Wait, how did this chain get exempted from the Boston bag ban?

In an effort to get the longest lines(?), Bradlee‘s required cashiers to type in both the price and the 10 or so digit stock number for each item bought. Ah, the good ole days before scanners.

I guess those bags don't disintegrate

By anon
Wed, 06/26/2019 - 10:34pm

How many decades old is it???

I hope a paper bag wouldn't

By anon
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 2:08am

I hope a paper bag wouldn't disintegrate in your house either.

I miss Woolworth too. People may look down their nose at that type of store now, but there was always some interesting, not to mention useful, thing to find in these colorful places. Today's high end stores are just plain boring.

Look down their nose?

By perruptor
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 5:41am

Hell, I miss Building 19.

We still use the Xmas tree and the kitchen table we bought at Bradlees.

Great place.

By dmcboston
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 10:24am

Everyone knows about the windows, but I got a flier once that had a sale on salvaged baseball gloves.
They were stamped 'salvaje', so naturally they ran with 'Autographed by the great All Star player Hector Salvaje!'

Building 8 sold kitchen and

By anon
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 4:24pm

Building 8 sold kitchen and bath cabinets , got their name from the building they were in at the old Hingham shipyard.

I don't miss Bradlees

By BostonDog
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 7:29am

Maybe because I only caught the last decade of the chain when they were obviously past their prime and beelining to insolvency.

They were not fun places. Think of a K-Mart with less inventory and more disorganized. (Ames too.)

I don't miss these places. You can't blame Amazon for their demise.

Maybe, but...

By dmcboston
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 10:27am

...I still have a Bradlees branded jig saw. Probably paid six bucks for it.

Woolworth

By cybah
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 9:52am

You can still visit Woolworth today... just go to Foot Locker (Foot Locker is what remains of Woolworth USA)

Jokes aside, Family Dollar and Dollar General are pretty much Woolworth's business model. Smaller stores in smaller towns/city centers selling a wide variety of goods, housewares, food, and other stuff at discount prices. Quality isn't very good, but it is cheap.

Woolworth was pretty much the same thing. Its really too bad Woolworth could not hang on (well the 5 and 10 store part, not Foot Locker) a few more years and it would have lead the discount store market.

Dollar stores don't have lunch counters, though

By Ron Newman
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 10:00am

and those were part of Woolworth's appeal, and why people miss them.

Also, the Woolworth in downtown Boston was huge -- 3 stories. It is now divided into TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Marshall's, and possibly some other stores I don't remember anymore.

Also,

By perruptor
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 10:47am

Dollar stores don't sell goldfish and turtles. I also remember Woolworth's goods generally being higher quality than what's in Dollar General, but then, you'd have had to really search for stuff that bad in those days.

Woolworths always had

By Patriciax
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 11:42am

Woolworths always had parakeets flying around as well. And, the lunch counter ladies! What a treat to get a hot dog at Woolworths!

Dollar Stores aren't even close

By Don't Panic
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 11:25pm

Woolworths was a class act. Always well lit and interactive with their neighbors. I don't know of any other stores that sponsored plastic model car making competitions.

Kresge’s

By Beanzzz
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 2:26pm

The one at South Shore Plaza had great subs.

And I could really go for a Great American at Brigham’s right about now...sigh.

I'll see yer Bradlees

By The Gambler
Wed, 06/26/2019 - 11:01pm

And raise you Zayre, Caldor, and Ann & Hope.

I'll raise an Ames

By Steeve
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 1:33am

I'll raise an Ames

Somehow we still have a Kmart

By Ron Newman
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 5:52am

at Assembly Square. Not many of these left.

Time to stock up on KMart

By Refugee
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 9:20am

Time to stock up on KMart plastic bags. They'll be vintage someday.

There was a single strip mall

By Steeve
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 10:00am

There was a single strip mall on the Cape that had a Tweeter, Gateway store, and a KMart (across from a Sears).

What was a Gateway store?

By Ron Newman
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 10:02am

Never heard of that one.

Gateway Computers; had Holstein cow spots theme

By Dot net
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 11:15am

N/T

You have a friend in the business

By BostonDog
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 11:32am

n/t

And I'll see your Ames

By Cranky
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 10:00am

and raise you a Mammoth Mart.
Yes, I am old.

I think the old Zayre at the Dedham Plaza

By GoSoxGo
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 2:34pm

was once a Mammoth Mart.

Dont forget Raymonds and JM

By anon
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 2:57pm

Dont forget Raymonds and JM Fields.

I'll see your Mammoth Mart

By Ron Newman
Fri, 06/28/2019 - 1:21pm

and I'll raise you a Brands Mart. Never went there, but I remember their advertising. They were on an industrial side street off Concord Ave, near Fresh Pond in Cambridge. I believe their product mix was similar to Lechmere, heavy on appliances and electronics.

There is a chain with that name today in Florida and Georgia, selling similar merchandise, but I don't think it's related.

Was that the "club" store,

By perruptor
Fri, 06/28/2019 - 5:24pm

like Service Merchandise once was (but later), by the rotary where Alewife Brook Pkwy starts? My father joined that and shopped there sometimes.

We called it Ann & Hopeless.

By baustin
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 8:47am

We called it Ann & Hopeless.

See your Bradless, Zayre, Caldor

By Dave-from-Boston
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 8:55am

and raise you a J M Fields

Straight Flush

By anon
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 9:09am

I am probably one of the few who remembers the Turn-Style. There was one at Northgate in Revere. It was one of those Almy's type of stores. Their gimmick was you had to go through a turnstile to get in.

But Hills

By cybah
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 9:48am

But Hills is where the toys are..

And I'll raise you with an SS

By nml
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 10:35am

And I'll raise you with an SS Kresge's. Remember when that used to be right in the heart of downtown crossing?

Where was Kresge's in downtown Boston?

By Ron Newman
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 4:57pm

Unlike the downtown Woolworth, it was before my time. Where was it?

(Kresge is still around, barely; today it is called Kmart.)

Kresges Location

By anon
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 6:05pm

Kresges was at the corner of Washington Street and Temple Place, where the Men's Warehouse is now. It actually lasted well into the 80s, but by that point it was a mere shadow of it's former self. That same location later housed a large record store in the 80s, the name of which I cannot remember (not Discount Records which had been in the same general area but was gone by then and not Strawberries which was further North on Washington)), and was later an optometrist place. There also used to be a Neisners at Washington and Bromfield. Also a big Grants in the building that later housed Barnes & Noble and now remains vacant.

record store

By Ron Newman
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 7:03pm

was it Sam Goody's? I don't think Tower had a downtown store, and HMV was around the corner on Winter Street.

Goody's

By anon
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 7:39pm

Sam Goody's was on the corner of Washington and Winter, across from the Corner Mall (which was formerly Gilchrists). Goody's was a terrible record store. Astronomical prices, bad selection, unknowledgable staff. I think the one at Washington and Temple Place was called Grooves or something generic like that.

Braintree Amazon Distribution Center Gets Planning Board Approval

https://patch.com/massachusetts/braintree/braintre...

Stay you, Roslindale!

By anon
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 6:24pm

Stay you, Roslindale!

Home of Sherbos...........

By anon
Fri, 06/28/2019 - 9:57am

Home of Sherbos...........

Wait, how did this chain get exempted from the Boston bag ban?

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