Caldor

[BillyGr]

Looks like the Kingston Caldor has a new tenant after Burlington Coat Factory left.

https://www.dailyfreeman.com/2022/02/26/big-lots-headed-to-town-of-ulster-store-will-go-space-formerly-occupied-by-burlington/

Sort of surprising that they didn't have a store in that area already, but a good thing to fill the space.

Edit - I see they are only taking about 1/2 the space - maybe someone can convince Ocean State to go into the rest and make Kingston the bargains zone (given that Ollie's is, or at least it was, just across the road behind Walmart)?

[Retail Regents]

Looks like the Kingston Caldor has a new tenant after Burlington Coat Factory left.

https://www.dailyfreeman.com/2022/02/26/big-lots-headed-to-town-of-ulster-store-will-go-space-formerly-occupied-by-burlington/

Sort of surprising that they didn't have a store in that area already, but a good thing to fill the space.

Edit - I see they are only taking about 1/2 the space - maybe someone can convince Ocean State to go into the rest and make Kingston the bargains zone (given that Ollie's is, or at least it was, just across the road behind Walmart)?

As sterile and as dull as Big Lots is, that is a rather dumb proposal. The whole thing is the retail equivalent of musical chairs: Barnes & Nobles moving to a former Olive Garden in the mall, Burlington moving out of the Caldor and into the old B&N - it's rather hilarious. Though I do wonder if there are other major vacancies for Dirty Ol' Job Lot to move into...

[Retail_247]

Did Caldor have gas stations?

I read 2 claims about a Caldor gas station in the past

Did any store even have gas stations?

If they did which stores had them?

[Retail_247]

I also found a newspaper ad for a Caldor "Clearance Center" In Paramus, NJ

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/497118723/

I'm not sure if this is like a Caldor outlet store or just a discounted section / Aisle inside of Caldor

The store in Paramus was an original Caldor store. I dont know if it downgraded to a "clearance center" or if that was added to the store as a later addition

[BillyGr]

I also found a newspaper ad for a Caldor "Clearance Center" In Paramus, NJ

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/497118723/

I'm not sure if this is like a Caldor outlet store or just a discounted section / Aisle inside of Caldor

The store in Paramus was an original Caldor store. I dont know if it downgraded to a "clearance center" or if that was added to the store as a later addition

Good question, though it seems it would make sense that it was a totally separate store that they would use for clearing out items from other places.

Thinking it would be logical in that area, given it is a large retail area (thus a large volume of people to check it out and pick up whatever they wanted to get rid of) and its proximity to NYC and the amount of people that tend to go there to shop from the city (some of whom may not have been close to other Caldor locations and thus not seen the items in their "regular" settings).

[standa]

My local Caldor in Hamden, CT had a clearance center in the late 1990s in a former supermarket space next to it.

[Retail_247]

My local Caldor in Hamden, CT had a clearance center in the late 1990s in a former supermarket space next to it.

So there was a regular Caldor store, and a Caldor "clearance center" right next to it in a separate building?

Interesting, I didn't think there was more than one of these clearance centers

I wonder how many of these there were in total...

[Retail_247]

Ok so I did some research on Caldor store services (not including cafe's / restaurants or photo development) and heres what I found:


Caldor stores with Pharmacies:

Saugus, MA (building originally started out as GEM)

Paramus, NJ (Store closed in '99, Pharmacy closed in '93, prescriptions transfered to CVS)

Kingston, NY (Store closed in '99, Unknown when the pharmacy closed)

Poughkeepsie, NY (Store opened in '73, Pharmacy closed in '78)

Peekskill, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Bedford Hills, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Yorktown Heights, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Norwalk, CT [Main Ave] (Advertised as of 1987)

[Edit] Hamden, CT (Unknown when Pharmacy closed)



Caldor Clearance Centers:

Hamden, CT (Opened in a separate building next to a regular Caldor store, same store as the Pharmacy)

Paramus, NJ (Unknown if in a separate building, same store as the Pharmacy)


Caldor Auto Centers:

Peekskill, NY (Advertised as of 1972, same store as the pharmacy)

Bedford Hills, NY (Advertised as of 1972, same store as the pharmacy)

Northampton, MA (Store opened 1966)

Kingston, NY (same store as pharmacy)



Caldor Gas Stations:
????
(Heard 1 or 2 claims about it in passing, unknown / unconfirmed if true)

[standa]

My store in Hamden, CT had a pharmacy too.

[BillyGr]

Ok so I did some research on Caldor store services (not including cafe's / restaurants or photo development) and heres what I found:


Caldor stores with Pharmacies:

Saugus, MA (building originally started out as GEM)

Paramus, NJ (Store closed in '99, Pharmacy closed in '93, prescriptions transfered to CVS)

Kingston, NY (Store closed in '99, Unknown when the pharmacy closed)

Poughkeepsie, NY (Store opened in '73, Pharmacy closed in '78)

Peekskill, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Bedford Hills, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Yorktown Heights, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Norwalk, CT [Main Ave] (Advertised as of 1987)

[Edit] Hamden, CT (Unknown when Pharmacy closed)



Caldor Clearance Centers:

Hamden, CT (Opened in a separate building next to a regular Caldor store, same store as the Pharmacy)

Paramus, NJ (Unknown if in a separate building, same store as the Pharmacy)


Caldor Auto Centers:

Peekskill, NY (Advertised as of 1972, same store as the pharmacy)

Bedford Hills, NY (Advertised as of 1972, same store as the pharmacy)

Northampton, MA (Store opened 1966)

Kingston, NY (same store as pharmacy)



Caldor Gas Stations:
????
(Heard 1 or 2 claims about it in passing, unknown / unconfirmed if true)

I don't remember a Caldor having a pharmacy (or an auto center), so perhaps all of those NY Pharmacies closed around the same time as the one that is listed?

The auto part could make sense in Kingston - there was for quite some time a Midas in a building on that same property, so it is possible that was originally the Caldor auto space and that it wasn't attached to the main store (as other chains often did both ways - Sears locally had separate ones, Wards had both in different spots, the Kmart ones and apparently Barkers had them attached that I know of).

[Retail_247]

I was searching for some old Caldor commercials on YouTube and I found this video from 1998 where Big Bird (yes, from Sesame Street) gets lost inside of a 90's era Caldor, though its branded as "ABCD Mart"

https://youtu.be/xsO10VF6sqA

It has a lot of good, high quality, interior footage of a 90's era Caldor

It was a direct to video episode of Sesame Street, filmed inside of a Caldor store, for some reason

[Retail_247]

Ok so I did some research on Caldor store services (not including cafe's / restaurants or photo development) and heres what I found:


Caldor stores with Pharmacies:

Saugus, MA (building originally started out as GEM)

Paramus, NJ (Store closed in '99, Pharmacy closed in '93, prescriptions transfered to CVS)

Kingston, NY (Store closed in '99, Unknown when the pharmacy closed)

Poughkeepsie, NY (Store opened in '73, Pharmacy closed in '78)

Peekskill, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Bedford Hills, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Yorktown Heights, NY (Advertised as of 1977)

Norwalk, CT [Main Ave] (Advertised as of 1987)

[Edit] Hamden, CT (Unknown when Pharmacy closed)



Caldor Clearance Centers:

Hamden, CT (Opened in a separate building next to a regular Caldor store, same store as the Pharmacy)

Paramus, NJ (Unknown if in a separate building, same store as the Pharmacy)


Caldor Auto Centers:

Peekskill, NY (Advertised as of 1972, same store as the pharmacy)

Bedford Hills, NY (Advertised as of 1972, same store as the pharmacy)

Northampton, MA (Store opened 1966)

Kingston, NY (same store as pharmacy)



Caldor Gas Stations:
????
(Heard 1 or 2 claims about it in passing, unknown / unconfirmed if true)

Caldor Optical Centers
Braintree MA (store opened in '94)

[Retail_247]

I also found a newspaper ad for a Caldor "Clearance Center" In Paramus, NJ

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/497118723/

I'm not sure if this is like a Caldor outlet store or just a discounted section / Aisle inside of Caldor

The store in Paramus was an original Caldor store. I dont know if it downgraded to a "clearance center" or if that was added to the store as a later addition

Jamesway also had clearance centers too, apparently:

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/46920384/

Were these common for discount store chains?

[BillyGr]

I also found a newspaper ad for a Caldor "Clearance Center" In Paramus, NJ

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/497118723/

I'm not sure if this is like a Caldor outlet store or just a discounted section / Aisle inside of Caldor

The store in Paramus was an original Caldor store. I dont know if it downgraded to a "clearance center" or if that was added to the store as a later addition

Jamesway also had clearance centers too, apparently:

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/46920384/

Were these common for discount store chains?

Good question - can't say we ever got any of them in this area, but then again it kind of makes sense that they wouldn't have a whole lot of them, so probably would stick to the larger areas and consolidate items from other stores there.
Particularly back at that point, as there were fewer other things to do with items - no online option, fewer of the stores that focused specifically on close outs and such.
Perhaps, the chains just found it easier to do this than having a small section of clearance items at each location like you see now in many Target or Walmart stores (either a particular aisle or with Target at the ends of various aisles).

[TRU7536]

During the pandemic and lockdowns, I was bored, since I was furlough for 4 months and create the Caldor store list.

I worked with a ton of former candor employees, from their Facebook groups and read a ton of article from newspaper archives. Those former Caldor employees were a great help.

I did one for Bradlees as well.