Businesses from my past

Time for a trip down Memory Lane! Remember these places?

You know you're getting old if you recognize these signs. It's amazing how we forget about places that used to be in business, but have long since disappeared.

Swallen's was a department store. They had furniture, electronics and home furnishings. Probably went out of business in the late 70's or early 80's.

Gold Circle was a precursor to Wal-Mart. GC sold just about everything (and it was cheap). I'm guessing they went out of business in the mid 80's.

Rink's was another precursor to Wal-Mart. Kind of a one stop shop with cheap merchandise.

Levitz was a huge furniture store. I remember as a kid walking with my parents up and down HUGE aisles with displays of furniture set up. There was plenty of room to run around, but we weren't allowed. That was back in the days when parents expected their children to behave in public (and they usually did).

Van Leunens was yet another department store similar to Gold Circle and Rink's. They generally sold low quality, cheap merchandise. Fun fact: Van Leunens was called Chinatown before becoming Van Leunens.

Thriftway was a grocery store. Similar to Kroger, but a little smaller. Probably on the level of IGA or Remke/Bigg's. Probably went out of business in the early 90's.

SOHIO was a gas station. They were all over the place and were bought out by BP. Many BP stations today are on the sites of former SOHIO stations. Not sure of the year the stations changed to BP,  but I remember when it happened. It was so strange at the time.

Burger Chef was a fast food restaurant similar to McDonald's and Burger King. Burger Chef was a little smaller than the big chain restaurants and I'm pretty sure BC was around before Wendy's came about. Remember their mascots, Burger Chef and Jeff?

Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips was a forerunner of Long John Silver's. It seems Arthur Tracher's  Fish and Chips was prepared more in the British style. Long John's seemed to "Americanize" the traditional English fare. I don't remember Treacher's too well. There must have been few locations locally or they went out of business further back than I can remember.

Here are some bonus entries (signs not shown below).

Zayre's department store. Much the same ilk as Swallen's, Gold Circle, Rink's and Van Leunens. My educated guess is that the dawn of the age of Wal-Mart put all these other stores out of business.

Meijer used to be called Meijer Square. Meijer Square was smaller than the Meijer we know today.

Zantigo was a Mexican fast food restaurant that used to compete with Taco Bell. I'm not sure if Taco Bell bought them out or forced them out of business.

Ponderosa Steak House--- Long before Outback and Longhorn this was the working man's steakhouse. One of the first places with an all-you-can-eat salad bar (at least that I can remember). As a kid, if we went to Ponderosa, it was a BIG DEAL! The kids always got the chopped steak. We were told it was a steak... it was really just a big hamburger with no bun. Oh the lies we were told!

All About Sports (owned by Van Leunens possibly?). This was the first super store for sporting goods. It was a lot like Dick's sporting goods. There were always small sporting goods stores, but All About Sports was the first big one.

What places do you remember? I will probably think of more and make another post at a later time.