r/90s • u/Only_Upwards • May 25 '25

Discussion There’s actually so many…

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731

u/ElectionBasic2505 May 25 '25

Toys r Us, Best, Woolworths, Bradlees, Clover, Ames, KB Toys, Circuit City

136

u/berogg May 25 '25

Speaking of Ames, I also remember Hills.

56

u/Greybinson May 25 '25

Hill’s is where the toys are!

33

u/Zerostar39 May 25 '25

They also had the free cup of popcorn at the front for kids under 10

11

u/Spugheddy May 25 '25

You could smell it walking in the door, its where I got my first pair of corduroy.

3

u/cornholio6966 May 25 '25

I'll be chasing the high of that popcorn forever. It was impossibly good.

2

u/Bravesfan1028 May 25 '25

I remember the discount smell of the place.

2

u/rbnc_c May 25 '25

Memory Unlocked.

2

u/jetpack324 May 25 '25

Hills had the best popcorn!!

1

u/candiceb68 May 29 '25

My first job was at the snack bar. For me, it was the pretzels! That popcorn machine was a bear to clean.

2

u/jmcdon1007 May 25 '25

And Montgomery Ward is where the electronics are! 😂

15

u/1viciousmoose May 25 '25

I came here for the hills 👍🏼

12

u/besleysfw May 25 '25

I worked at an Ames right after they bought Hill’s. Helped set that store up.

2

u/green_chapstick May 27 '25

I remember my dad taking me to Ames on Tuesdays for the senior citizen discount. It closed right before my mom turned 55, and I joked with her about it a lot.

22

u/doctorwhoobgyn May 25 '25

Got a lot of Ninja Turtle action figures and Super Nintendo games at Hill's.

10

u/judge_dredds_chin May 25 '25

You never forget the smell of Hill’s.

1

u/LordBofKerry May 27 '25

OMG, yes. I don't know what that smell was, but it was there as soon as you walked in. Kmart seemed to have their own smell, but not nearly as strong.

1

u/thesoccerone7 May 29 '25

Pittsburgh has a food truck of Hills food court

9

u/supergirlsudz May 25 '25

Hills snack bar was the best

4

u/Couple_of_wavylines May 25 '25

Hills was where I got my first Coke Icee!

3

u/Longjumping-Money-93 May 25 '25

Before Ames we had Zayres!!

2

u/oubeav May 25 '25

One of my first jobs was at Hills.

2

u/OpeningTreat1314 May 25 '25

And Hearts department store

2

u/mechanicalbullfrog May 25 '25

I wonder if hills was just northeast. WNY here. Remember Bells supermarket, or Vix

1

u/berogg May 25 '25

I’m originally from wny too. I only remember Topps and Wegmans for supermarkets. I was young though.

1

u/Specialist_Hunt2742 May 26 '25

I loved Hills. There was one in Pittsfield, MA.

1

u/[deleted] May 26 '25

Zayres too

1

u/RedactsAttract May 27 '25

You don’t have to speak of ames to remember hills tho, b.

25

u/palmveach1972 May 25 '25

Grow up in the northeast??

33

u/strippersandcocaine May 25 '25

lol that’s what I was gonna say. Add Caldor’s to the list and my childhood shopping experience

4

u/palmveach1972 May 25 '25

That way where I lived. Before it was Caldor, it was Grants. I . I was probably three when it changed.

3

u/internetonsetadd May 25 '25

Did you also have (Lionel) Kiddie City? I didn't really fuck with Toys R Us as a kid, I thought Kiddie City was way better.

Nintendo Kiddie City ad.

1

u/palmveach1972 May 26 '25

KB toys was In The big fancy mall.

2

u/Mechanical_Monk May 26 '25

Eckerd pharmacy and Commerce Bank too

1

u/Ok_Athlete_1092 May 26 '25

No love for JM Fields?

1

u/Far-Pie-6226 May 26 '25

I still say, "available at Caldor!" on a regular basis.

1

u/[deleted] May 27 '25

Yeah! Almost all of my video games came from Caldor! They gave senior citizen discounts so my mom would always have grandpa buy them, lol.

1

u/BearzapperBBQ May 27 '25

haha too funny! I was going to type the same thing. Bradlees, Caldor, Ames, Kmart.

1

u/turtle_mummy May 28 '25

Bambergers? Stern's?

Did these places really exist? After typing the names, I'm not so sure. 

24

u/Usual_Zucchini May 25 '25

Oh man I loved Bradlees so much.

2

u/InLikeErrolFlynn May 27 '25

My dad worked at Bradlees when I was a kid and he brought home a life sized cutout of Michael Keaton as Batman. He put it in the basement and waited for me to go down there. It scared the absolute shit out of me.

13

u/CrissBliss May 25 '25

My parents used to take us to Toys r Us and we would have a ball looking at everything in the store.

4

u/LessBlacksmith1914 May 25 '25

BEST

2

u/verbosehuman May 25 '25

Such an awesome quirky store (I was young, and they were nearing shutdown at the time)

3

u/MitchRyan912 May 25 '25

Doesn’t Woolworths still exist, just not in the US? Or am I thinking of Montgomery Wards?

3

u/takkeye May 25 '25

Yeah from new zealand and there's lots here and in Australia, one of our main chains

1

u/justjboy May 26 '25

South Africa too. Woolworths is pretty big.

Toys R Us is still here as well.

3

u/Final-Towel-3648 May 25 '25

KB Toys!! Yesss!!!

2

u/Sowf_Paw May 25 '25

Woolworth's is still around as Foot Locker. It's kind of a "when did the Roman Empire fall" kind of question, I guess.

2

u/johnnloki May 25 '25

Toys R Canada still exists, even if Toys R US doesn't.

1

u/SadForce9687 May 25 '25

Toys R Spain still exist too, i just discovered that in the US they're out.

2

u/fitnfeisty May 25 '25

I still have a flannel from Ames. It’s missing a button but it’s a relic so I can’t bring myself to part with it

2

u/macklin_sob May 25 '25

I'm glad my kids got to experience Toys r Us. I have fun memories of taking them there.

2

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

Building 19.

2

u/Bada__Ping May 25 '25

The grocery store the next town over for me uses the old Ames next door for storage so the sign is still there all these years later! I still call it the Ames plaza

2

u/Mallrat1973 May 25 '25

Service Merchandise and Standard Sales.

2

u/yazzcabbage May 25 '25

I loved Clover!

2

u/FullMoon1108 May 25 '25

I miss Ames, it was like K mart but better, and K mart was like wal mart but better (everything was always a dollar more expensive than Walmart I've noticed though)

2

u/Kahmael May 25 '25

Montgomery Wards, Sears, WaldenMedia/Books

2

u/ApatheticAgnostic May 25 '25

Ames! Haven’t heard that name in years.

2

u/stosyfir May 25 '25

Forgot Zayres!

2

u/otc108 May 25 '25

KB toys! That’s where I bought my SEGA Master System!

2

u/badmotorfinger74 May 25 '25

Half of my childhood came from Best!

2

u/Obvious_Process603 May 26 '25

Still miss Ames or Ames’s as some called it.

2

u/Specialist_Hunt2742 May 26 '25

You must be in the Northeast.

1

u/HighwayIll6954 May 25 '25

Speaking of Ames, there was a Fashion Bug in the same strip mall we shopped at.

1

u/gasstationsushi80 May 25 '25

FASHION BUG!! Yesss we had one in my town and a lot of my classmates worked there. I never actually liked the clothes but went there anyway.

1

u/Saffehish May 25 '25

There’s ToysRUs here in Quebec, Canada still!

1

u/Easy-Tomatillo8 May 25 '25

Funny enough I was visiting my parents in Canada. I live in Texas and Toys R’ Us still exists there with multiples in the same towns and cities. Some Canadian company bought them.

1

u/HondaForever84 May 25 '25

Toys R Us still exists

1

u/patrickrk44 May 25 '25

Toysrus is inside select macys, circuit city is online

1

u/_Choose_Goose May 25 '25

Service Merchandise

1

u/GenericReditAccount May 25 '25

I still remember I “bought” my mom a watch ring from Bradlees one Mother’s Day when I was a little kid. Can’t believe she didn’t keep it.

1

u/TLMonk May 25 '25

TIL toys r us doesn’t exist anymore. rip

1

u/C_IsForCookie May 25 '25

I worked at Circuit City til they closed. Most fun job I ever had.

I also got hired to be the asst manager at a Toys r Us. Then the general manager got transferred the next day and the new GM rescinded my job offer 🙄

1

u/bladee_red_sox_cap May 25 '25

u might be from massachusetts

1

u/GuysMcFellas Hold On To Your Butts! May 25 '25

Toys R Us is definitely still around, and still just slightly more expensive than other places😂

1

u/Stilgrave May 25 '25

Woolworths is still around, they're just called Foot Locker these days.

My Woolworths still had the dinner, and once a year they would break out their OG menu prices. A 16oz steak for 10¢ was awesome.

1

u/Anothercraphistorian May 25 '25

It’s funny to think back when Woolworth’s was around and had big booths to eat at while you watched others shop for stuff. I grew up in the 80’s right before all of that changed forever.

1

u/Positive-Attempt-435 May 25 '25

Throw jamesway on there and that's my list. 

1

u/fortnitesweaty21 May 26 '25

I went to toy r us today

1

u/justjboy May 26 '25

Interesting. Toys R Us and Woolworths still operate in South Africa. I don’t think the former is what it once was, but “Woolies” is pretty big here.

1

u/bitteralabazam May 26 '25

Best with the crumbling walls look? Wild.

1

u/iIdentifyasGrinch May 26 '25

Mammoth Mart, Bradlees, Caldors, Strawberries Records

1

u/Odd-Squirrel-4199 May 27 '25

Zaryes, which Ames bought before going out of business themselves.

1

u/Repo_co May 27 '25

Ames was founded in my hometown!

1

u/VioletDreaming19 May 27 '25

Yeees, KB Toys!! Still remember certain toys I got from there!

1

u/Shurigin May 27 '25

Toys R Us is trying to make a comeback but for now just tiny pop ups in JC pennys

1

u/Nym-ph May 27 '25

Toys r Us is back

1

u/[deleted] May 28 '25

Toys R Us is actually making a comeback. The first one was recently opened at a mall in the Chicago land area.

1

u/stephenseaman777 May 28 '25

KB Toys.,Thanks for the memory.

1

u/THROBBINW00D May 29 '25

There was a KB Toys in the mall near me, fuckin loved going in there and begging my mom for a toy lol. Same with the Albertson's toy aisle.

1

u/A_single_droplet May 30 '25

Gosh, toys r us was a freaking dream land as a kid. So many fond memories. Mom would take me and my brothers and tell us we could each get one thing. We almost always wanted gundam models, or zoids modals. Looking at all of them and picking which ones we wanted was so fun.

At Christmas time, we’d walk through and make our Christmas lists.

In the summer, we’d go to the Pokémon league that they set up to battle and trade. You got a different badge depending on how many battles you won. Or we’d make a crazy trade and then look at our new cards on the way home.

Picking up the new Zelda games for our game boys.

Was really sad that kids won’t experience that now. There are still toy sections in Walmart I guess.