Buy Buy Baby

Lehigh Valley location

With the exit of Toys 'R Us and its sister chains, Babies 'R Us and Kids 'R Us, there may be space to put their rival infant chain Buy Buy Baby, sister of Bed Bath and Beyond and Christmas Tree Shops.  The closest Buy Buy Baby to me now is in Henrietta.  While I don't have small children in my own everyday life, the idea came up with the 'R Us closure and trying to find a gift for someone elses little one.  There also used to be another place called USA Baby.  Here's where Buy Buy Baby could open:

Syracuse - former Bon Ton or JCPenney, Destiny USA
deWitt - former Dicks or JCPenney in Shoppingtown, NY 5
Clay - former Macys, Bon-Ton or Sears, Great Northern Mall, NY 31 & 481
Cortland - Riverside Plaza, NY 13
Fulton - River Glen Plaza, former kmart, NY 481
Cicero - former Burlington Coat Factory, Drivers Village
North Syracuse - former Staples, Northern Lights Plaza, US 11
Auburn - former Rex or JCPenney, Fingerlakes Mall, US 20 & NY 5 or P&C, Genesee St
New Hartford - former Herb Philipsons
Ithaca - former Sears, The Shops at Ithaca Mall, NY 34 or South Meadow Plaza, NY 13/34/96
Liverpool - former Price Chopper or kmart, Seneca Mall, CR 57 or former Bed, Bath & Beyond, NY 31

Fairmount - former Bed, Bath & Beyond

Oswego - former Gordmans/Peebles, NY 104

UPDATE: Both chains are closing, so these are going to have to be other things (only one is confirmed as far as I know).

ALDI Albany aspirations

Newer store in Portage, MI.

ALDI may seem like another easy one, but in the NY Capital Region, they are fewer than CVS in CNY, where ALDI are as constant as most other chains.  Only three exist in the immediate Albany area in Schenectady (in a former Grand Union, which closed in 2022, when ALDI moved across town), Colonie and Renssalaer.  Somehow, there could be more opened (WNY too, but that'll have to wait for another day as I just don't know it quite the same way):  A lack of a warehouse in the region could be the reason for fewer stores compared to CNY, where one is in Tully, which supplies dozens of locations from the Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, North Country to Twin Tiers.

Albany - South End, NY 32

Latham - Latham Circle Mall, US 9, NY 2 & 7
Glenmont - TBD, US 9W
Rotterdam - NY 7 & 159, Five Corners (confirmed)
East Greenbush - former Grand Union and/or former location, US 9 & 20

Troy (Lansingburgh) - former Price Chopper, US 4

Hyde Park - former Grand Union, US 9 (although 75 miles down the Hudson River)

Fannie May

Downtown Chicago flagship store

This is a time of year many people get a sweet tooth, so Fannie May comes to mind.  They bought out Fanny Farmer (people mix them up, as they would with a financial company) in 1992, which closed the Shop City and downtown Syracuse (if it was still around by then) stores in my area.  Had to settle for a competitor yesterday, but here's where Fanny Farmer could open:

Cortland - former Naples Italian Eatery NY 13
Liverpool - former Verizon Wireless, NY 31
Cicero - former Green Planet Grocery, NY 31
Syracuse - Destiny USA
New Hartford - Sangertown Square, NY 5 & 5A
Canastota, former Family Dollar, NY 5 & 13
Auburn, Fingerlakes Mall, NY 5 & US 20
Fulton, River Glen Plaza, CR 57 & NY 481
Colonie, Colonie Ctr, NY 5 & Wolf Rd

DMG Foods

As we know them.

Salvation Army have expanded their services and now have a supermarket chain that opens in so-called food deserts in inner cities.  There are some spots they could go.

Syracuse - former P&C/Tops/A&P, US 11
Rochester - 710 Lake Ave
Cortland - former Dollar Bazaar, US 11 & NY 41
Poughkeepsie - former ShopRite, US 44 & NY 55
Boonville - former Great American, NY 12
Greene - former Great American
Sidney - former Great American

IKEA

Flagship store in Sweden.

This one I've been meaning to do. IKEA are big across the globe but have yet to open in Upstate NY. Brooklyn, Paramus and other tri-state stores are the closest right now, but it's just not enough.  They prefer big areas like that and only have pickup spots Upstate in Liverpool and Cheektowaga right now.

deWitt - former Sears, JCPenney, Macys or Dicks; District East (née Shoppingtown); NY 5

New Hartford - former Macys, Sangertown Square, NY 5 & 5A
Henrietta - former Macys; Marketplace Mall; NY 252 & 15
Clay - former Bon-Ton or Sears; Great Northern Mall; NY 31 & 481
Watertown - former Bon-Ton; Salmon Run Mall; NY 3 & CR 100
Fulton - former kmart; River Glen Plaza; NY 481 & CR 57

Victor - former Lord & Taylor, Eastview Mall, NY 96
Syracuse (north side) - former Bon-Ton, JCPenney, or Lord & Taylor; Destiny USA
Williamsville - former Best Buy, NY 78
Colonie - former Sears; Colonie Ctr; NY 5
Latham - Latham Circle Mall; NY 2 & 7 & US 9

Williamsville - former Best Buy, NY 78

Dedicated to the memory of Ingvar Kamprad.

Benihana

LA location

Now for something new for the new year.  I heard of Benihana through The Golden Girls, both being based in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area.  It's a chain of Japanese restaurants yet to embrace CNY.  While I'm not familiar with this kind of cuisine myself, it's good to branch out a little:

Syracuse (east side) - NY 5, former Firudo (another Japanese restaurant that moved down the street)/Doughertys Masquerade/Empire Vision/gym and spa?
deWitt - NY 5, District East (ex-Shoppingtown if above not chosen)
Syracuse (north side) - Destiny USA; former Bon-Ton, Cantina Loredo or Gordon Biersch (two other restaurant vacancies are too close too another Japanese steakhouse or since taken)
Auburn - NY 5 and US 20, Fingerlakes Mall, former Rex or NY 5, former Dennys
East Syracuse - Bridge St and Enterprise Pkwy, former Carmellas Café (if first two aren't considered)
Canastota - NY 5 and 13, former Family Dollar
New Hartford - NY 5A, Sangertown Square or former Zebbs or Dennys
Oswego - NY 104
Fulton - NY 481 & CR 57, River Glen Plaza
Cortland - NY 13, Riverside Plaza

Syracuse (Fairmount) - former Big Boy/IHOP/Good Buddys Pub, West Genesee St