Halloween Express

Charlotte, NC location.  Enter if you dare!

Here's a new one.  However, due to its blatantly seasonal nature, Halloween Express are only open from late August until its very purpose, much like their competitor Spirit of Halloween, who are already in town every year.  There are a number of locations that may be available next year:

Clay - Great Northern Mall, NY 31 & 481; former Macys or Bon-Ton
deWitt - Shoppingtown Mall, NY 5; former Dicks or JCPenney
Westvale - Westvale Plaza, NY 5, former Tops
Chittenango - NY 5 & 13, former Kinney Pharmacy
Bridgeport -  NY 31, former Kinney or Great American
Canastota - NY 5 & 13, former Family Dollar
Auburn - former P&C
Fulton - NY 481, former kmart
Liverpool - Seneca Mall, CR 57; former kmart or Price Chopper
Cortland - Riverside Plaza, NY 13; former flea market
New Hartford - NY 5A, former Price Chopper
Colonie - NY 5, former Sears, Colonie Ctr or Barnes & Noble, Wolf Rd.
Henrietta - NY 252, former Tops
Canandaigua - NY 5 & US 20
Syracuse (north side) - Destiny USA, former Bon-Ton
Syracuse (west side) - Western Lights, former Herb Phillipsons/kmart
Syracuse (east side) - NY 5, former Empire Vision/spa?/Doughertys/Firudo
Syracuse (south side) - US 11, former P&C/Tops
Queens - former Caldor
Poughkeepsie - US 44 & NY 55, former ShopRite
Irondequoit - Medley Ctr
Williamsville - Eastern Hills Mall
Baldwinsville - former Family Dollar

Oswego - former Gordmans/Peebles, NY 104

Oneida - former Gordmans/Peebles, NY 365A

Back in my day, we had Switz's and Dougherty's, but that's for another post!

AutoNation

AutoNation Toyota.

AutoNation are a different animal from CarMax, yet also have no footprint yet in CNY (they're mostly in Florida).  They could go where other car dealers used to be that no one else has bothered with since:

Fulton - former Davidson/Fred Raynor/Reymore Ford, NY 3
Syracuse - former Lowery Bros Chrysler Plymouth Jeep Eagle, NY 5
Lakeland - former Vals Dodge, State Fair Blvd
Central Square - Burdick Ford, NY 49 (only if they ever decide to move to their sister dealerships at Drivers Village [née Penn Can Mall] in Cicero similar to how Davidson Ford moved to Liverpool; then Burdick Ford can go in the former Burlington or merge with the Lincoln Mercury Mazda division)
Phoenix - Former Sharon/Fox Chevrolet, CR 57 & 57A (moved to across from Davidson Ford)
Utica - former Paolozzi Mazda, former NY 49
Rome - former dealership, NY 233, 49, 69 and 365.

Tim Hortons

Calgary, ALB store at nights in Prairie Canada.

    It's been a couple years since Tim Hortons' US office decided to close shops in CNY except those inside Delta Sonic, leaving Rochester with the closest stand-alone locations to Syracuse (I sometimes go there or in the border community).  Only a few have become other things to date (will be indicated).

North Syracuse (Sweetheart Corners) - US 11 & W Taft Rd - former site of Sweetheart Market, CVS and Eckerd; later Café Kubal; now Zaman Coffee House
Downtown Syracuse - now Original Grain
Syracuse (Nob Hill) - NY 173 (now Dunkin')
Weedsport - NY 31 & 34
Fulton - NY 481 (now Arbys only)
Oswego - NY 481 & W Utica St (now Aspen Dental)
Syracuse (Thompson Road) - NY 635, now WellNow
East Syracuse - NY 290 (now Dunkin')
Oneida - NY 5 (now Arbys)
Syracuse (Skunk City) (now Dunkin')
Cicero (US 11) - briefly Mighty Taco
Auburn - NY 5
Cortland - NY 13 - now Visions FCU
Baldwinsville (Moyers Corners) - NY 31 & CR 57 (formerly Hardees, Cams Pizzeria, JDs and Dougs Fish Fry; now Splash Car Wash Express)
Niagara Falls, ONT - Niagara Square in food court (mall converted to power centre; existing one up the road; only one I'm doing from the boys' turf)
East Syracuse (between NY 298 and I-481) - Northern Blvd & E Taft Road (now Dunkin')
Liverpool - 7th North St & Buckley Rd. (now McDonalds)
Baldwinsville (TBD) - NY 31 & 370 or Downer St.

Blaze Pizza

Typical Blaze Pizza location (unsure just where)

NBA superstar leBron James is spokestar and investor of LA-area pizza chain Blaze, but it's more the idea of another multinational chain not yet in these parts rather him than being on the Cuyahoga County team that warrants a post. A local place that has quick brick oven fire-baked pizza will have to compete if Blaze comes to town. I may next look into CPK at a later date.

Henrietta - NY 252, Southtown Plaza
deWitt - NY 5 (now open)
Canandaigua - US 20 & NY 5, former Ponderosa
Oswego - NY 104, former Eckerd/Fays/Rite Aid or Pizza Hut
Auburn - US 20 & NY 5, Fingerlakes Mall or former Dennys, NY 5
Rochester (Henrietta) - NY 252, former Mighty Taco
Irondequoit - Skyview on the Ridge (formerly Medley Ctr)
Watertown - NY 3, former Titled Kilt

Lidl USA

Greater Manchester store

Lidl have finally arrived in the US, but only in the mid-Atlantic and NYC/tri-state area right now. I posted on them five years ago, but decided to start from scratch instead of just updating an old article. They will now have to compete with Aldi here in America as they do back in Europe (neither are in Canada yet, but similar chains exist there). As usual, CNY will be the main focus as that's what I know best, but I know I can try elsewhere too:

Canandaigua - vacancy on US 20/NY 5 and 332
Fulton - former kmart on NY 481

Rochester - NY 383 near Kennedy Tower
Bridgeport - former Victory/Great American on NY 31 and 298

Ellenville - former ShopRite and Tops on US 209
Cicero - former Green Planet Grocery on NY 31

Troy (Lansingburgh) - former Price Chopper on US 4

deWitt - former Bed, Bath & Beyond; Marshalls Homegoods Plaza, NY 5 (pending)

Colonie  - former Barnes & Noble/ShopRite, Wolf Rd
Irondequoit - Skyview on the Ridge (ex-Medley Ctr), NY 104
East Syracuse - former CountryMax/Agway on NY 290
Henrietta - former Tops, PriceRite/Freddys, or other vacancy on NY 252
Poughkeepsie - former ShopRite on NY 55 and US 44, Arlington
North Syracuse - former Media Play or Michaels at Northern Lights on US 11 (below)
PA Capital Region - former Darrenkamps

Schenectady - former Grand Union/ALDI, NY 5 & 7
Westvale - former Tops/P&C on NY 5

Ithaca - former Hobby Lobby on NY 13/34/96

Lancaster, SC - former BI-LO on SC 9 Bypass
Boonville - former Great American on NY 12

West Nyack - former Grand Union/Stop & Shop or ShopRite, NY 59

West Babylon - former ShopRite, NY 109

Oswego - former Gordmans/Peebles, NY 104

Asheville, NC?/various Mid-Atlantic and South - former BI-LO (see later article)

Williamsville - former Best Buy, NY 78

Can't imagine it without some kind of visual aid.

Former Jreck Subs locations

Short-lived Eastern Ontario location. I don't typically show the inside, but this was the only free image.

    Jreck Subs is a regional chain from the North Country that may not go as far as Jersey Mikes or Schlotzskys (more on them in a later post) but they hold their own.  Like many places, they had to let some locations go:

Oswego - downtown, now DP Dough (current location on the west side on NY 104 close to SUNY Oswego)
Fulton - downtown, now Metro PCS (current location on NY 481)
Fulton - NY 3, now Hometown Mobile
North Syracuse - US 11, Pitcher Hill, later an Italian eatery and Goodwill donation center; now vacant
Syracuse - SU Hill, now The Pita Pit
Cortland* - NY 13
Pulaski* - US 11
Kingston, ONT* (pictured)
Liverpool - 7th North St. & Buckley co-branded with Arthur Treachers, now Subway
deWitt - NY 5 and Orrick Road, now Speedway
Utica*
Rochester* - NY 104
Geneva* - NY 5 & US 20
Camillus*** - W Genesee St
Syracuse - Lodi, Butternut and Catherine Sts., north side***

Syracuse (west side) - NY 5/W Genesee & N Geddes Sts; still Krispy Krunchy Chicken; previously Sam Dell Dodge***

Syracuse (Thompson Rd/near E Syracuse) - NY 635; now Pattys Subs***
Baldwinsville - NY 31 & 370; now demolished, with Sals Pizzeria built around there***

Watertown et al* - including original location

*TBD
**former Tim Hortons
***TBD but new business in its place


They ought to open here:

Oneida - NY 5; TBD
Syracuse - downtown, W Fayette and S Salina Sts., former Jimmy Johns/indie
Syracuse (SU Hill) - Marshall St; former Jimmy Johns et al

Cortland - former Naples Pizza, Riverside Plaza; NY 13
Manlius - NY 92 & 257, former Bank of America/Café Kubal

kmart

Ohio Capital Region closing

Attention kmart shoppers: kmart along with their sister chain Sears have been in decline in recent years unable to compete with Walmart, Target, and amazon as other rivals like Caldor, Ames, Jamesway, Woolco and Hills have shut their doors.  kmart had several stores in CNY (Cortland, Liverpool and Mattydale remain for the time being) and beyond that lost their blue light:


deWitt - NY 5; now Dicks
Nedrow - US 11; later a flea market
Syracuse - Western Lights; later Herb Phillipsons
New Hartford - NY 5A; soon to be At Home Superstore
Greece - NY 104, same as above
Fulton - NY 481
Auburn - NY 5; now Vineyard Church et al
Liverpool - CR 57 (on the way out)
Oswego - NY 104 (TBA)
Syracuse - downtown; later CVS; now a beauty supply
Colonie - NY 5
Reynoldsburg, OH (pictured)
Geneva - NY 5/US 20 (it's a small town and I saw a vacancy that would make sense)
Kingston - NY 32 and US 9W
Ithaca - NY 13/34/96
Watertown - NY 3 and Pioneer Plaza
Herkimer - NY 5 and S Washington St

All vacant or unknown unless otherwise indicated.