Retail Stores in TV Shows, Movies, etc

[Hudsons81]

The Polar Express featured the Herpolsheimer's department store.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

The Polar Express featured the Herpolsheimer's department store.

Herpolsheimer's is not a real department store.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Stores that appeared in the first "Back to the Future" film in chronological order:

* Burger King - Next door to Doc Brown's Garage in 1985 (part of the land which was owned by Doc Brown in 1955).
* Toys "R" Us - Located behind the Burger King in the film's 1985 sequence (only the Toys "R" Us sign is visible).
* Texaco - Located in downtown Hill Valley, across from the courthouse in both 1955 and 1985 (in 1985, the courthouse is called the department of social services).
* Toyota dealership - Located in downtown Hill Valley in 1985 ( in 1955, a Studebaker dealership occupies the site).
* JCPenney - Located at Twin Pines Mall/Lone Pine Mall (Twin Pines Mall becomes Lone Pine Mall after Marty McFly runs over Old Man Peabody's pine trees at Twin Pines Ranch in 1955 and returns to 1985 Hill Valley after spending a week in 1955 Hill Valley.).
* Robinson's - Located at Twin Pines Mall/Lone Pine Mall.
* Sherwin-Williams Paints - Located in downtown Hill Valley in both 1955 and 1985.
* Zales Jewelers - located in downtown Hill Valley in 1955, moved to Twin Pines Mall/Lone Pine Mall in 1985.
* Western Auto - Located in downtown Hill Valley in 1955.
* Allstate Insurance - Located downtown Hill Valley in 1955.
* Bank of America - Located in downtown Hill Valley in both 1955 and 1985.

[Hudsons81]

The Polar Express featured the Herpolsheimer's department store.

Herpolsheimer's is not a real department store.

It was a real store.

http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/11/herpolsheimer-co-grand-rapids-michigan.html

After the store closed, it was remodeled into a mall in an attempt to bring retailers back to downtown Grand Rapids. That failed and the building today now houses several city departments.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

The Polar Express featured the Herpolsheimer's department store.

Herpolsheimer's is not a real department store.

It was a real store.

http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/11/herpolsheimer-co-grand-rapids-michigan.html
I never knew.

After the store closed, it was remodeled into a mall in an attempt to bring retailers back to downtown Grand Rapids. That failed and the building today now houses several city departments.

[TheFugitive]

The 1991 movie Career Opportunities was on cable this morning.

Starring Frank Whaley (perhaps best known as the guy who gets blown away in the opening scenes of Pulp Fiction and the one who blows away Jimmy Hoffa in Hoffa) and Jennifer Connelly. He plays the geeky overnight janitor in a Target store where he is locked in with spoiled rich girl and shoplifter wannabe Connelly. After a light romance they are presented with a crisis when the store is robbed.

This is NOT a good movie!  I'm hard pressed to think of another film that has so much endless, droning, pointless dialogue.  I remember when it was being made articles in Discount Store News touted this film as a wonderful promotional vehicle for the retail industry.  Really?  In my view all it did was reinforce existing public opinion that we abused our people and that we all-around sucked to work for.

Set in Illinois, you can tell it was shot in California because there are racks containing sportswear with the USC Trojans logo which never would have been shipped to Illinois.  Also its a bit of an anachronism now as the store has large displays full of cassette tapes and VHS video storage cabinets.

Though when Career Opportunities comes on I am compelled to leave my TV tuned to it, because Jennifer Connelly is absolutely gorgeous in this film.  Turning the sound down and just looking at her is still good entertainment IMO ;D.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Kmart will feature in the upcoming 2015 movie "Joy" with an old-school-looking Kmart store located somewhere in Massachusetts.

[TheFugitive]

Was watching the 1979 Steve Martin film The Jerk this morning, and the gas station
where Navin Johnson takes a job is next-door to a Sambo's restaurant.

That chain suffered from allegations that the name was racist (though in reality it was just
a conglomeration of the original owners' names)

[TheFugitive]

I have recently learned that the film Career Opportunities was actually shot in Georgia
and not in California.  It was an actual Target store that has since closed.  The building
then became a church.

Does not explain the racks of USC Trojan sportswear.

And was watching an episode of the original Hawaii Five-O
where a car chase took them past a Ben Franklin store.

[Retail_247]

In a George Lopez episode there is a picture of a city and you can see a tower records sign.

In the movie Good Burger you can see a blockbuster in the background.

[Planet Retail]

I have noticed lately that there have been a few references to Caldor in some of James Rolfe's/Cinemassacre's videos. For those who don't know, he's the guy behind The Angry Video Game Nerd YouTube series. One of his series, Rental Reviews, takes place in a fictional rental video store, and the faux exterior shot shows a Caldor right beside it.

[Retail_247]

The tv show the goldbergs has alot of references to retail stores.

The trailer for the tv show murray and barry were talking about sam goody in a Goldbergs episode murray tells his son to go to hechinger before they close. There is another episode of the goldbergs where the mom goes to the gimbles store closing sale. In a different episode barry and his sister erica get a job at Spencer's.

On the tv show the middle brick (brick is the name of a character of the show) has a microfiche. In the episode the family needed to get a present for someone. Brick found and artile on the microfiche and tells his family that woolworths is selling a sweater.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

In the 2005 movie, Idiocracy, directed by Mike Judge, which takes place in the satirical post-apocalyptic future of 2505 where intelligence is extinct and the people are dimwitted vulgar morons and the sports drink company Brawndo has acquired the FDA and the FCC. A huge city-sized Costco store can be seen in the film. Other businesses seen in the movie include Fuddruckers (which is called ButtF***ers by 2505), Starbucks (which is now a brothel by 2505), and Carl's Jr.

[deerwrecker2017]

In Gremlins where Mrs Deagle confronts the mother and her children a Burger King can be seen in the background. Billy Peltzer passed this same Burger King earlier in the film.

That movie had also shown a Montgomery Ward store (Which was first seen in the film before Billy passes the Burger King) which was where the climax of the film took place around the end (Discussing more in detail would contain Spoilers).

[Retail Regents]

A segment of Episode 714 of Rescue 911 takes place at a Walmart in Rockford, Illinois. The store in question is the Northridge Drive location, which still operates, as a Supercenter. At the time (in 1995/1996) it was a Division 1 location.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEGpw4UJA2M

[Retail_247]

Wasn't Bradlees seen in an episode of Rosanne once?

I never seen the episode but someone posted a screenshot of it onto the from a while back but now I can't find it

[TheFugitive]

Never noticed that.  It would be a production error as Roseanne was set in Illinois where Bradlees never had any stores.

The movie Dogma was shot here in Pittsburgh (not good, I would not recommend it).
It included a couple of locations that I was personally familiar with.

There is a scene where they visit a fictional burger joint called Mooby's.  This was actually a recently closed
Burger King on Banksville Road across from the Banksville Plaza Shopping Center.   It had been painted
mostly purple.  Not long after they shot here it was torn down and a Rite Aid was built on that spot.

And in another scene they meet with an angel in an aisle of a toy store.  This was the Family Toy Warehouse
store on Noblestown Road in Green Tree.  Family Toy was a small local chain in the PA-WV-OH tri-state area
that went out of business in the early 2000's.  I had actually worked briefly in this building when it was a
Shop n Save grocery store in the early 1980's.  It has been repurposed several times and is currently a tire store.

[Retail Regents]

On a December 1998 episode of Sally, a "decorating guru" shops for Christmas decorations at a Treasure Island store in order to redecorate a couple's house for Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdWX0-F54Io

[Retail_247]

Never noticed that.  It would be a production error as Roseanne was set in Illinois where Bradlees never had any stores.

The movie Dogma was shot here in Pittsburgh (not good, I would not recommend it).
It included a couple of locations that I was personally familiar with.

There is a scene where they visit a fictional burger joint called Mooby's.  This was actually a recently closed
Burger King on Banksville Road across from the Banksville Plaza Shopping Center.   It had been painted
mostly purple.  Not long after they shot here it was torn down and a Rite Aid was built on that spot.

And in another scene they meet with an angel in an aisle of a toy store.  This was the Family Toy Warehouse
store on Noblestown Road in Green Tree.  Family Toy was a small local chain in the PA-WV-OH tri-state area
that went out of business in the early 2000's.  I had actually worked briefly in this building when it was a
Shop n Save grocery store in the early 1980's.  It has been repurposed several times and is currently a tire store.

I found the original post, but the image attached to it is long gone now:

I was watching an episode of Roseanne today and they showed the exterior on the Landford, IL mall which seems to have a Bradlees

[TheFugitive]

Lanford, Illinois is a fictional town.  It does not really exist.
They probably used a stock photo of some mall in the Northeast.

[Retail_247]

I wouldn't doubt it

[Retail_247]

Television network TNT has a new thing coming out (not sure if it's a movie or a series) and I noticed something in the trailer...

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[TheFugitive]

The tv show the goldbergs has alot of references to retail stores.

The trailer for the tv show murray and barry were talking about sam goody in a Goldbergs episode murray tells his son to go to hechinger before they close. There is another episode of the goldbergs where the mom goes to the gimbles store closing sale. In a different episode barry and his sister erica get a job at Spencer's.

On the tv show the middle brick (brick is the name of a character of the show) has a microfiche. In the episode the family needed to get a present for someone. Brick found and artile on the microfiche and tells his family that woolworths is selling a sweater.

The Goldbergs had it's series finale last week.  The convenience store chain Wawa was featured prominently in this series.  Wawa is a Philadelphia institution and the series was set in the Philly suburbs.  The Gimbels department store chain, which also was present in Philly, is portrayed in a couple of episodes.

Brick was actually a character on The Middle, another ABC series which I think was the work of the same production company. The two shows used to run back-to-back. That series featured a fictional store called The Frugal Hoosier, a discount place several cuts below Ollie's.

[TheFugitive]

Never noticed that.  It would be a production error as Roseanne was set in Illinois where Bradlees never had any stores.

The movie Dogma was shot here in Pittsburgh (not good, I would not recommend it).
It included a couple of locations that I was personally familiar with.

There is a scene where they visit a fictional burger joint called Mooby's.  This was actually a recently closed
Burger King on Banksville Road across from the Banksville Plaza Shopping Center.  It had been painted
mostly purple.  Not long after they shot here it was torn down and a Rite Aid was built on that spot.

And in another scene they meet with an angel in an aisle of a toy store.  This was the Family Toy Warehouse
store on Noblestown Road in Green Tree.  Family Toy was a small local chain in the PA-WV-OH tri-state area
that went out of business in the early 2000's.  I had actually worked briefly in this building when it was a
Shop n Save grocery store in the early 1980's.  It has been repurposed several times and is currently a tire store.

Went by there the other day and the former Family Toy Warehouse store is now O'Reilly's Auto Parts.