Montgomery Ward/Lechemere/Electric Avenue/Electric Avenue

[TRJ22487]

I've been driving past this truck for years and finally found the time to pull over and take a picture.
It is in Wilton, New Hampshire at the water bottling plant

[gu4ever]

After visiting the Grand Union store in Tannersville, NY I headed west on 23A onto 23. I was welcomed to this sign along my way to Stamford.

[gu4ever]

Here's a close up of the sign hanging from the building.

[gu4ever]

The sign found in New York on RT23 is a mini version of the one that was on this sign post in Nashua, NH.

[gu4ever]

In downtown Vermont the former Montgomery Ward building still stands with it's painted sign on the top of the building.

[gu4ever]

This is a close up picture of the sign.

[gu4ever]

Taking a trip out to Peterborough today with my friend I got to be the passenger for a change.
When we drove back through Wilton, NH on route 101 heading east towards Milford, I discovered
this trailer tucked away amongst a cluster of other trailers.

Opps... TRJ22487 already posted this same trailer back on 8/04/09. I remembered that a trailer was posted
recently, but forgot that it was right here in the area. This is a picture of the other side of the trailer for your enjoyment. :)

[Ameskid]

Just found this picture of a special edition car that Bobby Labonte drove in 1998.  Note the Wards Auto Express logos.

http://jayski.com/schemes/98/18ss-hood.jpg

Pics credit: Jayski

[jmcnamara96]

any one have pictures of the lechrmere in the mall of nh it is now ac morre and best buy

[Caldor1999]

heres the lechmere in  The Framingham Mall

[Caldor1999]

here are pics of the one in Weymouth pics takeing by Ted Swift

[Caldor1999]

Weymouth

[nims57]

That store looks kind of like the Bradlees from that 1974 NBA commercial. Could it be?

[gu4ever]

So the Montgomery Wards in Nashua, NH finally has a store number.... Taken from the Montgomery Ward fashion box from catalog service!!

[jmcnamara96]

Hears a list of Lechmere Locations as of 1989 IN Mass
88 First St./Cambridge  (617)-491-2000
Liberty Tree Mall/Danvers (508)-777-1000
688 Provindence HW/Dedham (617)-329-2200
Framinham Mall/Framinham (508)-620-0100
740 Middle St./Weymouth (617)-337-5770
Woburn Mall/Woburn (617)-935-8320
Grendale Mall/Worchester (508)-856-9800
1550 Boston Rd./Springfeild (413)-543-5100

This was my 1000 Post!!! :P

[Kmart4life]

Reliving the good ole days!
http://youtu.be/b6zv9i7gscY

[retailisking]

I'm seeing tons of TV ads for the resurrected wards.com this holiday season.  Ironically, they have a higher profile in my neck of the woods than they had back in the day.  Where I grew up their presence was limited to a nondescript tiny catalog store.

http://wards.com/custserv/custserv.jsp?pageName=Commercial

[TRJ_22487]

I posted this in the vinyl record section but figured I'd put it here too.

Longtime residents of New England or New York should remember Lechmere, which closed in November 1997.
The only ones I can remember going to a few times were in Manchester and Nashua, NH, but I feel like I have been to others in Massachusetts or Connecticut as well.  
Well if you don't remember them, the 1988 corporate video has been dug up on Youtube that shows off the entire Danvers, Mass store and some of the Liberty Tree Mall, which still exists, though the Lechmere was demolished in 1998.
Really cool to look at. This is before Montgomery Ward bought them out and ran them into the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9Z_2XZ4KY





In this shot from then and 2009, you can see the hall area still looks very much the same!





This particular store #003 also has a Facebook page with literally dozens of photos from the 70's to the late 90's
But most of the photos seem to come from the same era that this video was shot, or even earlier!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lechmere-003/108905319133994?sk=photos_stream





Lechmere and Filene's Basement were anchor stores of the mall until 1997 when they were demolished and rebuilt into Target, Staples, Dollar Tree and Best Buy in 1998/1999. An f.y.e. replaced part of an area of smaller stores, converting them into a music store/video arcade (formerly Dream Machine), both of which have since closed. Another group of stores was converted to Bed Bath & Beyond.

Ann & Hope closed its 211,300-square-foot (19,630 m2) store in 2001 due to poor sales. It was later rebuilt into Kohl's. Stop & Shop and Pier 1 Imports were later built to the left of Kohl's. A Loews Theatres 20-screen multiplex was also added to the mall.

In January 2008, Stop & Shop closed. The 91,000-square-foot (8,500 m2) store was originally built in 2003.[1] The former Stop & Shop space was converted for use by Nordstrom Rack and Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, which opened in November 2008.[2] In 2009, the former f.y.e. was replaced by a Steve & Barry's, but only operated briefly until the company's bankruptcy. This location featured a more modern design compared to other locations.





Here is a Duran Duran record I have with a Lechmere sticker. They started selling music in the early 80's.
Fun Fact: Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown was arrested at the Liberty Tree Mall location (shown above) for shoplifting vinyl record LP's! It is in his autobiography.

[TRU7536]

Can someone tell me where all the Lechmere locations were located in CT? I am really intrigued to find out where the Manchester one was.

[jmcnamara96]

In MA. in '89 they had stores in
Cambridge-88 First Street
Cambridge-Liberty Tree Mall
Dedham-688 Providence Highway
Framingham-400 Cochituate Road
Weymouth-740 Middle Street
Woburn-275 Wildwood Street
Woburn-Mishawun Road and Commerce Road
Woburn-7 Neponset Street

[Lastdaysofrain]

That's a great video. I don't think it's a training video though, it looks like it was produced in house for maybe a Christmas party or something.

There are some fantastic classic accents in that thing.

[TRJ_22487]

Longtime residents of New England or New York should remember Lechmere, which closed in November 1997.
The only ones I can remember going to a few times were in Manchester and Nashua, NH, but I feel like I have been to others in Massachusetts or Connecticut as well.  
Well if you don't remember them, the 1988 corporate video has been dug up on Youtube that shows off the entire Danvers, Mass store and some of the Liberty Tree Mall, which still exists, though the Lechmere was demolished in 1998.
Really cool to look at. This is before Montgomery Ward bought them out and ran them into the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9Z_2XZ4KY





In this shot from then and 2009, you can see the hall area still looks very much the same!





This particular store #003 also has a Facebook page with literally dozens of photos from the 70's to the late 90's
But most of the photos seem to come from the same era that this video was shot, or even earlier!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lechmere-003/108905319133994?sk=photos_stream





Lechmere and Filene's Basement were anchor stores of the mall until 1997 when they were demolished and rebuilt into Target, Staples, Dollar Tree and Best Buy in 1998/1999. An f.y.e. replaced part of an area of smaller stores, converting them into a music store/video arcade (formerly Dream Machine), both of which have since closed. Another group of stores was converted to Bed Bath & Beyond.

Ann & Hope closed its 211,300-square-foot (19,630 m2) store in 2001 due to poor sales. It was later rebuilt into Kohl's. Stop & Shop and Pier 1 Imports were later built to the left of Kohl's. A Loews Theatres 20-screen multiplex was also added to the mall.

In January 2008, Stop & Shop closed. The 91,000-square-foot (8,500 m2) store was originally built in 2003.[1] The former Stop & Shop space was converted for use by Nordstrom Rack and Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, which opened in November 2008.[2] In 2009, the former f.y.e. was replaced by a Steve & Barry's, but only operated briefly until the company's bankruptcy. This location featured a more modern design compared to other locations.

That's a great video. I don't think it's a training video though, it looks like it was produced in house for maybe a Christmas party or something.

There are some fantastic classic accents in that thing.

No it's definitely not a training video, but it was a corporate video, or as you say produced in house. Apparently there was no budget to put a microphone on any of these people lol. Still it captures what a Lechmere store looked like fantastically. It's as if it were all still there. I love the accents as well. I feel like you really don't see as many young people with the true mass accent anymore.....the old timers though, oh boy.

If you look in the Ann & Hope thread, I linked to a video from New Years Eve December 1980 at the Ann & Hope down the corridor, which anchored the mall on the other side. I was definitely born 30 years before I should have been. I can never shake the feeling that I should have been in my 30's in the 1980's.....

[zonemad96]

their used to be one in westminster md it was torn down and 2 years lator a boscovs was bult their i wish someone had pictures of that store id love to see it. i have a slight memory of it but i was only 4 i remember looking though the tiny square in the mall wall wondering what store was going to go their and watched their progress as they remodeled.

[JimSawhill]

Can someone tell me where all the Lechmere locations were located in CT? I am really intrigued to find out where the Manchester one was.

The Lechmere location was on Pleasant Valley Road in a shopping center where a MISMANAGED CompUSA store was. I believe it is now a JoAnn Fabric and More.

[Kmart4life]

Still up and running
http://www.wards.com/

[Hudsons81]

A chronological photo timeline of the Montgomery Ward in Southgate, Michigan: 1958-2012.


A newspaper article about the opening of the store, 1958


1989, during the final days of it's original brick facade


2001 or 2002, shortly after closure


2006


The interior less than a year before demolition

[ynkeesfn82]

There were a bunch of ads that came with my Mom's life insurance bill that came in the mail today. One of the ads was to send away for a free Montgomery Ward Catalog.

[TheFugitive]

I remember that Montgomery Ward store in Southgate.
Was last in it around 1995, I think.

[Hudsons81]

I remember that Montgomery Ward store in Southgate.
Was last in it around 1995, I think.

I believe you may have already seen the new exterior facade that was added in 1989.

[TheFugitive]

Yes.  I moved to that part of Michigan in 1989.