Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Bakery Outlets

More Bakery Outlets
Entenmanns outlet in Georgetown downstate (not Leatherstocking or DC)

 Freihofers Bakery Outlets had just closed stores suddenly in the Northeast, including CNY, the Finger Lakes, Mohawk and Hudson Valleys, Capital Region, New England and the Tri-State. The employees themselves had the rug taken off from under them. While stores big and small worldwide have been suffering the past few years, even these did not make it. Bimbo Bakeries USA, well known to Pati (Jinich, who heard of the parent company in Mexico) and based near Patti (laBelle, who lives in Wynewood and has to limit carbs) made the decision to close them. I put sister brand Entenmanns in Brooklyn since that was the closest thing I could find (one of several former sister brands to Loblaws that Bimbo bought), although Freihofers were headquartered in nearby Totowa, NJ, yet Bimbos acquisition brought them back to the Philadelphia area in some way, where Freihofer's were founded in the Victorian era in the city proper. You can always just go to any big store to get it now.

Rivals Wonder Hostess (now part of Flowers Bakeries) used to have their own outlets in Syracuse on Court Street Road, East Molloy Road (likely not at the same time since it's a mile away) and South Bay Road in North Syracuse. The first two are a short drive from Freihofer's Lyncourt store, which had Bimbos brands, as well some lesser known ones, plus institutional packages, store brands like Price Choppers PiCs and Big M (formerly made by Penn Traffic division Penny Curtiss around the corner), and some non-baked items. Those stores are quite small and you'd be lucky to fit a cornershop in them.

Friday, March 22, 2024

Best Buy Outlet

Best Buy Outlet (Westgate Mall)
Brockton, MA location (Boston area)

 Best Buy is the latest big box to branch out into the outlet scene, passing down more savings on inventory they're trying to offload. The regular chain has closed stores in CNY, WNY and the Capital Region in recent years however. The Syracuse one at Destiny USA, which had been Lechmere in Carousel days, is now a Dicks Warehouse Outlet (although it doesn't seem permanent). On a Facebook group, one had opened in an old Borders (another chain from pre-Destiny years).  Best Buy Outlet could go in both former locations of the parent company and other stores.

Syracuse - Destiny USA; former Forever 21 (as of 31/3/24)

Williamsville - NY 78*

Liverpool - NY 31*; later Value City Furniture

Henrietta - NY 252; former Christmas Tree Shops

Albany - US 20; Crossgates Mall* (previously Caldor)

New Hartford - NY 5 & 5A; Sangertown Square; former Macys

Auburn - NY 5 & US 20; Fingerlakes Mall; former JCPenney


*former store

Thursday, March 21, 2024

DG Market

Dollar General Market Macon, GA
Newly opened DG Market in Macon, GA in 2012. Courtesy Mike Kalasnik.

 While Dollar General only came to CNY in the late '90s, subsidiary DG Market is even more late. Syracuse.com merely mentioned one of the two that opened on the south side, which is one of far too many food deserts across the country affecting vulnerable populations, much of whom lack personal transport (you know how it is). The one the site mentioned on S. Salina St. (US 11) and E. Brighton Ave. turned out to be the former Big M (closed in the '90s) and Factory Direct Furniture Outlet (competed with Dunk & Bright across the street and thus just moved to Shop City) and nothing at this writing just yet on the other one only a few miles away at the corner of W. Seneca Tpke. and Valley Dr. (NY 173 & 80) in the former Eckerd/Rite Aid/Walgreens. While many would like the old A&P/P&C/Tops in Valley Plaza down the street from the former and around the corner from the latter to become a DG Market as well, it may be too close to both and DG proper is there now and would close (although in an older, smaller space). Across town in Mattydale, the Walgreens there is on the way out, and there hasn't been a grocery store there in thirty years time since P&C (previously Tops until 1986, where Big Lots is today) moved up Brewerton Road (also US 11) to the former Channel Home Center in Airport Plaza  in North Syracuse (now Tops as well). Regular DG is at the corner of E. Molloy Rd. where arch-rival Family Dollar (currently about to close 1,000 stores including Dollar Tree) had been. We all know these chains are all over the place these days, and as for DGs competitors, it's a classic case of too many stores along with recent events, yet DG have been thriving when much of the public hasn't. DG Market offers items that the main chain or even DGX (the downtown division; mine in the old Woolworths/Rite Aid) doesn't. Even Trafalgar, IN is getting a DG Market (which I discovered whilst trying to do my research), as well as the North Country back here (albeit at the expense of a nearby small town mom-and-pop). Now we should come up with the usual list of locations of where to put one, even though it may be a copout and sellout at the same time with a big name like this.

Binghamton - NY 7, former Giant/Weis

Greene - former Great American BK Five

Sidney - CR 23, former Great American BK Five

Syracuse (Westvale) - NY 5, former P&C/Tops, Westvale Plaza (even if Family Dollar is up the block)

Chittenango - Tuscarora Rd. (new NY 5 location just opened, while this store could just be converted)

Jordan - 9 Mechanic St, former Big M/Tops; current Dollar Tree/Family Dollar (just in case)

Renssalaer - US 9 & 20; former Aldi

Schenectady - NY 5 & 7; former Aldi/Grand Union

Troy (Lansingburgh) - US 4; former Price Chopper

Liverpool - NY 31; former Price Chopper (as of 19/4/24)

Taylor, PA - former Price Chopper (as of 19/4/24)

Utica - Genesee St.; former Fays/Eckerd/Rite Aid

Fulton - NY 481; former kmart, River Glen Plaza

Hubbard, OH - former Save-a-Lot (closed due to right rent rise and roof row)

Albany - NY 443 & US 9W; former Save-a-Lot/Fays?

Friday, March 15, 2024

Former Price Chopper locations

Price Chopper on Erie Blvd. E.
My usual store on Syracuses east side before being done up

Here's where Price Chopper used to be (all NY unless indicated): 

Framingham, MA 
Schenectady (Sheridan Plaza) 
Watervliet*/** (NY 32, now Dollar Tree)
Albany*/** (earlier store)
Oneonta* (NY 7)
Albany (New Scotland Ave.; Mini Chopper only; main store now Market 32) 
Mechanicville*/*** 
Pittsfield, MA*/*** 
Glens Falls*/*** 
North Troy */**
Lansingburgh (US 4)
Green Island*/** 
Poughkeepsie (South Hills Mall) (US 9) (now ShopRite)
Shrewsbury, MA* Oneida - later Herb Phillipsons* 
Oswego (near Fort Ontario)* (now medical building)
Saratoga Springs* (earlier store)
Saratoga Springs (Price Chopper Limited downtown; now indie store)
Northampton, MA 
Baldwinsville? 
Fulton (NY 3)* 
deWitt (Hechinger Plaza) - NY 5; later Big Lots and Stickley Clearence Centre; now Spectrum* 
deWitt (kmart plaza) - NY 5; later OfficeMax, now Dicks* 
Liverpool* (CR 57, Seneca Mall)
West Boylston, MA 
Willowbrook 
Colonie* (original store; current Colonie Plaza store to close when Market 32 reopens in former ShopRite down NY 5)
Plattsburgh* 
Scranton, PA 
Syracuse (Western Lights)* (original store)
Liverpool, NY (NY 31 as of 19/4/24)
Taylor, PA (as of 19/4/24)
New Hartford* (NY 5A)
Albany (Westgate)* (current store to close when Market 32 reopens in former ShopRite down NY 5)
Camillus (became Hills in 1982, then Ames in 1999 until chains demise in 2002; building and most of old mall and plaza demolished; Walmart Superecnter opened in 2005) 

*moved
**As Public Service Market
***As Central Markets
More locations TBD

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Fingerlakes Mall

Bass Pro Shops (Fingerlakes Mall)
Bass Pro Shops, the last thing going at Fingerlakes Mall

 Fingerlakes Mall on NY 5 & US 20 in Auburn is a classic textbook example of a small town dead mall. The easternmost city of a wine-growing region which the city itself is best known for a prison, Harriet Tubman and John Walsh. The mall opened in 1980 and once had JCPenney, kmart, Sears, Radio Shack (one of the very last was across town, but that's for another day), CVS/pharmacy, Rex, Friendlys, Great Outdoors RV, FYE, TCBY and Chappells. Bass Pro Shops came in 2003 and was thought to be the catch of the day, but it is the one holdout as one of the few in Upstate NY; the one other in CNY being in Utica around the former Montgomery Ward in Riverside Mall in Deerfield off NY 8 & 12 in proximity to the Mohawk Valley, Adirondacks and Catskills. I used to go to the Auburn one now and again, but not in a few years since they had less of what I needed and is less convenient for me today.

In recent years, local events are held at the mall, but being the de facto event center for Cayuga County is not enough. It could be a real mall again. It could have Target, Ross Dress for Less, Barnes & Noble and Hobby Lobby. FYE could come back, and there could be a combination of local and national smaller stores in the hallway. Not everyone can go all the way to Syracuse or Rochester. The potential is right there in front of them, even with inflation and online shopping looming over all of us. Auburn isn't as tight a squeeze as other smaller communities. The sister plaza across the street could also have spots left. Auburn is not just another Rust Belt former factory town. Fingerlakes Mall is ready for a renaissance like their competitors in the next county.

Friday, February 2, 2024

BiLo Foods

Former Butler County store; was also kmart (montage)
    BiLo Foods, no relation to BILO in the Mid-Atlantic (Tops' former sister chain, which we covered already), were P&Cs sister chain in Pennsylvania (except the Northwest in the Erie and Bradford areas where Penn Traffic had Quality from WNY, or P&C in Sayre). Some are closer to Pittsburgh, while others were across the Keystone State in the Northeast, mainly in Twin Tiers. Three former locations became Tops, the Renovo store is now Lingles (previously A&P and Weis), and Kens BiLo in Northern Cambria and Patton just retired their use of the BiLo name. A few other BiLos don't have their own sites, nor is their one for all of them. There is also a BiLo in Iberia Parish in Louisiana unrelated to either chain. One former store in Centre Country is now an Ollies Bargain Outlet. Numerous examples are scattered around and it can take all day to list them all since I'm not as familiar with this chain or state myself, and it's only because of the former parent company's ties to my area that this counts here, as well as the events of the 2010s tying the two BiLos together somewhat with the Tops purchase or the Ahold Delhaize merger in the Benelux and US East Coast (the Carolinas one survives through ALDI)..

    The Pennsylvania BiLo are chiefly in small towns and are affiliated with Best Yet/C&S. I know I saw one off I-81 in Susquehanna Valley around Hallstead like the one I had a photo of in Canton with the '50s/'60s architecture. Maybe it was the one I saw. Anyway, BiLo and P&C are the last surviving remnants of Penn Traffic (not counting the Atlanta Big Bear or Krogers QFC for Quality). It's also another case of two or more things having the same name before the Internet was around to check (I just learned that bilo is a type of Filipino dish, and no I won't use that stupid catchphrase).

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Charney's

The only remaining store in deWitt

 Charney's Menswear & Tuxedos in Syracuse is not just another mens big and tall store. They've been in business for over 70 years time. They have had several locations around town (a total of fourteen, according to co-founder Phyllis Charneys obituary in 2016). I haven't been in a couple years myself, since I can't afford much there anymore and it's not as convenient, yet like any local and/or small business, they would offer service and selection that few large stores ever would.


Syracuse (Eastwood) - NY 290, original store and flagship; demolished by 2006 for Walgreens

Syracuse (SU Hill) - 149 Marshall St; now Shirt World

deWitt (1) - NY 5, Shoppingtown Mall; closed by 2010s and moved to current location

deWitt (2) - NY 5, Empire Plaza, former Wheels Auto Supply?; present-day store (pictured)

Clay - NY 31 & 481 - Great Northern Mall; closed by 2009 and moved up the road

Syracuse (Fairmount) - Fairmount Fair; closed by 1980s and moved back to Camillus Mall

Camillus - Camillus Plaza/Mall; first store moved to Fairmount; second one closed by 2003

Cicero - Penn Can Mall; closed by 1994 and moved to Great Northern Mall

Syracuse (north side) - Carousel Center (later Destiny USA); now Green Mountain Sports

Liverpool - NY 31, COR Center; closed in 2017 and became a Spectrum store in 2021

Syracuse (Westvale) - NY 5, Westvale Plaza (you can get good tips on Facebook)