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Sunday, May 27, 2018

Lord & Taylor / J.C.Penney - Providence Place Mall - Providence, RI


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Some exterior Lord and Taylor signage to the left ©MagazineUSA
LORD & TAYLOR
J.C. PENNEY
BOTH CLOSED ANCHORS
PROVIDENCE PLACE MALL
PROVIDENCE, RI

So if you know anything about the Providence Place Mall, you would know that the mall is doing exceptionally well, considering how it's an indoor shopping center. There are very few vacancies and many popular retailers and tourist attractions such as Dave & Busters on the third floor.

The Providence Place Mall is a shopping center located in Rhode Island's capital city of Providence, just off of the I-95. The mall currently houses 146 shops and three anchor stores (Macy*s, Nordstrom, and Bed Bath & Beyond). Doesn't it seem odd that for such a large mall there are only three anchor stores, one of which is quite small?

Well, that's because the mall was designed to house an additional anchor space, which has been owned by two different companies throughout the mall's existence. When the mall opened in 1999, it was anchored by Nordstrom and Filene's, with Lord & Taylor moving in sometime in 2001.

Here we have a few shots of the store of the Lord and Taylor store prior to its opening. The images come from the architectural firm Johnson Schmidt & Associates, who was in charge of the store's construction

©JSA via Dimeo

©JSA via Dimeo

©JSA via Dimeo
The store was originally constructed to account for three levels of retail space, much like Nordstrom and Macy*s. The mall's only anchor to be limited to one floor is Bed Bath & Beyond, which is on the first floor only.

L&T would only last for four short years until 2005, and J.C. Penney opened in the mall on February 24, 2006. Later on that same year, Filene's would be converted into a Macy*s store.

Image result for jcpenney providence place mall
Here we have some of JCP's exterior signage facing I-95 ©The Daily Meal
providence-place
Interior signs pointing towards JCPenney ©Greater City Providence
Image result for jcpenney providence place mall
JCP's interior entrance on an unknown floor ©프로비던스 기차역
Photo of JCPenney - Providence, RI, United States
Inside the store ©Dexter V via Yelp
Despite opening in 2006, the JCPenney underwent renovations in 2012, showing that the company had some confidence in this location. The reason it gave for shuttering the location, however, was that the store was under-performing.

As it stands in the mall today, the L&T/JCP space has been barricaded off and the bottom two floors of the main retail area have been demolished to expand the north parking garage. Remarkably, the exterior of the building remains completely intact.



While the location was still open, YouTuber georgef551 went into JCPenney and filmed the store's escalators. While the focus of the video of course is on the escalators, you can see quite a bit of the store from the video, so be sure to check that out below!



Stay tuned for Providence Place Mall updates in the near future. It's pretty interesting since this mall is one of the most 'alive' malls I've been to ever, compared to the mostly dead malls I frequently cover on this blog.

Until next time
~RS

Monday, May 21, 2018

Kids "R" Us - A Last Minute Revival


Remember that time from 1983 to 2003 where Kids "R" Us was a thing? Well I sure don't, but I do know quite a bit about it.

Kids "R" Us was one of Toys "R" Us's subsidiaries, accompanied by Babies "R" Us later on in its lifetime. In 2003, Toys "R" Us decided to pull the plug on the chain and moved its inventory to larger format Toys "R" Us stores until they ran out.

There are quite a few remnants of KRU nationwide, such as the colored Kids "R" Us logo on the Horseheads, NY store


Image result for horseheads ny toys r us
©Southern Retail Blog


Miraculously the KRU signs at this and a few other stores managed to survive 15 years after TRU officially dropped the KRU name.

Additionally, on many of the Toys "R" Us distribution trucks, the trailers still bear the Kids "R" Us name. I found two examples of these trucks at the Waterford, CT and Milford, CT stores.

TRU/KRU Truck at the Waterford, CT Toys "R" Us

TRU/KRU Truck at the Waterford, CT Babies "R" Us

TRU/KRU Truck at the Milford, CT Toys "R" Us




But what I found most striking about Kids "R" Us is Toys "R" Us's attempt to bring life to the brand once again as its operations begin to wind down. I was at the Waterford, CT location today on the lookout for some signs and stuff that I can pick up, but alas I found this: Hidden within the former Kids "R" Us section of the store (now a Babies "R" Us ministore) I found this redesigned Kids "R" Us logo!


Although TRU officially discontinued the brand in 2003, it appears that the new logo was redesigned with the 2007 logo reformatting that Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us both currently use. I've never seen this in a store before, and I think it's odd that TRU decided to reintroduce the brand despite filing for bankruptcy

Excluding this most recent remake of the KRU logo, the latest design was this odd boxy "KRU" logo used at only a handful of stores:


Oddly enough, this also answers the question What color would Toys "R" Us have used for Kids "R" Us if it didn't discontinue the brand? To that, the answer is quite clear: crimson! I've read from some sources online that a 2007 re-launch of Kids "R" Us was planned, however the legitimacy of those claims is questionable but it might explain how Toys "R" Us had the new Kids "R" Us logo just laying around.

Below is a recreation of the Kids "R" Us logo using the crimson color scheme.


The sign was actually two of them back-to-back and I tried to pick up the sign from the store, but sadly the associates wouldn't let me take it. I'm going to try and see if my friend who works there can get it for me, but I'm determined to get it one way or another. At least I snapped a pic of it before it got lost to time. I've currently set up plans to buy the "R" from the Thank you for shopping Babies "R" Us sign at the Waterford, CT store! I should be picking that up in two weeks

Also, it looks like TRU is bringing back some vintage-styled Kids "R" Us era price tags... Take a close look at the price tags on some of the items in the picture with the KRU sign. See how it says "R" Us at the top? This was done in the early 2000s so that price tags could be shared across Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us, and Kids "R" Us stores easily. It looks like TRU brought them back in one last nostalgic nod.

Anyways, I thought you guys might find this an interesting find. Let me know below if these oddities have popped up at your local Toys "R" Us store!

Until next time,
~RS

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Kmart - Somerville, MA


KMART 
77 MIDDLESEX AVENUE 
SOMERVILLE, RI 
OPENED 1997 

Here we are at yet another Kmart

But I have to say, this was a really nice one... By Kmart standards that is. This Kmart location is located in the Boston suburb of Somerville, right off of I-93. This particular Kmart is located within the Assembly Square Shopping Center, which is home to a few other big-box stores including T.J.Maxx, HomeGoods, Bed Bath & Beyond, Trader Joe's, and Christmas Tree Shops. There also used to be a Sports Authority, but it has since closed its doors.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Benny's Home and Auto Stores - Waterford, CT


BENNY'S HOME AND AUTO STORES
40 BOSTON POST ROAD

WATERFORD, CONN
CLOSED FEBRUARY 28, 2017

Hi everyone! This is my fourth post about Benny's Home and Auto stores, and the conclusion of my four part series of the Benny's stores in my immediate area. Also, be sure to check out BrandHistoryUSA's Complete Directory of Benny's locations, which has some stats for each of Benny's locations up to the time of its closure.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Benny's Home and Auto Stores - Old Saybrook, CT


BENNY'S HOME AND AUTO STORES
1654 BOSTON POST ROAD
OLD SAYBROOK, CONN 

CLOSED 2017

Welcome back to week three of my four-week coverage on Benny's Home and Auto Stores!

Today's location is in Old Saybrook, CT on Boston Post Road, right near Kohl's and Big Y Supermarket and just off of Interstate 95.

This particular location closed in October 2017 alongside many other Benny's location.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Surplus Unlimited - Norwich, CT [AMES CART SIGHTING]


SURPLUS UNLIMITED
381 W MAIN STREET

NORWICH, CT

So here we have an article where I'm not going too far in-depth on a store itself, but rather what it possesses inside.

Since I started this blog, one of the big things that I wanted to find was a vintage Ames shopping cart. Now, the awesome people over at the Ames Fan Club have done an excellent job documenting much of the chain's past, but I thought it would be cool to go out and find some carts on my own.

Benny's Home and Auto Stores - Westerly, RI



BENNY'S HOME AND AUTO STORES
248 POST ROAD
WESTERLY, RI
CLOSED 2017


Alright everyone... Over the next few weeks I'm going to start a mini-series covering some of the former Benny's Home and Auto locations throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Benny's Home and Auto Stores - Norwich, CT


BENNY'S HOME AND AUTO STORES
35 NEW LONDON TNPK
NORWICH, CT
CLOSED 6 OCTOBER 2017


Welcome back to week 2 of my Benny's Home and Auto Store documentation series!

This week, we'll be taking a look at the Norwich, CT location located on New London Turnpike. The store is located directly across the street from the Norwichtown Commons (Formerly called Norwichtown Mall) which is currently anchored by a Stop and Shop and Big Lots.

I totally stumbled across this location by accident as I was up in the Norwich area for some driving classes, but seeing this Benny's store I had to stop!