My retail photos

[JJBers]

If you wanted more retail photos beyond my posts, here you go!

[giantsfan2016]

I'll look at them more later. I hope years down the road when you graduate high school and go off to college you continue to your interest in retail and other related fields. I'm on my 3rd account here (the first I accidentally deleted and the 2nd one one of my managers at Stop and Shop made me delete my account), but all in all I've been a member here for 11 years (since 2006 when I was in my 20s) and in that time I've noticed that quite a few of the younger members lose interest in retail and stop participating here once they graduate high school and go to college.

[busman_49]

JJBers: Very cool and some great photos!  Thanks for sharing! (you have another follower now)

Brammy:  Sounds like I've done the reverse:  I didn't get big into retail until I was about 33.  I guess I got all that high school & college junk out of the way before I really got into this stuff.  As it turns out, tomorrow is my second year on this forum.  ;D

[MikeinBuffalo]

I'll look at them more later. I hope years down the road when you graduate high school and go off to college you continue to your interest in retail and other related fields. I'm on my 3rd account here (the first I accidentally deleted and the 2nd one one of my managers at Stop and Shop made me delete my account), but all in all I've been a member here for 11 years (since 2006 when I was in my 20s) and in that time I've noticed that quite a few of the younger members lose interest in retail and stop participating here once they graduate high school and go to college.

I'm a college kid, and I really love retail. I can't go past an older building and imagine "what the heck did this used to be?"


I even try to shop at Kmart even though Target is 5 minutes from campus.

[busman_49]

I'll look at them more later. I hope years down the road when you graduate high school and go off to college you continue to your interest in retail and other related fields. I'm on my 3rd account here (the first I accidentally deleted and the 2nd one one of my managers at Stop and Shop made me delete my account), but all in all I've been a member here for 11 years (since 2006 when I was in my 20s) and in that time I've noticed that quite a few of the younger members lose interest in retail and stop participating here once they graduate high school and go to college.

I'm a college kid, and I really love retail. I can't go past an older building and imagine "what the heck did this used to be?"


I even try to shop at Kmart even though Target is 5 minutes from campus.

I think I've always had the interest, but I was bouncing around Flickr in late 2013 and saw others' retail photos and said to myself, "hey, that's something I can get into!"  The rest, as they say, is history.

I tried to shop at my local Kmarts as of a couple of years ago; now there are none left.  The closest to where I live is 45 minutes to an hour away; the closest to my job is about 30-40 minutes away.

[JJBers]

JJBers: Very cool and some great photos!  Thanks for sharing! (you have another follower now)

Thanks! I appreciate the follow. I might not be taking much for the next few days, due to the recent heavy winds and the fact that I've covered about everything in Windham County in a retail sense. Hopefully UCONN might be next, then the rest of the Norwich area. Then in the next two weeks, Meriden Square Mall and Enfield Square Mall.
Ohio has a hell a lot more cool retail than Connecticut.

[JJBers]

I guess I'll post a rough schedule for things to come:
November 1: Enfield Square Mall Done
November 4: Meriden Square Mall and Westfarms. Done
November 5: Brass Mill Center and Watertown Kmart. Done
November 7: Rite-Aid plaza (Canterbury, CT)
November 9: Boston school trip, some photos of the city, and maybe road signs, but not much for retail.
November 10-23: Hiatus, my dad's knee surgery is going to leave him stuck home for a while, which traps me too. Maybe a couple photos after November 15. Below
November 23: Good ol' Thanksgiving, while I'll be heading across the state, I'm not sure much will come out of it.
November 24-Early-December: Continued Hiatus, maybe a bit more photos than before.
December 26-30: A stay up with my grandparents in Acton, MA. I could stop at a mall, plus a Kmart in the same town.
January 2018: Warwick Mall plus Rhode Island Mall? It could happen.
2018: Hopefully I'll crack down on the rest of the Buckland Hills area, and cover some malls in MA and Western CT.
2019 and Beyond: I'll be doing a lot more malls, maybe due to be old enough to get a car by then, and a stable job.

[JJBers]

I forgot about the fact that my grandma is moving into a condo across Southington, so I could capture some photos in East Hartford/Manchester and Bristol too.

[giantsfan2016]

I forgot about the fact that my grandma is moving into a condo across Southington, so I could capture some photos in East Hartford/Manchester and Bristol too.

Some tips for you if you do go to Bristol.

Bristol is nice. I grew up there. Lived there until a few months before I turned 21. Then again until I turned 30. You can see the former Walmart Neighborhood Market on the corner of Route 6 and Oakland Street which was built as a Shaw's and operated as such until 2009. Walmart Neighborhood Market Operated there from For almost 4 years from July 2013 until June 2017.

Going up Route 6 to the Bristol Plaza the Stop and Shop opened in May 2004. It replaced Bradlees which was demolished. The TJ MAXX and Savers in that plaza was Stop & Shop's old location. The Ocean State Job Lot was TJ MAXX and long before that was a chain called D&L which went out of business around 94. Job Lot previously occupied space in the part of the old Stop & Shop. If you value your life DO NOT EAT at CENTURY BUFFET.

Going further up Route 6 through the construction zone is an ancient looking ShopRite. Complete with the old logo.  The rest of the plaza was remodeled in 2003. The build of the section of the plaza that includes Panera and Fuji Japanese Steak House was also built in 2003. The Goodwill Store was once a small version of Bob's Discount Furniture. It was called Li'l Bob's Discount Furniture.

On the opposite side of Route 6 is Bristol Farms Plaza. Except for Hobby Lobby and Big Lot's it's mainly abandoned. The Big Lot's was once a Waldbaum's Foodmart supermarket. (Sister chain to A&P). Hobby Lobby was Sears Hardware and Salvation Army. Next to HL is vacant space that was once Marshall's. They moved to a bigger space in Plainville in 08. The next empty space over the years was CVS, Family Dollar (Location number 2 in Bristol), and Aaron's Rental. The next empty space was most recently a self-defense school. And next to that is a vacant spot that was Joann's until 2014. They moved to a large space in Southington. There's also a independent hair salon, a Chinese restaurant that is hit or miss in terms of food qualit0y (the Chinese place in the ShopRite Plaza is pretty good), and a dental office that once was People's Bank.

The Taco Bell opposite the plaza at the light opened in 2007. It was a new concept design and replaced the one that is now Enterprise Rent a Car. (Before Enterprise it was a short lived Checker's Restaurant).

Just up Route 6 on the same side of the street as Hobby Lobby is a small little development that has LA Fitness, Chili's, and a Sonic (with a dining room) that used to be Arby's.


If you go to the Forestville section of Bristol on Pine Street is The Forestville Commons. The building where Subway and other businesses are was once a movie theater. Happy Harry's Liquor store was once A&P Liquors, and the Stop & Shop is where I worked until November 2016. It opened in 1998. If you value your life DO NOT EAT at the Chinese place that's attached to the 99 Restaurant building. One more tip. Don't eat at The Oasis Restaurant across Pine Street from the plaza either. Service is very poor. Try 2 Brothers. Same side of Pine Street as Oasis on the Plainville border.

[JJBers]

I forgot about the fact that my grandma is moving into a condo across Southington, so I could capture some photos in East Hartford/Manchester and Bristol too.

Some tips for you if you do go to Bristol.

Bristol is nice. I grew up there. Lived there until a few months before I turned 21. Then again until I turned 30. You can see the former Walmart Neighborhood Market on the corner of Route 6 and Oakland Street which was built as a Shaw's and operated as such until 2009. Walmart Neighborhood Market Operated there from For almost 4 years from July 2013 until June 2017.

Going up Route 6 to the Bristol Plaza the Stop and Shop opened in May 2004. It replaced Bradlees which was demolished. The TJ MAXX and Savers in that plaza was Stop & Shop's old location. The Ocean State Job Lot was TJ MAXX and long before that was a chain called D&L which went out of business around 94. Job Lot previously occupied space in the part of the old Stop & Shop. If you value your life DO NOT EAT at CENTURY BUFFET.

Going further up Route 6 through the construction zone is an ancient looking ShopRite. Complete with the old logo.  The rest of the plaza was remodeled in 2003. The build of the section of the plaza that includes Panera and Fuji Japanese Steak House was also built in 2003. The Goodwill Store was once a small version of Bob's Discount Furniture. It was called Li'l Bob's Discount Furniture.

On the opposite side of Route 6 is Bristol Farms Plaza. Except for Hobby Lobby and Big Lot's it's mainly abandoned. The Big Lot's was once a Waldbaum's Foodmart supermarket. (Sister chain to A&P). Hobby Lobby was Sears Hardware and Salvation Army. Next to HL is vacant space that was once Marshall's. They moved to a bigger space in Plainville in 08. The next empty space over the years was CVS, Family Dollar (Location number 2 in Bristol), and Aaron's Rental. The next empty space was most recently a self-defense school. And next to that is a vacant spot that was Joann's until 2014. They moved to a large space in Southington. There's also a independent hair salon, a Chinese restaurant that is hit or miss in terms of food qualit0y (the Chinese place in the ShopRite Plaza is pretty good), and a dental office that once was People's Bank.

The Taco Bell opposite the plaza at the light opened in 2007. It was a new concept design and replaced the one that is now Enterprise Rent a Car. (Before Enterprise it was a short lived Checker's Restaurant).

Just up Route 6 on the same side of the street as Hobby Lobby is a small little development that has LA Fitness, Chili's, and a Sonic (with a dining room) that used to be Arby's.


If you go to the Forestville section of Bristol on Pine Street is The Forestville Commons. The building where Subway and other businesses are was once a movie theater. Happy Harry's Liquor store was once A&P Liquors, and the Stop & Shop is where I worked until November 2016. It opened in 1998. If you value your life DO NOT EAT at the Chinese place that's attached to the 99 Restaurant building. One more tip. Don't eat at The Oasis Restaurant across Pine Street from the plaza either. Service is very poor. Try 2 Brothers. Same side of Pine Street as Oasis on the Plainville border.

Well....thanks! I don't think I'll have the time to do everything in Bristol, but I'll try to go to the abandoned Walmart, ShopRite, and Big Lots.

[TheFugitive]

I wonder what the future holds for Bristol as ESPN continues to shrink
and cut back employment?

[JJBers]

I wonder what the future holds for Bristol as ESPN continues to shrink
and cut back employment?

Not sure, I believe that most ESPN jobs are out of the town.

[JJBers]

Update: Not much happened this weekend, I went to a couple of places in Willimantic and North Windham.
This weekend might bring me to Bristol and possibly the still open Benny's in Greenville, RI.