us the first taste of the products from Asia. If they only know how many product we would end up importing from Asia in the future!
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Old 12-23-2019, 05:38 PM
 
41,813 posts, read 51,039,086 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fisheye View Post
But Sugarman's always treated us fairly.....

Isn't that the one that had the giant conveyor belt? You would buy the item and it would come out from store room on the belt. TV's and medium sized items, they only had one display item on the floor. If it wasn't them one of those stores up by Wyoming Valley Mall had it.
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Old 12-23-2019, 05:51 PM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
18,780 posts, read 18,130,585 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman View Post
Isn't that the one that had the giant conveyor belt? You would buy the item and it would come out from store room on the belt. TV's and medium sized items, they only had one display item on the floor. If it wasn't them one of those stores up by Wyoming Valley Mall had it.
Not that I know of; but I was young at the time. I do know they were good for reloading supplies, ammunition and weapons years ago. Also there was a large retailer of weapons that was north of the store. I used to turn off Route 6 by the old Robert Hall store and head north. I think it was called Jerry Quarries; but then they got out of retail sales.
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Old 12-23-2019, 07:00 PM
 
Location: Location: Location
6,727 posts, read 9,949,659 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman View Post
Isn't that the one that had the giant conveyor belt? You would buy the item and it would come out from store room on the belt. TV's and medium sized items, they only had one display item on the floor. If it wasn't them one of those stores up by Wyoming Valley Mall had it.
Actually, Service Merchandise had a conveyor belt-delivery system. I remember buying lamps there.

They gave you an order form and you wrote the stock number on the form and went to the cashier. While you were paying for the item, somebody was in the stockroom picking your order and out it would travel on the belt. There was one in the Narrows Shopping Center in Edwardsville, about where Grotto Pizza is today.
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Old 12-24-2019, 03:40 AM
 
Location: Location: Location
6,727 posts, read 9,949,659 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theatergypsy;569330Maybe I had a brain cramp19
Actually, Service Merchandise had a conveyor belt-delivery system. I remember buying lamps there.

They gave you an order form and you wrote the stock number on the form and went to the cashier. While you were paying for the item, somebody was in the stockroom picking your order and out it would travel on the belt. There was one in the Narrows Shopping Center in Edwardsville, about where Grotto Pizza is today.
Maybe I had a Brain Cramp (the older I get, the more frequent they are) but I realized that the Service Merchandise store was in the Gateway Shopping Center on the Ave in Edwardsville. Sorry about that.
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Old 12-24-2019, 04:48 AM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
18,780 posts, read 18,130,585 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theatergypsy View Post
Maybe I had a Brain Cramp (the older I get, the more frequent they are) but I realized that the Service Merchandise store was in the Gateway Shopping Center on the Ave in Edwardsville. Sorry about that.
I have a few of those to! We had a Wes Freeman store in East Stroudsburg and I am thinking that it became Service Merchandise - but I could be totally wrong. Its been too many years.

I also forget if Jamesway became Ames or if it became the Giant (which was not the current Giant food stores). I used to service the lawn tractors for the Giant in East Stroudsburg. I thought they sold a good riding tractor for only four or five hundred dollars. Of course it was not built like the old Gravely and Wheel Horse, but for the money, it did a great job. I think they also sold Atlas Copco push mowers which also did a great job for the money.

I found this one YouTube on old stores; but it does not have all of them and it has some that I don't remember:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmtM7GitIAw

What kind of amazes me is that the same thing has not happened to the big names in fast food? One would think that competition would have shut the doors on some of them over the years. But most have survived; of course many of us depend on them to survive and maybe to put on a few extra 'needed' pounds!
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Old 12-24-2019, 06:20 AM
 
Location: Saylorsburg, PA
1,935 posts, read 3,142,835 times
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The 3rd store in the video "Wannamaker" I wonder if its related to the one down in Kempton, PA:


Welcome to Wanamakers General Store just outside of New Tripoli, PA
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Old 12-24-2019, 08:37 AM
 
Location: Location: Location
6,727 posts, read 9,949,659 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidWebb View Post
The 3rd store in the video "Wannamaker" I wonder if its related to the one down in Kempton, PA:


Welcome to Wanamakers General Store just outside of New Tripoli, PA
It's possible that the original owners/founders of Wanamaker's General Store were related to the John Wanamaker family but the store has passed through several families since its inception.

John Wanamaker's was a large Philadelphia department store in the city's downtown along with Gimbel's and Lit Brothers. In the waning years JW, under new ownership, opened stores in local malls.

None of them had the cachet of the original downtown store.

Macy's currently operates their business out of the old John Wanamaker's store in Center City.
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Old 12-24-2019, 10:54 AM
 
41,813 posts, read 51,039,086 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theatergypsy View Post
There was one in the Narrows Shopping Center in Edwardsville, about where Grotto Pizza is today.

That was Jewelcor I believe. now that you mention it they might of had one too. Perhaps another one at the mall which is the one I remember.
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Old 12-24-2019, 11:20 AM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
18,780 posts, read 18,130,585 times
Reputation: 14777
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidWebb View Post
The 3rd store in the video "Wannamaker" I wonder if its related to the one down in Kempton, PA:


Welcome to Wanamakers General Store just outside of New Tripoli, PA
I thought the video said John Wanamaker without the extra 'n'? It went out of business in 1995. When I used to take my wife to the Lehigh Valley Mall I don't think we shopped there too many times. But it was still with that mall for some time before it closed.

I think our favorite store in that mall was Cinnabon! We did not have one up here until recently. And, since we did not make too many trips down there or to Reading; it did not hurt the waistline too much!
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