I’m home sick today and bored, so I thought I’d start a new thread on a very random topic.
Do you have any stores or businesses in your area that you are surprised are still in business? They don’t necessarily have to bad, but just businesses that manage to truck along for years…of course feel free to share the bad ones too…
you have a Sears??!?
Yep, at the Florida Mall, though heavily downsized.
Our local Sears now houses a large evangelical church.
I was in Mexico City last year, and I went to both a Sears and a Woolworth! Pro tip for photographers - the 7th floor of the Sears in Mexico City has a fantastic view of the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Wow! Just the other day H and I were wondering if there were any Sears stores left, and googled to find out that there were. Then we started with other stores.
But we have a Dunham sports at our mall. It took over another dept store when it went out of business. The place is huge for a sports store and there’s never anyone in it. It’s been there for many years, maybe 10-15? I don’t see how.
Sears Mexico is a totally separate company and is owned by Carlos Slim. They have about 100 stores across Mexico and is - at least the last time I was there - decidedly more upscale than the American version.
Woolworth Mexico is also a separate company. Additionally, there’s yet another company that operates Woolworth in Europe.
Woolworths as a brand exists in Australia and New Zealand, but is a supermarket chain and unconnected with the defunct US company
Friendly’s
Long John Silver’s. Loved it as a kid, but I’m sure now I would think it was pretty gross. I thought they had all closed down, but I recently spotted one. I looked it up and a few exist. Most are partnered with a Taco Bell the way KFC is here.
Belk
Arbys
Denny’s (but apparently on an upswing)
There’s one last Blockbuster store left!
(It’s more of a nostalgia merch store today, but it does still rent out videos)
JC Penney
And
Kohls
Both used to be decent but have gone way downhill, in my opinion.
Our local Ruby Tuesday restaurant, which has been around for decades, rarely has more than a few cars in the parking lot (and those are probably employees). A recent visit, after not going for about 10 years (H and I realized it was still open and were feeling nostalgic since we used to go frequently about 20 years ago) confirmed why there are so few cars in the parking lot.
Apparently, you can still buy a Mitsubishi vehicle in the US.
There is a Mexican restaurant on a man made lake near us “La Tortilla y Margarita” and it’s always empty even at dinner time on weekends. It’s been there for years and it’s never crowded. It is a big restaurant so maybe they do events? But the food isn’t that great…who knows?
China Bistro is a Chinese restaurant near us that has been holding on for years. The building it’s in looks very dated and the decor inside hasn’t changed since the place opened which was before we moved to the area, which was a long time ago now. The place still chugs along despite being not too far from a PF Chang’s. I think it does do a good take out business. We haven’t eaten there in years. They still have the sign out front advertising their lunch buffet…
We have a Ruby Tuesday too and it’s the same, always just a few cars in the parking lot. We haven’t been in a long time. It’s the same with the Fudruckers in our area as well.
In our area we have an evangelical church in an old movie theater. One former Sears has been torn down and there is now a fancy apartment complex in it’s place. And the other Sears was empty for years, except in October when it became Spirit Halloween. But then it was bought by some developers and was supposed to be a sort of public market/food hall/entertainment place, but it didn’t pan out the way it was supposed to. The opening was delayed, only a couple of restaurants bought space, plus it’s not too far from another more established public market that holds events and has been thriving. So now it’s just a place with two little restaurants and go-karts and arcade games and I think they hold some events, but it’s not what it was supposed to be and most of the space is empty…
With new product coming to boot…
Our large Sears store closed…but was expanded quite a bit and now houses a great REI Store! I think that was a great repurpose!
How does KFC stay in business.
