Monday, December 12, 2011

Circuit City inside Carousel Center Mall in Syracuse, New York

photos by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

      This Circuit City Store was Located at 9715 Carousel Center Drive in Syracuse, New York. This store was opened in 2004 and closed in 2009 in the last wave of Circuit City closures. This store later became Ultimate Electronics in 2010. Ultimate Electronic filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on January 26th, 2011. All 46 Ultimate Electronic stores were later closed. I find it weird that Best Buy is upstairs above this store. The Carousel Center Mall is going through a massive Expansion project. This store remains vacant to date with Best Buy still upstairs.

Shuttered entrance
Ironically there is a Best Buy above this store
Image of store as ultimate Electronics



Ames in Dayville, Connecticut

photo by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

     This store was Located at 740 Hartford Pike in Dayville, Connecticut. The site is very close to Interstate 395. Ames Department Store opened in 1983 and closed in 2003. This store is now a Strip mall with Aldi's and Dollar Tree among the new tenants. The Aldi's opened on June 7th, 2010 and Dollar Tree also opened in June 2010. The Ames building is still standing, but has went through massive renovation. Check out an earlier post on this store at http://thecaldorrainbow.blogspot.com/2009/02/dayville-ames-remains-after-six-years.html
Submitted by Mike Kalasnik

Closed Kmart in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

photo by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

This store was located at 424 West Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This store closed in Early January 2011. 114 Jobs were lost in the move of closing this store, which really is a shame. This store opened in 1980. 

Submitted by Mike Kalasnik

Submitted by Mike Kalasnik

Notice the Area covered with the tarp. This was a canopy that was removed after the store closed. It is weird how this store looks not so much like a Kmart without it. 




Closed Kmart in Manchester, Connecticut

photos by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

     This store was located at 239 Spencer Street in Manchester, Connecticut. This store opened on November, 30th in 1972 and was the first Kmart in Connecticut. It was closed in the 2003 wave of Kmart Closures. This store remains vacant.


There are a lot of pictures and information about Kmart's early days at this link http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/search/label/Kmart










Closed Friendly's Restaurant in Waterbury, Connecticut

photo by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com



     This Friendly's was located at 544 Reidville Drive in Waterbury, Connecticut in the Waterbury Shopping Plaza. The label-scar is still visible above the door. This restaurant was originally "The Pie Plate" before it ended up burning down. The restaurant then reopened as Friendly's. A total of 63 store closed after Friendly's filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 5th, 2011. The stores that closed were considered under-performing Company-owned stores. Here are the states that lost restaurants in this Bankruptcy; Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Vermont.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Kmart in Watertown, Connecticut

photos by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

      This store is located at 595 Straits Turnpike in Watertown, Connecticut. This Kmart was updated to a Big Kmart in the 1990s, But no signage was replaced and only the inside saw some improvements. The store still looks like this now and is also the 13th Smallest Kmart Store with 45,466 square feet.



Circuit City in Cranston, Rhode Island

photos by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

     This store was located at 140 Hillside Road in Cranston, Rhode Island. This store is a Couple of miles north of the Warwick Mall and is located in the Garden City Center. This Circuit City was not updated to include new signage or an interior remodel. There was a Verizon Wireless kiosk inside. This store is still vacant with signage still intact. Note; In these pictures the store that is closed next to this Circuit City was an older style Linens N' Things.




Circuit City in Torrington, Connecticut

photos by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

     This Circuit City was one of the very last stores opened before the chain liquidated in Early 2009. This store was located at 1030 Torringford Street in Torrington, Connecticut. This location remains vacant although it has been used as Spirit Halloween several times. This was a very new store and slightly varied from the design used for most stores. This prototype store used the "the city" logo instead of the Circuit City logo that was used at all other stores. Also, this store had a slightly different exterior look, due partially to the fact that this store was a Sears Appliance and Hardware store before. I am not positive if signage is still intact, but on streetview the signage was intact.





Circuit City in Braintree, Massachusetts

photos by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

This store was within walking distance of the South Shore Mall in Braintree, Massachusetts. Its address is 250 Granite Street in Braintree, Massachusetts. This Store is now a Dave & Busters Restaurant.







Circuit City in Meriden, Connecticut

photos by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

     This Circuit City was a 33,160 square foot store. This store was located at 495 Chamberlain Highway in Meriden, Connecticut. The store was located in the Chamberlain Plaza in front of the Westfield Shoppingtown Meriden mall. Currently both Circuit City and another former store that is attached remain vacant. Only Sleepy's remains open today. This store was a more modern style location that had a Verizon Wireless kiosk inside. On Streetview the signage on this store was still intact, but may have been removed by now.






Monday, December 5, 2011

Midway Mall: Dying or Recovering?

Nicholas Eckhart
nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

Original Stores
The Midway Mall opened in 1966 with Three Department Store; Higbee's, Sears Roebuck, and JCPenny's as well as Woolworth's a Discount Store. Higbee's Became Dillard's and then closed. Woolworth's was located in the store now used as Best Buy.

Relocation From Downtown

The Majority of the smaller stores in the mall relocated from Downtown Elyria as well as the Major Stores; JCPenny, Sears Roebuck, and Woolworth's. The Downtown district was the main shopping district in town before the Mall opened. The Higbee's was a new store not previously open in Elyria.

The East Wing 

The original Anchor Store in this wing was Higbee's. The Higbee's Became Dillard's in 1992. Dillard's brefly became a Dillard's Outlet store before closing due to poor sales in august 2007. Steve & Barry's closed in Late 2008 when the Company first declared Bankruptcy. I have Noticed that this Wing is becoming vacant at a very quick rate. Most stores in this wing left after Steve & Barry's and Dillard's left. I know Payless Shoes is still open in this Wing.
                                                                       The West Wing
The Anchor Stores in this wing were originally Sears and Woolworth's. Woolworth's Closed during the chain's liquidation in 1994. Best Buy currently occupies the space formerly inhabited by Woolworth's. Sears does not appear to be doing well. I honestly have saw only five cars in the parking lot before. I have saw Red Lobster have more cars in the Sears Parking lot than Sears had. The Red Lobster (not connected to the mall) appears to do very well. A lot of times their parked cars overfill into Sears parking lot. This Red Lobster was remodeled in September - November of 2011.

The South Wing

In 1990 the South Wing (including a Food Court and May Company) was added. The Food Court includes space for ten Restaurants (I believe Eight or Nine of these are currently used). However, Auntie Ann's Pretzels is not located in the Food Court, but nearby. May Company relocated from Sheffield Centre in nearby Sheffield, Ohio. The Sheffield Store is still mostly vacant. A section of it is used where the employee parking lot is fenced in; making pictures from that angle hard to get. I plan on taking pictures of the Former May Company. Back on topic, The Midway Mall May Company later became a Kaufman's. In late 2006 Macy's Acquired Kuafmann's and re-branded all stores to Macy's. In some places the Kaufmann's stores were closed. The Midway Mall store is one that was rebranded as Macy's.

Current Information

The Midway Mall currently is home to 90 Businesses and is 1,100,000 square feet of Mall. Some of those places are located in detached buildings on the Mall's property and range from High-end stores, Churches, Department stores, and a Variety of Restaurants. This Mall's anchor stores are currently Sears, JCPenny, Macy's, and Best Buy. The mall's management said that around four Million people visit the mall yearly (to me that seems a little high). I have realized that most new stores that open are owned by families. This is also found in the Food Court. Sbarro, Charley's Grilled Subs, Taco Bell, Yihi Japan, JJ BBQ and Grill, and Auntie Ann's are the only food chains in the Food Court. Hotels seem to do a good business by the mall. When I drive by in the day no cars are in their parking lots, but at night most are filled almost to capacity. The Mall has had a two percent increase in sales from last year!

Rumors of a Major Overhaul

Centro Properties planned to have a complete overhaul done to the mall, but then they said they were pulling out of America. The mall is still listed as being owned by Centro and for lease signs say Centro on them. Centro owns the Midway Mall, Midway Crossings Shopping Center, and Midway Market Square shopping centers in Elyria. One of the Current rumors is that the owners are considering reshaping the Midway Mall as an outlet mall with lower prices, but still recognizable store brands.

Location

The Midway Mall is sandwiched between Interstate 90 and Interstate 80, just East of the Interstate 80 / 90 split on the north side of town. Interstate 90 is to the North and Interstate 80 is to the South. On the East side of the Mall is West River Road (this road is the main road for traveling between the Mall and nearby Shopping Centers). To the West is State route 57. Route 57 is how Shoppers get in from both interstates as well as from Lorain, Ohio and Sections of Elyria, Ohio.

Competition 

Some shopping places that are taking the Mall's business is the Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted, Avon Commons in Avon, Crocker Park in Westlake, and South Park Mall in Strongsville.

Closed Stores and Restaurants that are Nearby or Connected to the Mall

Some stores that closed in the area are Circuit City, Walmart, Sofa Express, Dillard's, Steve & Barry's, T.J. Maxx, and Kids R Us (now Planet Fitness). Some Restaurants that closed are Hometown Buffet (has since been three different Asian buffets; none were successful), Eatza Pizza, Bennigan's (now Ground Round), Smokey Bones (now Olive Garden), Tokyo Steakhouse (now Wasabi Steakhouse), Red Robin (torn down and Key bank was built on the site), Fazoli's (now Mezcal Tequila), Eat N' Park, Lone Star Steakhouse, T.G.I. Fridays, and one of two McDonald's nearby.

How the Midway Mall looks from state route 57.

Sears Department Store as of 2 - 3 - 12. The visible cars are parked for Red Lobster, but Sears did seem busier than normal.


Here are my own pictures of this Mall. These pictures are from 12 - 21 - 11. I will get more pictures later.

The Best Buy Mall Entrance



Looking towards the Sears entrance



A Mall Entrance by Sears (Right)



Mall Directory



Inside of Sears looking towards the abandoned Sears Garden Center. Part of the detached Sears Auto Center is visible in this Photo.



The interior of the Sears tool area.



The closed up Entrance to Dillard's



A Mall Entrance near the former Higbee's / Dillard's store (Left)



Pac Sun is leaving Midway.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Closed Super Kmart Stores in Puerto Rico

By; Nicholas Eckhart


Caguas- Betamces 400, Las Catalinas Mall

  • This store was converted, but I am unsure when.
  • Currently Kmart

Super Kmart Blog

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Closed Super Kmart stores in Virginia

Nicholas Eckhart
nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com

Virginia Beach- 550 First Colonial Road

  • Operates as a traditional Kmart 
  • Converted in 2013

Photo by Mike Kalasnik

Virginia Beach- 3901 Holland Road
  • Currently vacant
  • Closed 2009
Photos by Mike Kalasnik



Norfolk- 6101 North Military Highway
  • Currently Kmart
  • Converted 2010 or 2011
Photos by Mike Kalasnik





Tabb- 5007 Victory Boulevard
  • Currently Kmart
  • Converted 2011
Photos by Mike Kalasnik




 Chesapeake- Northeast of the Virginia State Route 168 and North Battlefield Boulevard interchange
  • One of the stores that never made it past the planning stage.
  • Plans were submitted for this store in 2000.
  • In Mid 2001 the plans were rejected by the City Council due to a land zoning issue.
  • Priority Honda was since built on this site.
Bing Maps
Hampton- 2000 Power Plant Parkway in Hampton, VA (Super Kmart Construction site)
  • Construction started in 2002
  • The store was nearly complete when Kmart halted construction.
  • Torn down to make way for BJ's Wholesale.

Portsmouth- 4000 Victory Boulevard (Super Kmart Construction site)
  • Construction started in 2002 and then was halted leaving behind an unfinished store.
  • Majority of building torn down in 2003
  • Farm Fresh Supermarket built on site
Bing Maps