Clover

[Bassbomb91]

Anyone remember shopping at Clover? It was part of Strawbridges and Clothier until May's bought the chain. Clover went defunct around 1996.

[EddieJ1984]

Of course I remember clover. The 2 locations I remember going to as a kid were.
Cottman & Castor Ave - Would become a JCPenney for a few years. then closed early 2000s Id guess, rumor has it it's going to get knocked down and a Lowe's is gonna be built.

Frankford Ave near Academy Rd location - became a Big Kmart (which relocated from its old location on Torresdale Ave), still a Big Kmart.

[Bassbomb91]

Good old Clover Cottman. I always went there when I was younger. It was a great store. It was the only multi-level clover and the only one I know of that the canopy was painted green instead of bronze. It also had clover leafs on that tower thing at the rear of the store.

[store215]

Good old Clover Cottman. I always went there when I was younger. It was a great store. It was the only multi-level clover and the only one I know of that the canopy was painted green instead of bronze. It also had clover leafs on that tower thing at the rear of the store.

Clover had another multi-level store at The Gallery train station downtown (now a Kmart)...it was only there a couple years. I don't know of any Clover that had bronze awnings...all the ones I remember were always green.
(And we already have a Clover thread on here)

[EddieJ1984]

I was thinkin there was a clover thread.
Also the clover near the dining car on frankford ave had the green awning im pretty sure.

[Bassbomb91]

Any picture I can find on the internet of the store showed them with the bronze awnings (mostly Jersey stores). I can only remember Clover Cottman having the green awning. The Rising Sun Clover had a Green canopy?

Here is a bronze canopied Clover, though this have been really old judging by the cars and many could have recieved a green paint job.


http://hungrypilgrims.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/clover001.jpg
Sory I may have recieved bad information on the color of the canopies

Thank you I totally forgot about the downtown store!

[Bassbomb91]

Here is a pic of the old clover

[jmcnamara96]

Is that Vacant?do you have any more pics

[EddieJ1984]

Yea, its vacant, it was a JCPenney afterwards for a few years then closed in the early 2000s.
Rumour has it like I said that lowe's wants to know it down and build a store.

[Bassbomb91]

Here are a couple of pic of it as Clover shortly before closing

Street Side
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrambojr/4858679327/

Parking Lot side

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrambojr/4903580403/

It has been vacant for years and yes I have heard that rumor too about Lowes. Before Boscov's went under I heard it was trying to claim the property...

[MikeRa]

The Clover at Cottman and Castor Avenue was built in 1955 in a joint venture between Lit Brothers Department Stores and Food Fair Supermarkets.  Lit's closed in 1977 and Food Fair/Pantry Pride was closed by 1979.

[Bassbomb91]

If you check out my flickr account, mrambojr commented on one of my Lits/Clover pictures and described the part of the building that once displayed the Lit's Northeast and the Clover leaf of clover as the powerplant thing. What was this in the store, was it offices or an elevator shaft? What was its purpose?

[EddieJ1984]

Here are some comparison pics I took to show how the area looks then and now
The first one you gotta click since its pretty wide.

[Bassbomb91]

It's amazing how it changed so much, man I wish I could go back to when it was Lit's just to see exactly as it was.

It's wierd that Clover boarded all of it's windows up. Also from what I can can remember and the Clover pics I saw, the Castor doors were locked and boarded up from the inside. I read some where that shoplifters often were able to escape easily through the Cottman doors because there were only a few registers there and it was quiet because most people entered and exited through the rear. If I remember correctly, the snack bar was located in the corner by the that entrance.

I believe that that little area that looks like it was added on to the buidling in the back, where the parking lot entrance was located (not the entrance that was right next to Pantry Prides the other one.)
was once the added on Lit's Tire area?

[videogamer75]

I found an old Clover sales flyer last year...and then I lost it!  >:(

The one at the Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township, NJ is now a Burlington Coat Factory...before, it was a JC Penney.

[Bassbomb91]

Check this out.



I found this during a quick google search.

I can remember going to Clover Cottman with my parents and I was young, walking through the parking lot and under the awning thing. As I eyed the channel lettering over the former entrance to Toys R Us (which any young kid would do) we  would then enter the first set of auto doors (I believe the pressure switch kind)  which would open with a characteristic zoooooooom sound. After passing through the foyer thing we passed through another set of doors and were greeted by an employee wearing one of these.

Sorry, I was just hit with a blast of nostalgia and decided to share it.

[MikeRa]

If you check out my flickr account, mrambojr commented on one of my Lits/Clover pictures and described the part of the building that once displayed the Lit's Northeast and the Clover leaf of clover as the powerplant thing. What was this in the store, was it offices or an elevator shaft? What was its purpose?

Being that I'm "mrambojr" on flickr/Yahoo! (since I posted the Clover pic towards it's final days), that was where, on the first floor, was the loading dock area.  The offices were in the basement.

[Bassbomb91]

If you check out my flickr account, mrambojr commented on one of my Lits/Clover pictures and described the part of the building that once displayed the Lit's Northeast and the Clover leaf of clover as the powerplant thing. What was this in the store, was it offices or an elevator shaft? What was its purpose?

Being that I'm "mrambojr" on flickr/Yahoo! (since I posted the Clover pic towards it's final days), that was where, on the first floor, was the loading dock area.  The offices were in the basement.

Ha! thanks for the reply.

[store215]

I found an old Clover sales flyer last year...and then I lost it!  >:(

The one at the Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township, NJ is now a Burlington Coat Factory...before, it was a JC Penney.

This was also the last store in the chain to close due to something funky in their lease. The liquidator that closed the other stores moved stuff into this one, and added more liquidation-type merchandise, and continued to run the store for several more years. They were required to stay until 2004 unless a suitable, similar tenant was found. I believe this Clover may have lasted until 2000, before becoming a Burlington Coat Factory.

[store215]

I noticed an ad for this payment processing company using the name 'Clover' and a logo that looks close to the former discount chain. This would have been an awesome logo if they were still in business :(

https://www.clover.com/

[MikeRa]

Frankford Ave near Academy Rd location - became a Big Kmart (which relocated from its old location on Torresdale Ave), still a Big Kmart.

This location is now Mealey's Furniture Outlet

[EddieJ1984]

Frankford Ave near Academy Rd location - became a Big Kmart (which relocated from its old location on Torresdale Ave), still a Big Kmart.

This location is now Mealey's Furniture Outlet

Yes indeed it is, actually brought a nice looking dresses there last year when it opened.
Also an update on the one that was on cottman & castor, it is now split into 3 stores, Burlington (street level), TJMaxx (2nd floor) and Bob's Discount Furniture (3rd Floor).
And the Toys R Us that was next door to it is going to be a Raymour & Flanagan Outlet store.

[1240east]

Here is a clover shopping cart