Service Merchandise

[Caldor1999]

It's a shame they went under around the same time as Montgomery Ward, even though you would think Service with their more modern stores would have had the edge over Wards. Both companies were major catalog retailers. Also, at the same time as Wards was going under, so did Lechters Housewares, which left a lot of empty spaces in malls, albeit much smaller spaces than the Montgomery Ward anchors as they closed.

Wards was more like sears only nicer. Service Merchandise was really different the whole catalog showroom thing was dated by the time they went out. they only had one store by me in the jefferson valley mall that closed in 1999 long before the chain went out the store itself was dated and you had to wait for your item to come out on the conveyer belt

[Hudsons81]

It's a shame they went under around the same time as Montgomery Ward, even though you would think Service with their more modern stores would have had the edge over Wards. Both companies were major catalog retailers.

Coincidentally, both were even longtime anchors at the Southgate Shopping Center in Southgate, MI. Service Merchandise took over the old Federal department store there in 1978 and also inherited a water tower behind it, which was repainted into the pre-1985 logo.

When the center was completely remodeled in 1989, they received a new entrance and with it the 1985-1999 logo. It stayed like that all the way through the end. The now-deteriorating water tower was restored and repainted to the following:

SOUTHGATE
(1999-2002 SM logo)

...in 2001, after a campaign by a local elementary school student. The building stood vacant for a couple years before it came down in 2004, with the water tower meeting the same fate in 2005. Except for an area at the northern end of the lot, which was built on by an Old Chicago restaurant, it's still empty today.

Lastly, here's a 2004 News-Herald picture of the demolition. This comes courtesy of the Downriver Things Flickr page.

[TheFugitive]

Originally posted by rjstheiv
Former Service Merchandice in West Mifflin PA.


http://www2.county.allegheny.pa.us/RealEstate/Search.aspx

That's actually incorrect.  The former West Mifflin Service Merchandise is the PRC building next to that.  I happened to bump into an individual a while ago when I was taking pictures in the area again, and we got to talking.  I originally thought that the SM was the race bar as well, but he told me that the PRC building was the Service Merchandise.







And get this, the sign across from Century III mall is till scarred with the Service Merchandise name/logo.

Yep.  I worked in that Service Merchandise location from 1993-96.
It is still a call center, but has changed hands and is now owned by Alorica.

I would love to take a tour and see how they managed to retrofit the interior.
The blue building in the background is now a gym, but was a Chuck-E-Cheese location
when I worked here.  The rusty Service Merchandise sign is STILL on that sign post,
down the hill by Century III Mall, in 2015. 

[TheFugitive]

The start of the new year brings to mind one of my LEAST FAVORITE things about working
for Service Merchandise.

It was the fact that they did inventory for every store in the entire chain in early January, around 10 days after Christmas.  We took inventory internally, using our own employees, and did not engage third-party inventory companies like RGIS.

This meant that after coming through an exhausting retail Christmas, and the hectic week of post-Christmas returns, you STILL did not get a breather, as immediately you had to prep your store for inventory.  There was virtually NO break in the 70 hour weeks between Thanksgiving and mid-January, by which time you were pretty much exhausted to the point of dropping over.

All you could do was pray that they did not spring a major replannogramming on you over the summer that would have you working these kind of hours as well.

[TheFugitive]

MeTV is getting nostalgic about Catalog Showrooms today.

http://www.metv.com/lists/7-catalog-showrooms-you-will-never-shop-again

[TheFugitive]

Went by my old Service Merchandise store in West Mifflin the other night.

The call center has closed.  The building is up for lease.
One of the local car dealers (there are several nearby) is using the parking
lot to park excess inventory for the time being.

The gym next door, a former Chuck E Cheese location, has also closed.
Directly across the road though, on the site of a demolished Busy Beaver store,
sits a brand-spanking new Goodwill store. 

Eating places on this site (Denny's, Bob Evans, Long John Silvers and Handel's
Ice Cream) all still open and apparently doing well.

[TheFugitive]

Went by my old Service Merchandise store yesterday.  It has just reopened as one of those storage locker places.  The building has been painted white and some windows were added to the facade.  After Service went under it had sat vacant for some time and then an inbound call center moved in.  It has recently been vacant after that call center operator was sold and the new owners decided to close the facility.

The former Chuck E Cheese next door was recently torn down and what appears to be some sort of automotive service center is under construction on the site.  Some new building is also going up across the parking lot sharing the footprint of the former Busy Beaver store with a Goodwill location.

[TheFugitive]

My daughter, who now lives nearby, informs me that the Handel's Ice Cream stand next to my old Service Merchandise store seen above has permanently closed. 

This is sad because their ice cream was truly delicious and frankly they were one of the best memories I had of working at that store.  Service Merchandise execs, who rarely had anything good to say about either Pittsburgh or our store, at least all complimented the ice cream they could enjoy while visiting.

I did have a falling out with Handel's in 2020 when in the midst of the pandemic they refused to serve me because I was not wearing a mask.  DUH!  IT WAS AN OUTDOOR ICE CREAM STAND WITH NO INTERIOR SEATING!  I WAS OUTDOORS AND YOU WERE INSIDE, BEHIND GLASS, WEARING A MASK!! So stupid!

Handel's is a chain based in Ohio and some of you may be able to still find them out there someplace.