I just noticed there wasn't a post for Korvettes so heres one. Lets start discussing. They were originally known as E.J. Korvettes.
Alington Va. around the late 60s.
(http://www.wakefieldclassof1970.com/uploads/Korvettes.JPG)
http://www.wakefieldclassof1970.com/index/mn11222/pg15332
Clearer pic of Lawrence, NY.
(http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/60sdiscountstores/korvettes.jpg)
http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/60sdiscountstores/page2.html
Heres another with the older logo.
(http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/60sdiscountstores/korvette-lawrenceny.jpg)
http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/60sdiscountstores/page2.html
I'd date this ad back to the early 70s.
(http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Boldinger/korvets.jpg)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Boldinger/McKorvet.htm
Inside the Korvettes in Paramus, NJ. in 1978.
(http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Boldinger/Korvettes.JPG)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Boldinger/McKorvet.htm
Queens, NY.
(http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/anniversaryarchive/anniversary99/all_things/tb_gone08.gif)
http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/anniversaryarchive/anniversary99/all_things/tb_an_allthings01.html
QuoteOriginally posted by storehistoryguy
Clearer pic of Lawrence, NY.
(http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/60sdiscountstores/korvettes.jpg)
http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/60sdiscountstores/page2.html
that kida looks like a jamesway :P
QuoteOriginally posted by Caldor1999
QuoteOriginally posted by storehistoryguy
Clearer pic of Lawrence, NY.
(http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/60sdiscountstores/korvettes.jpg)
http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/60sdiscountstores/page2.html
that kida looks like a jamesway :P
Funny! I thought that too! Probebly never was though.
Never heard of this one either, was it a local chain?
QuoteOriginally posted by Crawford
Never heard of this one either, was it a local chain?
They weren't to popular.
Inside the Korvettes in Paramus, New Jersey in 1979.
(http://bobleafe.com/Images/d15p084.jpg)
http://bobleafe.com/layout/Results.tpl?cart=11034324082422&artist=Patti%20Smith&startat=1
This is a XAM Brand calculator which was Korvettes name brand.
(http://www.vintagecalculators.com/xam867.JPG)
http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/calculator_photo_library_t-z.html
A former Korvettes in Brooklyn, NY.
(http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/brooklynfulton/fultonlawrence1.jpg)
http://www.peacethroughunderstanding.org/index.php?s=9bafeb4eadd5d71a5443e15ad77bcb63&showtopic=4763&pid=35676&st=40&#entry35676
The Korvetts in Hartford became the American Plaza (a reservation center for American Airlines). I remember that store!
I remember Korvettes fondly from the late 60's and early 70's in the Baltimore, MD area. It was the first charge account that I ever had and my first purchase was neon pink shag carpeting for my bedroom. (Am I dating myself or what?)
It was a nice store for a long time and I remember that they had nice merchandise and a great music department where I spent alot of time and money whenever we went shopping. I even remember going over to pick up a copy of the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack after seeing the movie in 1977.
I think that they started to go downhill in the late 80's and my Dad told me that they were all closing the stores and what was left was just alot of junk laying around. I do not recall when they officially closed since I was living in PA by then and they did not have the stores in my area.
Anybody else remember shopping or anything special that you bought at the store?
I don't think they even made it into the 80's. I think they were gone by 1979.
Does anyone remember one in Northway Mall in Albany (Colonie) NY?
I heard something on the radio today and it was mentioned (along with Denby's - which was in Stuyvesant Plaza).
I'm guessing where Ward's wound up was where they were (as the building looked similar to the Lawrence photo below).
Way back in 1964, eight years before I was born, my Mom worked at a Korvettes store (I think it was in Nanuet). Would anyone happen to have a picture of this store that they would post? If so, I'd really like to see it, thanks.
QuoteOriginally posted by mikey1972
Way back in 1964, eight years before I was born, my Mom worked at a Korvettes store (I think it was in Nanuet). Would anyone happen to have a picture of this store that they would post? If so, I'd really like to see it, thanks.
i dont think there was one there i can cheack for ya and see was it liek astreet store ???
QuoteOriginally posted by Caldor1999
QuoteOriginally posted by mikey1972
Way back in 1964, eight years before I was born, my Mom worked at a Korvettes store (I think it was in Nanuet). Would anyone happen to have a picture of this store that they would post? If so, I'd really like to see it, thanks.
i dont think there was one there i can cheack for ya and see was it liek astreet store ???
I don't think it was a street store. I think it was in a shopping center. It was somewhere in that area. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.:D
i think jamesway bought most of the stores because the ine in fulton ny became a jamesway
In the province of Quebec in Canada, there is a chain of discount stores called Korvette. The chain started in 1958 and is in no way related to the U.S. Korvettes stores. They operate 50 stores, mostly in small towns where there are no other large retailer.
http://www.korvette.ca/presentation.asp?lan=en&menuid=3
QuoteOriginally posted by beachgal26
I remember Korvettes fondly from the late 60's and early 70's in the Baltimore, MD area. It was the first charge account that I ever had and my first purchase was neon pink shag carpeting for my bedroom. (Am I dating myself or what?)
It was a nice store for a long time and I remember that they had nice merchandise and a great music department where I spent alot of time and money whenever we went shopping. I even remember going over to pick up a copy of the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack after seeing the movie in 1977.
I think that they started to go downhill in the late 80's and my Dad told me that they were all closing the stores and what was left was just alot of junk laying around. I do not recall when they officially closed since I was living in PA by then and they did not have the stores in my area.
Anybody else remember shopping or anything special that you bought at the store?
beachgal:
Korvette's by the time of their closing was owned by a French corporation. EJ Korvette's had some great clothing for boys (my mom bought me from Korvette's in Hartford, an beige and burnt orange pinstripe shirt with a burnt orange tie. (it was a nice shirt, I still have the picture from picture day at school with me wearing it!)
Boy a pink shag carpeting!!!
Jim
Korvette's pretty much disappeared late in 1980. Little known bit of information was that the company who owned Value City operated the stores (and supplied merchandise) towards the end.
That store in Lawrence NY (Long Island) was never a Jamesway. To my knowledge, it was split up after Korvette's went under (I don't remember what into)
It turns out that the Canadian chain named Korvette took their name from the U.S. chain.
A current officer said that the founder traveled to visit his sisted in New York and visited the E.J.Korvette stores. He brought the idea back to Canada and wanted to name his chain Corvette but could not. In the end they went for Korvette. That brand name was not registered in Canada so the chain was founded in 1958 under the name Korvette Stores Limited.
Today that chain is still in business and operates 65 discount stores.
We had a few Korvettes out here in the Philadelphia area. Here's a few of them:
- Roosevelt Boulevard and Welsh Road (Northeast Shopping Center) - This location has since been split into a Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory, and smaller stores
- King of Prussia Plaza - This stores has been torn down in 1980 and replaced by Sears and additional mall space
- Springfield - This location became a Value City
- Moorestown, NJ - This location became a Kmart
I think we make a big mistake in this forum fixating on the trappings of retail (buildings, decor, etc.) and forgetting the people who made these chains what they were (and are.) Case in point: Eugene Ferkauf, who devised an ingenious way to circumvent price-fixing laws, setting the stage for the discount retail revolution of '62.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/business/eugene-ferkauf-founder-of-e-j-korvette-chain-dies-at-91.html?_r=1
Quote from: retailisking on June 08, 2012, 09:33:14 AM
I think we make a big mistake in this forum fixating on the trappings of retail (buildings, decor, etc.) and forgetting the people who made these chains what they were (and are.) Case in point: Eugene Ferkauf, who devised an ingenious way to circumvent price-fixing laws, setting the stage for the discount retail revolution of '62.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/business/eugene-ferkauf-founder-of-e-j-korvette-chain-dies-at-91.html?_r=1
RIP Eugene... the world misses Korvette's!!
Here's a picture of the Korvettes in the Trumbull Shopping Park, after they closed they became Reads and Macy's
(http://www.trumbullhistory.org/misc/korvets2.jpg)
Here is a picture of a korvettes box fan which I found in a youtube video of a "Abandoned Isolation Hospital" in new jersey
(http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/s540/zonezilla/AbandonedIsolationHospital-NJ_zps213d648b.png)
video which i found this in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZHY4_uWEv8
Even though I was born slightly too late, the closest Korvette's to my current house was in Southgate, MI, on Fort Street at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania Road. It was one of three stores in a strip mall, which also had a Chatham supermarket and a Sentry pharmacy. That strip mall was torn down shortly after Korvette's went out of business in 1980 and the lot sat vacant for well over 15 years until a Super Kmart (one of few still open today) opened on that site in 1998. I heard somewhere that sometime in early 1991, Meijer wanted to build on the strip mall site, but instead chose to erect a store on the recently-closed Fort George drive-in theater across the street.
Korvette's would be one of the Stores I would love to save. It was a great store...
An aerial view of the Southgate, MI Korvette's several years before it closed.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7325/9379172166_907df0c459_c.jpg)
The same store sits abandoned in this 1991 view.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3670/9980584334_069b19272d_c.jpg)
Ain't that ironic how the Super Kmart that replaced it will soon shut down permanently too?
A super Kmart is closing I know some they closed the grocery section
Quote from: MikeRa on September 03, 2011, 10:12:41 AM
We had a few Korvettes out here in the Philadelphia area. Here's a few of them:
- Roosevelt Boulevard and Welsh Road (Northeast Shopping Center) - This location has since been split into a Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory, and smaller stores
- King of Prussia Plaza - This stores has been torn down in 1980 and replaced by Sears and additional mall space
- Springfield - This location became a Value City
- Moorestown, NJ - This location became a Kmart
The Springfield, PA Korvettes/Value City is now a GIANT [PA] Food & Drugstore
Here's some newly-discovered photos of the Southgate, MI Korvette's during demolition in 1992-93.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3917/14872523717_a971e42e07_c.jpg)
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5586/14872524247_f264291e01_c.jpg)
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5591/14872243769_dd4c7aa81d_c.jpg)
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3922/15058716422_3c3b8d46f8_c.jpg)