Woolco

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turbocsx
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Post by turbocsx »

i stand corrected. my brother used to work for caldor and i thought he said venture was in california. while on the topic of caldor, does anyone have an mp3 of the caldor theme song? i have it on on tape somewhere, but i havent been able to locate it.
John Michael
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Re: Woolco

Post by John Michael »

J-Man wrote:Anyone remember them? They were Woolworths' attempt to compete with Kmart. The only one I can remember was at Point West Shopping Center on Arden Way in Sacramento. I believe it was later a Weinstocks Furniture Gallery and/or Clearance Center. I'm not sure what's there now, although there's a Circuit City in at least part of that space.
I remember Woolco Stores. There was on in Bridgehampton, New York and one in Riverhead, New York. They both replaced W. T. Grants. Today, the one in Bridgehampton is a TJ Max and the former one in Riverhead is a Wall Mart.
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TheStranger
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Post by TheStranger »

Here's an interesting scan I just made...page E36 of the May 1964 edition of Chain Store Age magazine, an ad for Melco Heating/Cooling...

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa/woolco.jpg

I don't know where those Woolworth's or that Woolco were located though.
Chris Sampang
turbocsx
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cool scan for woolco

Post by turbocsx »

that's a cool scan. I just fowarded it to my father and brothers. they are all in the hvac industry. and my one brother used to work at woolco.
TenPoundHammer
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Post by TenPoundHammer »

These are the Michigan locations that I know of for Woolco:

Flint: Courtland Center (Eastland Mall at the time). When this store closed, 2/3 of it became Crowley Milner department store, and the rest became mall shops (B. Dalton, Rave, GNC, etc.). Crowley's closed in 1997, and the back half became an Old Navy in 2000. Around 2004, Old Navy moved into the mall, and Staples took the former Old Navy. The rest of the former Crowley's became Jo-Ann Etc. (moved from a regular Jo-Ann in the mall) and Dunham's Sports.

Flint: Clio Road. Not sure what it is now.

Flint: South Flint Plaza (Fenton Road). Opened as Federal Department Store (Detroit chain). Federals closed ca. 1977. After Woolco left, this became Value City or Value City Furniture, I'm not sure which.

Grand Rapids: Centerpointe Mall (Eastbrook Mall at the time). Was split among Burlington Coat Factory, ShowBiz Pizza, and F&M Drugstore. F&M later became MC Sports, and is now Golf Galaxy. ShowBiz still operates as a Chuck E. Cheese's. Burlington Coat moved in the 2000s, and was split among Linens & Things and other stores.

Lansing: Waverly Road. Now a Value City.

Okemos: Meridian Mall. Split among Service Merchandise, other stores, and a food court. After Service Merch left, that half of the store was torn down for a two story Jacobson's (Ann Arbor chain) which only lasted for a year. Around the same time, the mall's food court moved, and the old food court was replaced with Schuler Books & Music. The Jacobson's was replaced with Younkers. It looks kind of strange now, since from the back of the mall, you can see that half of the Woolco shell still stands, serving as mall space near Younkers. The loading docks are still there too.

Does anyone know of any more?
Harvas

Post by Harvas »

There were at least two other Woolcos in Northern VA. One on Leesburg Pike in Tysons Corner, in a building that opened as a GEM, then became a Memco and then a Giant Department Store. GDS closed and Woolco opened in 1978.

The second was in Pan Am Shopping Center on Lee Highway at Nutley Road in Vienna, a large L-shaped strip mall which opened in 1980 or '81. It was one of the original tenants and was larger than the Tysons store. I remember it had a restaurant and a fairly large book department.

The two didn't close at the same time; the Tysons one went first, but the Lee Highway location hung on for several months (years? I remember it still being open into 1983.)

The Tysons Woolco was split into Basco and Marshalls; within months the Basco became a Best. Later it was turned into CompUSA and several smaller stores, and a Borders Books was built along one side of the parking lot. (Borders opened September 1992, moved to a new location in August 2003).

The Pan Am Center Woolco became a Channel Home Center, then an independent computer store. (Might have been something else in between, I forget.

And I seem to remember the former Bradlees at Fairfax Circle might have been a Woolco at some point. Or it might have been Memco, I forget.
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buckhead
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Post by buckhead »

As stated earlier, Woolco stores were in many states. Metropolitan Atlanta had several as did Central Florida. One location most memorable to me was below the the southwest quadrant/corner of Semoran Boulevard and Curry Ford Road in Orlando. It was located in a small strip center also containing and A&P and a Handy City. That center actually had its own street that went to it from Curry Ford Road that was named Woolco Way. That street is still on the maps today. In later years another strip center was built closer to Curry Ford as well as a Quincy's Steak House, Albertson's, and Barnett Bank (later NationsBank and then Bank of America) to replace the Mobil station and car wash that had initially been there. Woolco and Handy City closed, the spaces were subdivided into several smaller stores, which at one time included a huge Petland with free-flying macaws, toucans, and parrots. When A&P closed their last Central Florida stores, this location became a replacement Pantry Pride; the dumpy location further up Semoran Boulevard closed down. The Woolco closing occurred in the early to mid-80's; the Pantry Pride relocation to this center occurred in the same time frame. As a further side note, the Pantry Pride stores in Orlando continued to use that name for several years, but had been acquired by another grocery operator out of the Northeast or maybe the Great Lakes or Midwest named Rawson('s). Mr. Rawson personally did the voice for their radio ads and had a voice much like that of Mr. Carvel of Carvel Ice Cream fame.
DanG
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Post by DanG »

We had a Woolco in the Martin Square Mall in Stuart, FL when the mall openned in the early 80's. The Woolco only stayed open for a year or so (if that long) before it closed and sat vacant for a long time. Kmart eventualy took over that space. I think its a Sears Essentials now. The rest of the mall was leveled and a Home Depot and Staples were built next to Kmart.
wulfgar64
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Woolco in Sacramento

Post by wulfgar64 »

Yes, there was at least one other Woolco store. It was located on the 65th St expressway north of Florin Mall. In the late 80s it became a Price Club. It was in close proximity to the infamous Good Guys store (hostage standoff).
SDCalGuy

Omaha area Woolcos

Post by SDCalGuy »

I think growing up, I remember two Woolco stores in Omaha; one at 84th and Frederick (Westgate area) became a ShopKo after the Woolco closures and one at 90th and Fort which became a Richman Gordman (Nebraska department store chain which morphed into Gordmans) a nicer version of TJMaxx. Talk about a blast from the past...
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MikeRa
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Re: Woolco in Philadelphia area

Post by MikeRa »

danielh_512 wrote:Woolco lasted much longer in Canada until about 1993, when the stores were sold to Wal-Mart, their first entry into Canada.

As for Woolcos in the Mid-Atlantic, there weren't too many. Only one off the top of my head was in Carlisle, PA at the old MJ Mall (now a TJ Maxx/Sears Outlet), it was a Hills, then Ames after Woolco.
There were several Woolcos in the Philadelphia area. A few of them were:
  • Bristol Pike & Woodhaven Road, Bensalem (replaced by The Home Depot)
    MacDade Mall, Holmes (replaced by K Mart)
    Lincoln Plaza, Langhorne (replaced by Burlington Coat Factory)
    Adams & Rising Sun Avenue, Philadelphia (replaced by Clover, then National Warehouse)
    Route 130 North, Cinamission, NJ (replaced by Caldor, then by Pennsauken Mart)
kris-alyx
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Re: Woolco

Post by kris-alyx »

what is in the midlothian plaza complex i'd always thought that it was ust a jail complex or something.
kris-alyx
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Re: Woolco

Post by kris-alyx »

there were a lot of wolco stores in virginia along with the locations already mentioned there was one on medowdale blvd at the site of a former bradless store, & there was one at crossroads mall in roanoke va where a k-mart is right now.
hojos
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Re: Woolco

Post by hojos »

The only former Woolco building I'm familiar with in the Atlanta area is in Marietta near the Big Chicken. It was not built as part of a new, second-tier enclosed mall. Instead, it was built on the same land as a large strip shopping center that first opened in the very early 1960s. The shopping center opened with a Woolworth's, but I don't know if the Woolworth's remained open during Woolco's run. It has been a Burlington Coat Factory since at least 1986. A local mechanic works out of the car repair space.

They cut a street through the property and named it Woolco Drive, which it is still named. I find that pretty funny. I also think that Burlington saved the Woolco signage and just inserted their dropins. I'll try and take a picture next time I'm out.
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Re:

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Groceteria wrote:Woolco was common all over the country, and often was connected with the construction of small, second-tier enclosed malls. Two such mallls were constructed in Charlotte NC and another location opened in an existing center, as has already been documented on this site. Woolwoth gave up on the Woolco concept about 1982.
There were many malls like this in the Philadelphia area. Woolco closed all their stores in America in 1982, then sold the ones in Canada to Wal-Mart in 1994. They also had stores in the UK that closed in 1986 according to Wikipedia.
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