Rich's

[d_fife]

I had dreams of this chain coming back and I remember going to this chain a lot when I was little. their 2nd store I think was in Nashua and why did they close that as soon as they filed for bankruptcy. bad Christmas sales was the last straw for the chain. my nearest one was in Gilford (near Laconia) and that one opened in 1991. I went to the one in COncord a lot. the only one in NH I never went into was in Rochester (Rochester wass always out of my way), but what was that one like? I never went to the original in Salem and what was that like?

WHAT stories, memories and info do you have of Rich's?

[TRJ22487]

I had dreams of this chain coming back and I remember going to this chain a lot when I was little. their 2nd store I think was in Nashua and why did they close that as soon as they filed for bankruptcy. bad Christmas sales was the last straw for the chain. my nearest one was in Gilford (near Laconia) and that one opened in 1991. I went to the one in COncord a lot. the only one in NH I never went into was in Rochester (Rochester wass always out of my way), but what was that one like? I never went to the original in Salem and what was that like?

WHAT stories, memories and info do you have of Rich's?

I often think about it too, mostly for how it just disappeared into thin air and within a couple of years it felt like everyone entirely forgot the chain ever existed. It still urks me NOBODY can find a shopping cart.
What on earth happened to them all? West Lebanon was the store I visited most. The Nashua and Keene locations I went to a few times, and St Johnsbury mall I'd probably been to about 5 times as a Rich's and Ames. I can vividly remember the Gameboy display in the St Johnsbury Mall Rich's in 1990 or 1991. Back then the electronics department was often set up like the jewelry department with everything in front of you behind glass build into the desk.
A few years ago I was actually working with the receiver for the Keene location during it's closing.
He told me that at the time he was making $5.75 and management asked him not to show any other employees his check because
HE DIDN'T WANT THEM TO GET JEALOUS OF HIS HIGH SALARY!
This was 1995 of course when the store closed for a JC Penney


I also noticed that the Concord location had a very similar setup to the Keene location,
even down to the near identical parking lot!
I photoshopped the picture your dad took of Concord back in 1993 to show what the Keene store looked like.
Concord, NH (actual 1993 photo)

Keene, NH (1993 style photoshop)

Keene JC Penney from 1995-2009 before 09 remodel of entire plaza.
It still had the original facade and entrances of Rich's.
As of 2010 this is all gone now.

[d_fife]

I had dreams of this chain coming back and I remember going to this chain a lot when I was little. their 2nd store I think was in Nashua and why did they close that as soon as they filed for bankruptcy. bad Christmas sales was the last straw for the chain. my nearest one was in Gilford (near Laconia) and that one opened in 1991. I went to the one in COncord a lot. the only one in NH I never went into was in Rochester (Rochester wass always out of my way), but what was that one like? I never went to the original in Salem and what was that like?

WHAT stories, memories and info do you have of Rich's?

I often think about it too, mostly for how it just disappeared into thin air and within a couple of years it felt like everyone entirely forgot the chain ever existed. It still urks me NOBODY can find a shopping cart.
What on earth happened to them all? West Lebanon was the store I visited most. The Nashua and Keene locations I went to a few times, and St Johnsbury mall I'd probably been to about 5 times as a Rich's and Ames. I can vividly remember the Gameboy display in the St Johnsbury Mall Rich's in 1990 or 1991. Back then the electronics department was often set up like the jewelry department with everything in front of you behind glass build into the desk.
A few years ago I was actually working with the receiver for the Keene location during it's closing.
He told me that at the time he was making $5.75 and management asked him not to show any other employees his check because
HE DIDN'T WANT THEM TO GET JEALOUS OF HIS HIGH SALARY!
This was 1995 of course when the store closed for a JC Penney

I actually went in the Rich's in Keene in 1996, and that was one of the last ones left it reminded me of the one in Concord. I went to the one in West Lebanon QUITE A BIT! and that was one of their earlier stores it opened in 1968 and was enlarged at one point.
the one in the Green Mountain mall in ST J opened in FAll 1991. it was a Zayre at first. Why didnt they have Rich's in CT, they had one in RI for like 1.5 years. I NEVER WENT TO THE ONE IN ROCHESTER NH (The only one in NH I never went in) and what was it like?

I went to the one in NAshua at times (Their 2nd store that opened in 1964, 1965 or 1966), and it was one of their worst, why was it tiny a bigger population area???? remember that store, its right against the Rt. 3 and in the same plaza as Bob's and STaples and MArket Basket and AC Moore, STaples took over part of it and Bob's enlarged the other part.

guess where the northern most Rich's was in NEw hampshire.

[TRJ22487]

I went to the West Lebanon location every weekend in the 90's, usually on a Saturday, as it is the town my dad lives in. Back then there was only Rich's and K-Mart, West Lebanon oddly never had an Ames until Rich's closed. Then again the population around that area used to be much much less than it is today.
I didn't go to the Keene Rich's nearly as much because we had a Bradlees and K-Mart was up to date at the time.

I found this online

Taken from the New Hampshire State Historical Records
Index to Dodge/Scan Microfilms (1987 - 1993)
Numbers refer to Roll Numbers

Keene, NH
   Armory  88
   Apartments  115, 133
   Chemical Building  81
   Cheshire County Courthouse  34, 92
   Cheshire Medical Center  72
   Concord Laboratories, Inc.  20
   Days Inn Motel  58
   Electrical Power Plant  58
   Harper Acres Housing  43
   Home & School for Handicapped Children  85
   Keene Housing Authority  42, 102, 103,
                            115, 133
   Keene State College  *  See below
   MGM Insurance Company  100
   Manufacturing Bldg.  115
   Mason Library  37
   Meadow Road Condominiums  103
   North Swanzey Wastewater
      Treatment Plant  66
   Parker Hall  131
   Police Department  130
   Public Housing  105
   Public Library  115
   Pump Station for Oxygen  30
   Region Four Office Building  87
   Rich's Department Store  106
   Southwest Community Services Office  42
   Sun Food Supermarket  36
   Surry Mountain Lake  100
   Tilden Head State School  32
   Warehouse  53
   Waste Transfer Recycling Facility  12
   Wright Estates  129
Keene State College  21
   Appian Way Project  98
   Butterfield Hall  93
   Campus Center  65
   Dining Hall  21
   Morrison Hall 86
   Parker Hall 131





Laconia, NH
   Dube Building  106
   Federal Building  52, 82, 117, 132
   Group Home  93
   Laconia State School  45, 89
   Lakes Region Facility  98
   Pier 3 Condominiums  8
   Rich's Plaza  64
   Speare & Rice Building  84
   Sunrise Tower Public Housing  75
   Telephone Building  54
   Union Ave. Waterline  76
   Wastewater Pumping Station  92




Lebanon, NH
   Community Center  50
   Creare.X Office Bldg.  128
   Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center  4, 5, 9,
                                       10, 125
   Densmore Pond Apartment Buildings  83
   Great Brook Road Bridge  105
   Industrial Park  85
   Landfill  60
   Landmark Bank  83
   Mary Hitchcock Hospital  4, 5, 9, 10, 125
   Mount Lebanon Elementary School  123
   New England Telephone  83
   Office Building  53
   Police Station  69, 114
   Post Office  109
  Purity Super Store  15
   Rich's Department Store  38
   Riverside & Maple Manor Housing  46
   Rogers House Apartments  127





Rochester, NH
   Bridge repair  41
   Catholic School  12
   City Hall & Police 25
   District Courthouse  69
   Elementary School  104
   Frisbee Memorial Hospital  32
   McClelland Elementary School  55
   Middle School  118, 132
   New England Telephone  87
   Rich's Dept. Store  116
   Sewers & Pump Station  22, 94, 121
   Shop & Save Supermarket  61
   Spaulding Jr. High School  127
   Spaulding Middle School  62
   Vocational Education Center  129
   Well Sweep Acres  111

[d_fife]

http://base.googlehosted.com/base_media?q=LBC-19649265-2476550541&size=1&hl=en

st johnsbury one:

[TRJ22487]

Awesome d_fife you continue to amaze! Is that from 1993? And it looks to be from a helicopter. That's a nice, nice picture

[jmcnamara96]

Heres a Article from 1982 of the Bangor Woolco being Richs
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-J8zAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XTgHAAAAIBAJ&pg=3319,1536075&dq=rich%27s+store+in+nh&hl=en

[TRJ22487]

The link from the last post D_Fife made no longer works
Luckily I saved the image on my computer
St Johnsbury, VT Memorial Dr. in Early 90's



I loved going to this store as a small child...remember it like a dream
You can see how the Sears logo changed from white to blue as well


This was the one you had to enter from the inside and became Ames afterward
But wasn't it an Ames BEFORE being a Rich's too? And it was definitely originally a Zayre

Of course, this location has been destroyed in the modern day....unrecognizable

[TRJ_22487]

Forgot my old password so a new account...
I found this in a Youtube video posted a year ago
My hope is he still has this and would be willing to sell it to me.
Amazing, this apparently popped up in a flea market all the way in Florida some 20 years later unopened!!
He is from Florida, and has no idea what Rich's even was
I sure hope he'll sell it to me...I have Ames, Hills, Kay-Bee stickers, but I would treasure a Rich's one most of all
This is a sealed copy of Startropics for the original Nintendo btw



Evidence of this chain has not totally vanished, good to see...
This early 90's bag was donated to a museum in Salem, Mass.

[jmcnamara96]

Forgot my old password so a new account...
I found this in a Youtube video posted a year ago
My hope is he still has this and would be willing to sell it to me.
Amazing, this apparently popped up in a flea market all the way in Florida some 20 years later unopened!!
He is from Florida, and has no idea what Rich's even was
I sure hope he'll sell it to me...I have Ames, Hills, Kay-Bee stickers, but I would treasure a Rich's one most of all
This is a sealed copy of Startropics for the original Nintendo btw


Best place too get tags is at thrift stores i have about 20 richs and one very old richs hardgoods one


Evidence of this chain has not totally vanished, good to see...
This early 90's bag was donated to a museum in Salem, Mass.

[TRJ_22487]

Wow that's cool jmcnamara96 (you kind of awkwardly replied to my post though)
I guess my whole thing is I only collect a few things, so the sticker would have to be on something I already
collect for me to buy it. I can't believe you have nearly 20 stickers from Rich's, that's very cool.

[TRJ_22487]

It floors me all these years later, we've got absolutely NO pictures out of what dfife and zayre88 provided years ago, and the black and white Nashua photo jmcnamara96 provided. There are absolutely NO photos of the original Salem store?? No photos of the West Lebanon store that existed for 30 years? Nothing of the Keene store that anchored that plaza for over a decade?? i KNOW the Keene Sentinel photographed the store several times, but I have no idea how to access their archives....No former management or anything has ANY photographs whatsoever? We still haven't seen any of the carts. How did this chain vanish off earth? Everyone in New England still remembers it!

[ynkeesfn82]

Try the Keene Public Library. They may have archives of the newspapers.

[TRJ_22487]

Try the Keene Public Library. They may have archives of the newspapers.

I wrote them a few days ago, wouldn't get a reply until Monday, but from what they list in their photographs section it looks like the same sets of photographs I've already seen, they basically link you to Flickr which is ultra lame. I am hopeful that they do keep Keene Sentinel archives, but I'm not an actual resident of the town, I'm just outside it, so I think it would be an outrageous charge to go through their archives, I think they charge $50 for a non resident membership to take out a book. That is ridiculous imo

[Zayre88]

It floors me all these years later, we've got absolutely NO pictures out of what dfife and zayre88 provided years ago, and the black and white Nashua photo jmcnamara96 provided. There are absolutely NO photos of the original Salem store?? No photos of the West Lebanon store that existed for 30 years? Nothing of the Keene store that anchored that plaza for over a decade?? i KNOW the Keene Sentinel photographed the store several times, but I have no idea how to access their archives....No former management or anything has ANY photographs whatsoever? We still haven't seen any of the carts. How did this chain vanish off earth? Everyone in New England still remembers it!

It's really sad, I would really like to see these Rich's stores.  They're only a distant memory now, no pictures of them as Rich's...

[TRJ_22487]

It floors me all these years later, we've got absolutely NO pictures out of what dfife and zayre88 provided years ago, and the black and white Nashua photo jmcnamara96 provided. There are absolutely NO photos of the original Salem store?? No photos of the West Lebanon store that existed for 30 years? Nothing of the Keene store that anchored that plaza for over a decade?? i KNOW the Keene Sentinel photographed the store several times, but I have no idea how to access their archives....No former management or anything has ANY photographs whatsoever? We still haven't seen any of the carts. How did this chain vanish off earth? Everyone in New England still remembers it!

It's really sad, I would really like to see these Rich's stores.  They're only a distant memory now, no pictures of them as Rich's...

I suppose the factors for this is that they were all seemingly renovated into other things very quickly. I can't think of any RICH'S that sat vacant for long at all. Shut down in the age before digital cameras, the likelihood drops much more. They only had stores in five states, with a peak of 30 stores. And to make matters worse there is a separate, more successful, department store named Rich's based out of Georgia that has nothing to do with the RICH'S this thread is for.
None of the stores really seemed to have a uniform look as far as outside exterior goes, and I'm not really sure how many different logos there really were, for the particular stores I remember I think there were two different fonts of RICH'S that got used in the 80s/90's for the front of the store, but no clue what the original stores looked like at their start and finish.

I don't give up hope though. Thanks to the internet I've seen thousands of things I never thought I'd see again. I factually know the Keene Sentinel photographed the front of the store on several occasions, because I work with former employees who remember, and I one day hope I will be able to dig these photos up, or force someone else to dig them up.


I was able to find this, credited to Joe Ziolkowski who shot the fashion shots for this ad. He claims it to be for the Boston, Mass store in 1992, but I never knew Boston had a Rich's?????

[TRJ_22487]

From the Salem, Massachusetts Historical Museum. From 1989.

The font on the sticker is the font I remember the West Lebanon and Concord, NH stores having on the front of the building.
But I remember the doors having the logo on the middle of the box.
It was only a slight font difference, but the old logo was much bigger with more space between the letters on the storefronts than the later logo.

[Zayre88]

From the Salem, Massachusetts Historical Museum. From 1989.

The font on the sticker is the font I remember the West Lebanon and Concord, NH stores having on the front of the building.
But I remember the doors having the logo on the middle of the box.
It was only a slight font difference, but the old logo was much bigger with more space between the letters on the storefronts than the later logo.

I also remember the Portsmouth store with the logo with more space.  Auburn and Waterville had the later logo.  However on the pylon signs,  Portsmouth and Waterville had logos that I think were different than the later logo and the bigger logo. 

[gu4ever]

I remember the store in Nashuas, NH had a huge store front sign "for the size of the building". I think this was so the Everette Turnpike traffic could see the store alongside the highway.
Each of the letters had this continious red flourescent piping molded into the letter mounts. At night the sign was super bright red and you knew you were at the Rich's store.

[TRJ_22487]

I remember the store in Nashuas, NH had a huge store front sign "for the size of the building". I think this was so the Everette Turnpike traffic could see the store alongside the highway.
Each of the letters had this continious red flourescent piping molded into the letter mounts. At night the sign was super bright red and you knew you were at the Rich's store.

jmcnamara96 had posted this picture of the Nashua store from 1981 in a different thread.
To me this looks like the later logo, not the "big" one? The same as what the St Johnsbury mall had from 1991-1997.
(Green Mtn Mall, St Johnbury VT from dfife)

I wonder if Nashua ever changed the logo....

Whereas this is definitely the logo I remember West Lebanon and Keene having. THIS is what I consider to be the "big, spaced out logo"
These were the ones that lit up at night and really grabbed your attention
(Fort Eddy Plaza, Concord NH from dfife)

[TRJ_22487]

Here is the Danvers, Massachusetts location back in 1963. Rich's moved into Almy's in 1987 according to d_fife.
I don't believe there is an updated photo of this plaza on the site? I'm unsure if the Rich's kept this same look, or updated...
Good shot of their old Woolworth too...I don't know if I've ever seen a black and white photo with blue sky!!

[Zayre88]

From a Facebook group of former employees of Rich's Dept Store in Manchester NH

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=59920268295&v=wall

[TRJ_22487]

Excellent find Zayre88! I'd found quite a few individual facebook pages for Rich's as well, one for Methuen definitely, but hadn't found pictures in any of them. What an old school sign! I'd love to put that in my garage...That is Baron's Appliances in the background of that picture

This came from the Rochester, NH store. I know people have more pictures....

[Zayre88]

I have tried to re-create the Rich's logo that was at JFK Plaza in Waterville, Maine.

You can see on the 2005 picture at right that the Rich's logo was covered but the "S" peaked through although it had been painted in white.  That "S" looked wider and bolder than on the last Rich's logo which was on the store front.

[d_fife]

From a Facebook group of former employees of Rich's Dept Store in Manchester NH

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=59920268295&v=wall

no the one in LAconia / GIlford.

[Zayre88]

no the one in LAconia / GIlford.

Yes picture of the Gilford store but the Facebook Group is from the Manchester store

[Zayre88]

Manchester's Rich's!



From: http://www.maple-leafnh.com/

[retailisking]

Great pic!  Alexander's is the grocery anchor in this photo.  Alexander's was acquired by Hannaford Bros. in 1991 and became Alexander's Shop 'n Save and later Hannaford.

[TRJ_22487]

Wow very nice! That site also had photos of a few Alexander's locations from the 80's with exterior and interior shots
Such as this one in Hooksett, NH



Under the Supermarkets section.
Is the one in Nashua what eventually became Building 19??

[gu4ever]

This is either the Alexanders location next to the Nashua Mall in the strip plaza that is now Home Depot, or possibly the location on rt 101 that has turned into office/manufacturing next to the former Ponderosa.
The building 19 location opened as Kiely Farms, later Hampshire Farms operated by the Alexanders Co.