My Exciting Vacation! (better than you think)

[truviking05]

Well, I went to Pennsylvania for 5 days, and closed chain-wise, IT...WAS...AWESOME!!! Let me list my encounters for you, in chronological order for your viewing pleasure:

1. An old (I mean we're talking retro here--70s logo--my mom, who hasn't even lived in PA since 1986, remembered what it used to be) Service Merchandise store, now masquerading as an office building! But I could see its true colors. We were driving to Wendy's when I thought, hey, that building looks like an old store-I thought perhaps a Jefferson Ward. I was pleasantly mistaken when, upon pulling out of the Wendy's drivethru, what do I spot other than a very dark labelscar!!! And what does it reveal to me, you ask? A 1970s-era Service Merchandise was once here! Yay! One point to Team Nostalgia! Moving on...

2. Toys R Us. In 2001 we visited PA, and that was when this outparcel TRU was undergoing a remodel. Ah, yes, I remember it well--I believe it was a white building, and there was a tarp covering the facade, blowing in the wind--the store remained open during this. Well, what I saw this trip told me that perhaps, just perhaps, this was once one of the elusive white 1970s/1980s style stores with what I like to call the 3 "peaks" (or whatever...) at the top. The store was renovated to one of the shiny blue metal-looking facades. More on the present store later. Anyhoo, upon driving down those blessedly deep hills, what do I see other than three familiar peaks concealed behind a shiny blue facade??? That's right--when the storewas remodeled it appears that they simply covered up the old "peaks" facade with the blue one. Interesting...but the inside of the store is now in the "Mission Possible" or whatever layout, but there is still that old blue & yellow customer service alcove at the front end, and fading yellow and blue paint stripes and signage
around the inner perimeter of the store. What a treasure! I snapped a few pics of this interior lst year--before the guy in electronics told me to stop, lol. My mom told me that that particular location had once, long ago, been a Children's Palace store, which TRU apparently acquired back in the day. Which makes me wonder...were the "peaked" style stores a trademark style of Children's Palace? Does anyone know? LOL. Anyway, very cool store. Had the old separate entrance and exit sides and everything...ah, irony and yore...

3. Rite Aid. Having never seen a Rite Aid store in person previously, imagine my happiness and excitement when I spotted a very retro Rite Aid downtown one Sunday afternoon! It had a tarp-looking, canvas-looking sign on the outer perimeter of the building (soooo hard to explain) that read something to the effect of "RITE AID (in bigger white letters)--Food Mart, Pharmacy, Open 24 Hours, One Hour Film Developing." Lucky me, I got a few fleeting pics as I was whisked away in my aunt's car! Will try to upload them and share as soon as I figure out how to, lol. Soooo awesome. Reminded me of a very old, since closed Eckerd in my town.

4. Foodland. Foodland is a regional grocery store, very popular in PA. What is so awesome is the retro aspect of all the stores I saw--4 or 5 in all. I got pictures of one that had a 1930s-1940s look to it, believe it or not! I saw 2 others similar to this. Will try to upload the pics. The store nearest where I was staying--literally up the road, not even 5 minutes from there--is not quite that old but old enough, and while it looks old-old, it's actually quite clean--shouts 70s or 80s in a cool way. Had to run there in a rainstorm with my mom, lol.

5. Sam's Club. Yes, I know...it's Sam's Club. But trust me--this is cool. Last year it was preparing to close and move up the road--then I could make out a labelscar beneath the old style Sam's Club logo, but couldn't quite tell what it said. This year, with the Sam's Club signage removed, it was at last fully and clearly revealed to me...to read "PACE" in capital, slanting letters. Was Pace a hardware store? I thought it might be...dunno. This was an old blue building, and the PACE scar stood out bright as day in dark blue, as if the building were always that color and PACE hadn't been there for long. The building is now up for rent. On another note--following last summer's hurricanes *shudders*, my local Sam's Club's sign partially tore off to reveal a very old, 80s-ish tan and dark brown logo reading "SAM's" in all caps and club in smaller letters. They repaired that along with a very funny word on the side of a dentist's office before I could snap pics, so I was upset, but that's okay. I have the mental images of Sam's and one letter of a certain last name
being blown away to reveal an obscenity...ah.....good times, lol.

That's all for now. Believe me, I've got many more. Will post later...I have jetlag, lol.

[tokensafari]

lol i know all about Foodland. Having worked for them for almost two years, and they are plentyful in my area as well.

[store215]

PACE was Kmart's version of a wholesale club. For whatever reason, they were not successful and Kmart sold the stores to....WALMART!:mad: (Sam's Club). I think they went out out of business around 1994. If you have a really old Sam's Club nearby, it was probably a PACE at one point.

[Zayre88]

Kmart sold Pace to Wal-Mart in 1994.  Here's a PACE

[tokensafari]

KMart seems to have different variations of other successful stores, but none of the concepts ever work out for KMart.