Montgomery Ward/Lechemere/Electric Avenue/Electric Avenue

[d_fife]

here is the lechmere in milford ct

from http://www.siteride.com/srpl/p_snapshot.pl?lm=listing&resbox=1138045162&subNum=10209001929

[KyleRF]

Did anyone ever purchase anything from the Montgomery Ward internet website. I heard it was good. Instead of a retail store, Montgomery Ward is now an internet retailer!

[ameskmart1]

Fort Worth, TX

[beachgal26]

Hi!  I have fond memories of all the Montgomery Wards that were in the Baltimore, MD area when I was growing up.  There was a huge building (5+ stories) that contained everything from a whole wing for automotive and an entire floor for the catalog area.  You would take a number and wait hours for your number to be called and it was a day of fun for us when I was growing up.  
Later on in the 1960's was when I first heard people calling it by the nickname "Monkey Wards" and thought that it was just a local joke.  They ended up being my first employer in 1971 and I was sad to see how the stores deteriorated throughout the years before finally closing in 2001.
Now for the good news - they have reemerged as a website store and are back in business (at least for on-line sales.)

[ameskmart1]

Montgomery Ward Stores

[ameskmart1]

Rooms&More

[ameskmart1]

Store

[C. Fontaine]

Here's a picture I snapped this weekend of an old Montgomery Ward building in Putnam, CT!

[KyleRF]

Were there any Montgomery Wards in New Jersey?

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by KyleRF
Were there any Montgomery Wards in New Jersey?

probley back in teh 80s i know MW closed a paortan of stores in 1981 there was one in white planes NY witch clsoed that year the old store became macys witch latter moved the old macys was torn down for a mall withc has a target filenes office max as ancres also 30 storey apparmets budluineis wer ebulit opn that too

[ameskmart1]

Former Wards

[ameskmart1]

Former Wards

[KyleRF]

Montgomery Ward operated at the Seaview Sqaure Mall in Asbury Park, New Jersey, before closing in 1979.

[d_fife]

Originally posted by Caldor1999
hears a Lechmere Store:)

this is from the july 30th post and this one was in south portland maine and it is now best buy. it seems alot of lechmere's became best buy and when montgomery ward bought lechmere in 1994, lechmere went downhill.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if the Wards in Kingston is still standing or what happened to it and when it closed?

[Anonymous]

Kingston, NY... sorry

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by Anonymous
Does anyone know if the Wards in Kingston is still standing or what happened to it and when it closed?

it was torn down i think it became a wal mart or a best but idk it some outher big box store now

[d_fife]

was there a montgomery ward in kingston? If so, where?

there was one I heard in poughkeepsie.

[amesman]

ok, let me clear this up since I live in Kingston..hehe. We had a Wards here that opened in the 60's, and it was real old school(it had the newer logos though). It closed in 2001(I was there like the last week it was open). I unfortunatly only have pics of it getting demolished. I never got a chance to get pics of the store still standing as a whole. It was demolished in 2003, and is now home to a shopping plaza with Barnes and Noble, Bed Bath and Beyond, Sports Authority, Panera Bread, Coldwater Creek(some womens apparel store), Chico's, Ann Taylor Loft, Pier 1 Imports, Talbots, Cingular Wireless, and Applebees.

[Anonymous]

I loved Montgomery Wards! Especially the Crossroads Mall in OKC location
!

[Anonymous]

Did you notice that Ward is going to be on eBay?

[d_fife]

how come montgomery ward never had any stores in massachusetts, in new england they only had some in NH and Vermont. massachusetts is a major state!!! they had some in new york. the closed most in new york. their stores were bad and near the end their stuff was lackluster. they started out as a catologe busienss. someone called it monkey wards

here is the one in greenburgh pa. it was 86,000 sf.  and opened in 1966. most montgomery wards opened 1970s and 1980s. they seemed to not have updated their stores. my mom once said montgomery ward's stores are crummy looking.

from joe stevens of http://www.storetrax.com/stx/showProperty.do

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by d_fife
how come montgomery ward never had any stores in massachusetts, in new england they only had some in NH and Vermont. massachusetts is a major state!!! they had some in new york. the closed most in new york. their stores were bad and near the end their stuff was lackluster. they started out as a catologe busienss. someone called it monkey wards

here is the one in greenburgh pa. it was 86,000 sf.  and opened in 1966. most montgomery wards opened 1970s and 1980s. they seemed to not have updated their stores. my mom once said montgomery ward's stores are crummy looking.

from joe stevens of http://www.storetrax.com/stx/showProperty.do

ward nevre really focoused on any of there northeastern stores they did have some there though at one time most of the probley closed in tehj late 70's/ealry 80s witch is when montgomery ward clsoe dsome of there stores from the looks of it they were a betetr version of sears i also think that if sears dosent change a bit they will probley end up like montgomry ward

[BillyGr]

Originally posted by d_fife
how come montgomery ward never had any stores in massachusetts, in new england they only had some in NH and Vermont.

They had some in new york. the closed most in new york.

Originally posted by Caldor1999
ward nevre really focoused on any of there northeastern stores they did have some there though at one time.  Most of them probably closed in the late 70's/ealry 80s witch is when montgomery ward clsoe dsome of there stores

OK - No idea why they weren't in MA, seems kind of suprising.
They did have some in NY - I know of the Northway, Saratoga Mall and Mohawk Mall ones, plus the freestanding one in Kingston and the Poughkeepsie mall (Galleria?)location.
The first three closed about 5 years (give or take) before the chain went out completely - the other 2 hung on 'till the end.
I remember it being stated that they basically "drew a line" and closed any stores north of Kingston, NY in that one batch (which would include VT, NH, ME etc.).  No reason why, though, that I remember (the 3 in Albany/Saratoga area might have been due to the malls they were in - all of those were heading downhill even at that time).

[amesman]

Yes, I remember when the Albany stores closed. All in 97 right?

Kingston hung on til the end. Poughkeepsie did too, but not in its original location. It used to be in the Poughkeepsie Plaza(now Price Chopper), then they moved to the galleria in 94 or 95 I think.

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by BillyGr

Originally posted by d_fife
how come montgomery ward never had any stores in massachusetts, in new england they only had some in NH and Vermont.

They had some in new york. the closed most in new york.

Originally posted by Caldor1999
ward nevre really focoused on any of there northeastern stores they did have some there though at one time.  Most of them probably closed in the late 70's/ealry 80s witch is when montgomery ward clsoe dsome of there stores

OK - No idea why they weren't in MA, seems kind of suprising.
They did have some in NY - I know of the Northway, Saratoga Mall and Mohawk Mall ones, plus the freestanding one in Kingston and the Poughkeepsie mall (Galleria?)location.
The first three closed about 5 years (give or take) before the chain went out completely - the other 2 hung on 'till the end.
I remember it being stated that they basically "drew a line" and closed any stores north of Kingston, NY in that one batch (which would include VT, NH, ME etc.).  No reason why, though, that I remember (the 3 in Albany/Saratoga area might have been due to the malls they were in - all of those were heading downhill even at that time).

they might have had some stores in MA alont tmie ago they had a few in jersey that clsoed imbtewwn 1979 and 1981 there was one white planes to that clsoed in 1981 that became Macys witch latter closed and moved the old sight is now hiome to a apparmet complex with a indore mall called teh city center

[amesman]

There was also a store in Utica that hung on until the end. It was in Riverside Mall.

[Anonymous]

Besides Lechmere, I don't recall any Wards in Connecticut. I was born in 1980 and we always had Caldor, Bradlees, and best of all Woolworth's until the late 90s. I'm not sure why Wards never opened here. The only Wards location that I ever shopped at was in the Rutland Mall in Rutland, Vermont. Has anyone ever been to that store? It was part of a retro 70s style mall that contained a full-lined Montgomery Ward store, Ames, and a movie theatre complete with metal fold-up chair seats!

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by Anonymous
Besides Lechmere, I don't recall any Wards in Connecticut. I was born in 1980 and we always had Caldor, Bradlees, and best of all Woolworth's until the late 90s. I'm not sure why Wards never opened here. The only Wards location that I ever shopped at was in the Rutland Mall in Rutland, Vermont. Has anyone ever been to that store? It was part of a retro 70s style mall that contained a full-lined Montgomery Ward store, Ames, and a movie theatre complete with metal fold-up chair seats!

wards might have had stores in ct they were around longer then caldor bradlees ervice merchandise ect they might have had some store s in CT that probley clsoed sometime during the 70's or early 80';s

[amesman]

Originally posted by Anonymous
Besides Lechmere, I don't recall any Wards in Connecticut. I was born in 1980 and we always had Caldor, Bradlees, and best of all Woolworth's until the late 90s. I'm not sure why Wards never opened here. The only Wards location that I ever shopped at was in the Rutland Mall in Rutland, Vermont. Has anyone ever been to that store? It was part of a retro 70s style mall that contained a full-lined Montgomery Ward store, Ames, and a movie theatre complete with metal fold-up chair seats!

Ssdly, Rutland Mall was demolished years ago. It is now a Home Depot.