Rich's

[TRJ22487]

Obviously pictures of Rich's seem to be almost non-existant, but it was one of the favorite stores of my childhood.

I'd love to see pictures anyone might have of either the West Lebanon or Keene locations in New Hampshire. I currently work with a few people that worked at the Keene one, which turned in JC Penney in 1995.

When the West Lebanon one became Ames in 1997, the Rich's labelscar was still there for a while. It looked just like the Concord logo above. I had no idea it was the third Rich's ever, no wonder it was one of the last to close. I don't have memories of it before it was remodeled in 1991 though I was definitely there. The store was pretty big in the 90's and I can visualize the layout of it as both Rich's and Ames. I went into Kohl's once and it isn't even recognizable anymore. I'd love to see what it looked like pre-1991. One of my top memories in the 80's was hanging above the toys section they had enormous Lego posters hanging from the ceilings. Also the electronics dept I remember when they first got a Sega Genesis kiosk, it was the first place I played a genesis. I even get nostalgic about old videogame kiosks, they don't make them like they used to, and they are a big department store memory for me. I would love to own some of those old kiosks, but they are so expensive when they show up on ebay

 The Keene JC Penney has looked exactly the same since it opened in 1995 and has small signs that it used to be Rich's. Sun Foods was across the plaza and I think that changed to Hannafords in 1995 as well. Since then it's been totally remodeled.

I wish I knew things weren't always going to be the same, I regret not having photographs of a bunch of places back in the 80's and 90's

[Zayre88]

Originally posted by TRJ22487
I'd love to see pictures anyone might have of either the West Lebanon or Keene locations in New Hampshire. I currently work with a few people that worked at the Keene one, which turned in JC Penney in 1995.

When the West Lebanon one became Ames in 1997, the Rich's labelscar was still there for a while. I wish I knew things weren't always going to be the same, I regret not having photographs of a bunch of places back in the 80's and 90's

I wish i had a camera back then...  i started collecting pictures from the web in 1997, used disposable cameras in 2000 and bought my first Digital camera in 2001.  So i missed many old stores now gone.  Anyway, here's one from my files of the Ames in West Lebanon.  Did the Rich's logo was installed on top of the store like Ames' ?  For some reason, i have a memory of the Rich's logo in Falmouth Maine installed the same way.

[kendra]

Originally posted by Zayre88
I wish i had a camera back then...  i started collecting pictures from the web in 1997, used disposable cameras in 2000 and bought my first Digital camera in 2001.  So i missed many old stores now gone.

Off topic, but...how I would love to have a time machine...armed with a digital camera, imagine the visual treasures one could return with! Only in dreams, however...

At some point, when the weather is warmer, I am going to poke around in my attic...there's some fairly old stuff up there wrapped in newspaper, and newspaper means...advertisements!! (and possibly photos of local retail establishments...maybe some Rich's???) :D

[videogamer75]

Originally posted by MBZ321
That must be one of the smallest still-operating wm's left

There is still a large number of Wal-Mart's small 1970's era stores operating in the South. In the Wal-Mart thread, I posted a pic of an incredibly small store that was about the size of a Big Lots today, and it was actually built by Wal-Mart themselves.

[Zayre88]

Originally posted by kendra

Off topic, but...how I would love to have a time machine...armed with a digital camera, imagine the visual treasures one could return with! Only in dreams, however...

...and newspaper means...advertisements!! (and possibly photos of local retail establishments...maybe some Rich's???) :D

Off-topic but I know what you mean!  The Rich's flyer ad in page 2 is a scan of an original Rich's 8½"x11" ad that i picked up when exiting a Rich's store probably in 1995 or 1996.  For some reason, i held on to it and it's now a valuable piece of retail history, to me at least.

To show how hard it is to find original stuff from these chains, especially smaller chains like Rich's, here's an attempt by me to take a picture of a Rich's price tag in a Rich's bin-display at the Marden's store in Brewer, ME.

When i saw those displays, i recognized them from Rich's immediately so i looked around and found that price tag!!

[kendra]

Originally posted by Zayre88

Originally posted by kendra

Off topic, but...how I would love to have a time machine...armed with a digital camera, imagine the visual treasures one could return with! Only in dreams, however...

...and newspaper means...advertisements!! (and possibly photos of local retail establishments...maybe some Rich's???) :D

Off-topic but I know what you mean!  The Rich's flyer ad in page 2 is a scan of an original Rich's 8½"x11" ad that i picked up when exiting a Rich's store probably in 1995 or 1996.  For some reason, i held on to it and it's now a valuable piece of retail history, to me at least.

To show how hard it is to find original stuff from these chains, especially smaller chains like Rich's, here's an attempt by me to take a picture of a Rich's price tag in a Rich's bin-display at the Marden's store in Brewer, ME.

When i saw those displays, i recognized them from Rich's immediately so i looked around and found that price tag!!

Hmmm...I wonder if that's one of their semi-permanent displays or something that they were just using at the moment? I found myself wondering last time that I was in there what store the sewing tables used at that location were from, as they were obviously well-broken-in...

Thinking out loud, at any rate...when did you take that photo?

Last time I was at that Marden's, they gave me a LaVerdiere's bag...now if they'd given me Wellby Super Drug, that REALLY would have been something (but I took pics of the LaVerdiere's bag just the same...)

[TRJ22487]

Zayre88 Wrote:I wish i had a camera back then... i started collecting pictures from the web in 1997, used disposable cameras in 2000 and bought my first Digital camera in 2001. So i missed many old stores now gone. Anyway, here's one from my files of the Ames in West Lebanon. Did the Rich's logo was installed on top of the store like Ames' ? For some reason, i have a memory of the Rich's logo in Falmouth Maine installed the same way.

No the Rich's logo was on the ledge below where the Ames logo is, it had the same logo that the Concord store has that d_fife gave us
At least you got it when it was still Ames, it looks terrible as Kohls
They totally defaced the building imo
I miss the days of going to Coconuts and K.B. Bought an original Nintendo at that K.B., I bought a few at different stores
Now the evil empire of videogame stores, Gamespot is in the plaza
I hate them for taking out Funcoland, I took that store for granted

Also the great thing about that West Leb picture, no Walmart in the background (though maybe that would be a bit too far down the street to get in that shot anyway)
I remember when the whole Walmart plaza was just a field

[TRJ22487]

I took this picture yesterday (1/24/09)
As you can tell little has changed since 1995
(West Street Shopping Center built in 1984-5
Rich's, Sun Foods, VideoHeadquarters, Jo-Ann Fabrics original tennants
Jo-Ann Fabrics still in original condition)

Keene, NH Former Rich's

[TRJ22487]

Originally posted by DefunctStoreKing
what did rich's department store (not the discount store) sell in their stores?

I'd compare them closest to a Caldor or Bradlees probably
Just an average department store

[TRJ22487]

This could be a big coincidence, but I'm thinking it isn't
Yesterday I was at work unloading a pallet, probably the 10,000th I ever have
When suddenly this caught my eye on the side of the pallet
And it made my jaw drop
This isn't written on the pallet, IT IS CARVED
I saved the pallet and went back the next day to take these pictures





I don't know why they would brand a pallet like that
But we DID have a Rich's in Keene, NH that closed 14 years ago
I don't know how likely it is a pallet would survive that long
But the font is perfect....
Someone I work with actually worked at the Rich's
I didn't get a chance to ask if it was actually likely for this pallet to come from Rich's

[retailfan]

Probably not there is a richs recycling in PA and also a rich`s products company   The wood looks pretty new to be over 10 years old

[kendra]

As cool as that pallet being from Rich's-the-store would be, I think it is much more likely to have come from this place:

http://www.superpages.com/bp/Pittsburgh-PA/Bianco-Richs-Pallet-Recycling-Bianco-Richs-Pallet-Recycling-L0101314901.htm

[Zayre88]

Originally posted by kendra
As cool as that pallet being from Rich's-the-store would be, I think it is much more likely to have come from this place:

http://www.superpages.com/bp/Pittsburgh-PA/Bianco-Richs-Pallet-Recycling-Bianco-Richs-Pallet-Recycling-L0101314901.htm

Right... it could also be from the Rich's food products company like retailfan said.

http://www.richs.com/business.cfm

I'm sure that some Rich's stuff is somewhere out there.  Where are all the Rich's carts for example?

[TRJ22487]

I agree it's most likely not from the store, just by the age of the wood, but it would've been cool, and it was a nice picture anyway

Good question about the carts. It's as if they all got burned in a bonfire or something

[Zayre88]

Originally posted by TRJ22487

Good question about the carts. It's as if they all got burned in a bonfire or something

Frankly, i don't remember how they looked like.  Were they in plastic or metal, what color, i don't know.

[TRJ22487]

I really wanted to say they were similar to ames but grey with red richs logos and the handle had a red raised logo

[kendra]

Originally posted by Zayre88

Originally posted by TRJ22487

Good question about the carts. It's as if they all got burned in a bonfire or something

Frankly, i don't remember how they looked like.  Were they in plastic or metal, what color, i don't know.

I think the ones at my location at least were metal...and with red logos on the handles, as TRJ said...the style where it was, I think, a flat piece of plastic with the logo on it encased in a clear plastic handle, does that sound about right? I remember most of the carts from my childhood being like that. I do wonder if the later-built Rich's locations had different carts from the older ones. Seems to me plastic carts didn't really become preponderant at retailers in the Bangor area until this decade...certainly there were some, but it was not the norm, as I remember thinking them a bit strange when they first showed up. Of course, now everyone has plastic carts. But I think the ones at our Rich's location were almost certainly metal.

[jmcnamara96]

Heres a price tag
<a href="http://s621.photobucket.com/albums/tt295/jmcnamara96/?action=view&current=Copy2ofJoesPictures254.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt295/jmcnamara96/Copy2ofJoesPictures254.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[jmcnamara96]

so nashua one is turnpike plaza but wait stuarts was there how was richs you said its the staples bobs stuarts was the market basket so to big stores in one small plaza?:huh:

[gu4ever]

Originally posted by jmcnamara96
so nashua one is turnpike plaza but wait stuarts was there how was richs you said its the staples bobs stuarts was the market basket so to big stores in one small plaza?:huh:

I shopped at both stores as a kid. Stuarts in Nashua was located on Daniel Webster Highway in south Nashua across from Toys R Us. The department store itself is where Market Basket is now, originally MB was at the other end of the plaza in what is now the closed Linens N Things.
Rich's was in the Turnpike Plaza right on Amherst Street at the very end of the Plaza and took up most of that shopping center. I also vaguely recall a Rich's "notions, crafts or fabrics" which was also part of the department store, but in a seperate retail store front next door.

[TRJ22487]

The Keene, NH location (as well as the entire West Street Shopping Center Plaza) has finally started to be totally renovated on the outside since it last remodled in 1993 shortly before Rich's closed. This is the last store in the plaza to receive a renovation in 08/09


I took this picture in January of this year before they began remodling for the first time since '93. It became JC Penney in 1995 from the Brattleboro VT location

In late 2009, it stands like this. Think you can see where it's going


I'm sad this plaza got completely updated.
Caldor Rainbow did an article on this plaza a couple of years back luckily.
Still, I'd love to see some pictures of this plaza back in 83 when it first opened with Sun Foods and Rich's

[gu4ever]

Originally posted by Zayre88

Originally posted by TRJ22487
I'd love to see pictures anyone might have of either the West Lebanon or Keene locations in New Hampshire. I currently work with a few people that worked at the Keene one, which turned in JC Penney in 1995.

When the West Lebanon one became Ames in 1997, the Rich's labelscar was still there for a while. I wish I knew things weren't always going to be the same, I regret not having photographs of a bunch of places back in the 80's and 90's

I wish i had a camera back then...  i started collecting pictures from the web in 1997, used disposable cameras in 2000 and bought my first Digital camera in 2001.  So i missed many old stores now gone.  Anyway, here's one from my files of the Ames in West Lebanon.  Did the Rich's logo was installed on top of the store like Ames' ?  For some reason, i have a memory of the Rich's logo in Falmouth Maine installed the same way.

I agree with TRJ22487 and Zayre88, when I got my license back in 1990 I started traveling around NH, VT and ME to check out different towns.
I look back now and wish I had taken pictures on my trips. Now 19 years later the retail landscape has greatly changed!!
At least I now have a great digital camera so when I travel I can snap some great shots of......

[Zayre88]

Former Rich's in Portsmouth NH.  This old style entrance has been remodeled in 2009.

[TRJ22487]

Yes, I particularly wish we had more Rich's pictures. If not for d_fife and zayre88 this entire chain would seemingly have no photographic evidence of existing!
I'd love to have a picture of the West Lebanon and St Johnsbury electronics sections.
I have very fond memories playing Sega Genesis and gawking at original Gameboy games in the early 90's

[jmcnamara96]

I have a articale and pic of the nashua store from the 80s

[kendra]

I noticed recently that when the sun and the viewer are at a certain angle, one can see a considerably large all-caps R I C H ' S labelscar on the side of the former Bangor location (preceded by Woolco and followed by Ames). I am not sure if this is something I am capable of capturing digitally, as I can't find my proper camera and have been using a mobile phone camera for most of my photos as of late, but nevertheless it is really cool, and if you are looking at it the right way, really obvious.

[Zayre88]

Originally posted by kendra
I noticed recently that when the sun and the viewer are at a certain angle, one can see a considerably large all-caps R I C H ' S labelscar on the side of the former Bangor location (preceded by Woolco and followed by Ames). I am not sure if this is something I am capable of capturing digitally, as I can't find my proper camera and have been using a mobile phone camera for most of my photos as of late, but nevertheless it is really cool, and if you are looking at it the right way, really obvious.

I'd like to see that!  Rich's was there from 1983 to 1997.  There's a good chance the sign left it's mark.

[gu4ever]

Here are a couple of items I found with Rich's price tags still on them!

[TRJ22487]

Receiving docks to Rich's in Keene, NH West Street Shopping Center.
They still have the old shingled roof that the entire plaza once had
Before 2010 (every store in the plaza had this shingled style facade since the plaza opened in 1983)

2010 (entire plaza now has facades of this style)

Behind the building I found the old logos to JC Penney and Maurices

[jmcnamara96]

Here are a couple of items I found with Rich's price tags still on them!

I got 5 of these from ribbions