The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
QUESTION: What is one store that went out of business that you really miss?
Talk about it.
77 comments
Emporium Capwell. I still wear some shirts from there.
I miss the restaurant in Emporion..Delicious chicken salad sandwich and tapioca with whipped cream
I miss the old Broadway Plaza before they went too high end and ruined it! I Magnin was a real favorite.
My grandmother worked at the Capwell’s at the Newpark Mall. I have such fond memories of that store
Long’s
My pick too. Longs is very missed. Cvs is terrible.
Eames Hardware & Supply in Pleasant Hill.
Simons Hardware and Kelleway Hardware in Walnut Creek.
Original G
Throw OSH on that list. It might have been bigger than the ones you listed but they had people working there that knew hardware and were willing to he[p.
As for Kelleway’s, my dad always said if he couldn’t find what he wanted at Kelleway’s it didn’t exist
Yup, especially OSH at east end of valley on Ygnacio.
Navlets on Monument Blvd. went there often in late 1960s.
Hope all is well there over the hill.
Nob Hill, Oak Grove Rd. Walnut Creek. Mentioned before, bit my go-to place to relax, get to chat with shoppers periodically and had the specialty items I couldn’t fine anywhere else. That small market feeling. I guess nothing lasts.
There’s a Nob Hill in Martinez
Martinez is not exactly convenient unless you work or have business to conduct in Martinez.
If you want to shop at Nob Hill then the in-convenient drive to Martinez is what you will need to do regardless of convenience. It’s not that far from Concord usually only takes me 15 minutes to get there, not in such a hurry that I can’t afford the extra time to shop at one of my favorites…
Montgomery Wards and I fear Sears is next (dying in place)
Also miss Mervyns.
also forgot Yard Birds
F. W. Woolworth’s in SF. Closed in 1996 I believe.
Mervyn’s had decent merchandise and the store was always tidy. Kohl’s is horrible and ghetto fabulous. Always a mess and every Kohl’s I’ve been in is a mess. The one here in Carson City is a mess just like the ones in Renton WA & Pleasant Hill
Diablo Foods, Screw Shop and Bobs Big Boy.
FYI _ Screw Shop is on Shary Circle now near Costco
Diablo Foods stillopen in Lafayette.
Not really convenient for people in Concord. And Mt Diablo Blvd is a nightmare to drive down as there are too many people because they’ve built too much housing in Lafayette. My hometown has been ruined
I see so move…pretty simple instead of crying online about convenience
BDML
I have. People like you with the uppity tude is what ruined the area
The one store I miss the most is Mervyn’s. They always had a nice selection of name brand clothes, and among other things, nice sheets and towels. Everything they carried was quality, and reasonably priced.
I also miss Grand Auto, because they installed most of the parts they sold. Back in the 80s, I bought a new engine from them for my old Camaro, and they installed it for me at a very low cost.
Then there was Mathews, Top of the Hill, Daly City. At Mathews, I could haggle with them, and get a better price, sometimes as much as 25 or 30%.
The old Sears and Roebuck, when quality mean something, is another one.
Dawg, I remember getting a pretty sweet 10-speed bike with a stereo purchase at Matthew’s, as part of a weird promotion they were running. Early 80s, maybe?
Get a bike!!! (I did).
https://youtu.be/RsPTgYMjNcs
Radio shack
Hogan’s
One stop shopping for shooting and fishing
Hogans was great,and what people dont seem to notice is both Pleasant Hill and Concord will not allow handguns to be sold in their city,and they dont care if they loses taxes,they will just raise taxes instead.
And how do you explain City Arms?
Long’s, Mervyn’s, Kelleway’s Hardware, Simon Hardware.
Lots of restaurants, too.
My front door and bathroom sink came from Simon years ago – still as good as new!
Yards Birds, Longs Drugs, hobby store by Food Max…
That was Hobby Town, after they moved from the run down shopping center at Treat and Clayton (where Rockler is now). Hobby Town is my most missed store. At least Rockler is still there and I was in there last week.
Mervyns, which I call Mervalyns. It was the best place to get sensible pants. Once a woman took a belt off the rack to whip her kid.
Border’s. it was fun to go there before a movie to get a list of books to order on Amazon.
Bookstore in general. They have become scares. I believe SunValley Mall had a Dalton’s books store when I moved to Benicia in 1998. Now I go to Half Price Books, and Border’s. There were a used bookstore in the strip mall on Willow Pass (where 99Cent only is) I forgot their name, but they had a great selection.
Beverly’s, KMart, Diablo Foods in Concord.
Never cared for KMart, even though I shopped there a few times, they always looked so disorganized and shopping, at least the 2 I went to, the one here in Concord, and one in San Mateo, when I lived in Foster City. Compared to Target they were bad at merchandizing.
KAD
The KMart on Clayton Rd was great for residents on that end of town. It was a good “go to” as they had everything. Such a loss. The on in S Lake Tahoe closed which is bad as currently they have nothing as a “go to” and have to drive down to Carson City. Rumor has it that Target is going into the old Raley’s by Heavenly, but it will be another small Target unless they kick the other businesses out and take the entire strip.
How are you doing KAD? I “chat” with S and GoGo often
Kmart, Mervyns, Longs, Alpha Beta
Morgan’s Machine and Marine.
I didn’t even know some of those places closed.
That CineArts movie theater …Monument Theater? ….in Pleasant Hill.
The “Dome”. It might have been old but it was a landmark
I miss Disney Store. I worked there for 10 years. It was a great place to take kids or escape from reality for a bit.
Tandy Radio Shack Corporation
Hogans surplus it use to be where Ace hardware is on Contra Costa Blvd.
OT _it was actually next door at the consignment store
The Hogan Sporting Goods was actually in what is now Estates Consignment Store, 1500 CCB. It is one building north of Ace Hardware.
Will always miss Beedes in Clayton Valley. They had the best candy counter: just about everything. We’d ride our bikes out there on hot summer days – not worry about them getting stolen – then hit Beedes for Hot Tamales, jelly beans, etc. The clerk would scoop from the glass candy bins into a small paper bag for you. Also liked Tootsie Roll Pops, with the tasty hard candy lollipop outside and the Tootsie Roll chocolate inside. And…..remember boxes of Cracker Jack with the caramel coating and peanuts, with a prize inside? Uh oh, this is making’ me hungry. Gotta go put the bins out for tomorrow. See ya!
Fry’s, but they started going out of business almost 10 years before they actually did.
I started missing Fry’s as soon as we left California. I knew that if I needed to talk to an employee, I would be lied to, but they always had a great supply of electronic equipment and components. And it was always handy to be able to pick up two items and compare them.
did most my grocery shopping there
FYI, Fry’s Electronics and Fry’s Grocers were owned by different branches of the same family. The grocers were sold off to save mart and kroger a while back. My daughter in Phoenix shops at the Fry’s grocery store there.
And Save Mart (including lucky and food maxx) was recently sold to someone outside the original family who had owned them for years.
Save Mart was purchase by a private equity firm at the end of 2021.
Kingswood Capital out of Los Angeles – some of their executives are former Cerberus – same PE firm behind Safeway /Albertsons acquisition.
When I moved to California in 1991 there was a Fry’s (grocery) in Pleasant Hill that later became a Safeway. I think that might have been the original. When I has in Casa Grande in 2009 outside of Phoenix there was a Fry’s Grocery store there.
Mervyn’s by miles.
Yard Birds Home Center.
Hogan’s, Raleys, and restaurant Scott’s Seafood
The Original Freddie’s Pizzeria in Lafayette
Bob
Nothing like watching Jim toss dough in the air with a Pall Mall hanging out of his mouth and taking a swig out of his coffee cup. He and Buddy were great people and Freddie’s is one of few places that was always packed. Definitely “THE” place to go for those of us that wore the “Royal Blue & White”
Us ACALANES DONS also hung out at CHAPS Burger Joint up the street from Freddie’s.
RedRazor
Chaps was a bit before my time but the family would go there and get burgers from time to time. When I was a Don it had a different name but good food. Actually the Lafayette FB page had a thing yesterday about all the shops that were in the LaFiesta Plaza. We were all having fun with that. Amazing how many people remember Wally and his wife at Chocran’s Shoe Repair and what wonderful people they were. Also Joe Campana and Sam that ownded the Pharmacy and the 2 older women that ran the soda fountain
Montgomery Wards ( or monkey wards as we used to call it as kids)
Blockbuster Video! Be kind; rewind.
Life was better with blockbuster. You had to strategize when to go if you wanted to make sure you got something. Going with a date to pick out a movie for home. Buying used ones to build your home library. A legitimate part of the coolness of you and your home was how solid your collection was. Now we can get anything we want whenever we want and watch it any time we like. Big loss for society.
Capwell’s, Mervyn’s and Gottchalk’s
The Nickel Arcade in Walnut Creek.
And the comedy place that I believe was in the same place at one time.
Kmart, radio schack
Thrifty, for $.05 single, $.10 double and $.15 triple ice cream cones. I just noticed that there is no longer a “cents” symbol on the keyboard.
This was a great question. So many great answers.
Simons Walnut Creek
Max’s Opera Cafe Walnut Creek
Caesar’s Italian Restaurant Oakland
Lee’s Chinese Oakland
Mariposa Chinese Walnut Creek
The Willows Theater Concord
Blazing Burger Walnut Creek
Zim’s Oakland & San Francisco
Beverley’s Concord
Aaron Brothers Concord
Dave’s Coffee Shop Oakland
Hubcaps Walnut Creek
The Copper Skillet Walnut Creek
Marie Calendars Walnut Creek
Stanfords Walnut Creek
Sears when the tools department was amazing
Locust Street Deli Walnut Creek
Hilson’s downtown and on Treat and Clayton.
Seconding BeeDee’s and The Emporium.
Tower Records.
Chris & Johns Hot Dogs in Oakland!
They were the best. Never had a hot dog snap like that when you bite it since.
Is that hobby store still in The Willows? It’s been many years since I lived in Concord
Would spend hours in Hogans looking around. Loved that giant BAR rifle that hung above the gun counter!
I woulnder who picked up that thing?
Slow Sams market. Saranap.
Simon’s Hardware and Handyman. Y’know, real hardware stores…
For those from Martinez…Bud’s Pork Chop Shop. Best pork chop sandwich anywhere
Comments are closed.