Former IGA locations

Former Hannibal store

Cook County-based chain IGA are a network of indie grocers across the country (they're also in Australia and Canada in the Commonwealth).  They've left bigger areas in recent decades and are seen more in small towns like Potsdam and Old Forge  They blazed a trail when Grand Union and A&P started out in tea before competing.  Here's an assorted selection from around Upstate and the Tri-State of what some older folks may assume is all but long gone.

Hannibal (NY 3; previously Big M; now Tops; pictured)
Syracuse/Fayetteville/North Syracuse/East Syracuse - Peters (now Tops, Kohls, Family Dollar, Thrifty Shopper, cornershops, etc.; see other article)

East Syracuse/Chittenango/Baldwinsville/Cazenovia/Minoa/Fayetteville - Smiths (ended affiliation by the '80s; chain closed by 2001-02; see later article)

Syracuse/Marcellus - Nojaim Bros. (became part of Hometown Markets with above two [refer to other post] by '80s; near West Side store closed in 2017 and is now Brady Market; NY 174 store will become Stewarts Shops in Spring 2024)

Genoa - Smiths IGA, NY 90 (no relation to above; dated back to late Victorian era; vacant by 2011)
Liverpool - Nichols (later ShurFine; now a Best Yet affiliate)
laFayette - US 11 (now Dollar General)
Homer - Foodliner, US 11 & NY 41 (now Village Food Market)

Camillus - ex-NY 5 (later indie; closed by '80s)
Corfu - NY 77 (now vacant)
Clifton - now indie
Bridgeton, NJ - now C-Town
Akwesasne - NY 37 (now St Regis Mohawk First Nation gaming and entertainment complex)
Red Hook - US 9 (now Hannaford or CVS/pharmacy?)
Malone - now Country Market
Greenwich - NY 29 (now a farmers market)

Webster - former Hegedorns (as of June 2023), NY 404; later ShurFine and BestYet affiliated
Brushton - now Country Store
Star Lake - Padgetts, NY 3 (later Great American; now Dollar General)
Stephentown - now vacant
Bingham Park - Hawley (now vacant)
The Bronx - now Scavellos City Island

Tops in Hannibal

Made with Microsoft Paint, poor mans Photoshop!

Tops' latest location on NY 3 just past NY 104 in Hannibal is now open.  I went just a few days before as the old guard IGA were clearing out as much as possible.  It's listed on Tops' site but no article there or the local papers about the soft opening has been released yet.  Previously a Big M to boot, the family who owned it were now in their fourth or fifth generation in this country and were ready to move on.  I have yet to see the place so the façade may have changed or like some former Shurfine or Grand Unions they bought out in recent memory they just retrofit the old sign instead like my cheap rendering shows (gotta make do!).  Now I hope the old Price Chopper in Oswego by Fort Ontario halfway across the county is store #600 (IRS regulations make them count former stores too) but some towards and in New England acquired from ex-sister chain Stop & Shop and their new one Hannaford are next in line.  As for the other Great Lakes chain, you have to go to Potsdam or Old Forge now but it's just not the same.  A post about them is next.

Eyemart Express

AI fantasy version because still no free image

Now to switch gears, Eyemart Express I only just heard of the other week in Rochester with a couple new locations in the suburbs.  One in the DFW is where this chain are based and there will always be a market for eyewear.  Here's where they should look into so to speak:

deWitt - NY 5, former Pearle Vision or Shoppingtown
Syracuse (Eastwood/Lyncourt) - former Blockbuster Video (even though rival Visionworks are already nearby)
Clay - NY 31, Great Northern Mall
Fairmount - Fairmount Fair
Oswego - NY 104
Fulton - NY 481, former Fay's Drugs
Cortland - NY 13, Riverside Plaza or NY 281, Cortlandville
Syracuse (north side) - Destiny USA
Auburn - former Walgreens
Syracuse (west side) - NY 5, Genesee Plaza, former Sam Dell Dodge site

Former Tops locations

East Aurora location

Syracuse (Eastwood) - Burnet Ave near NY 635; original Tops stores left Onondaga County in 1986; later P&C until 2004 and now Bill Rapp Nissan
Syracuse (south side) - 4141 S Salina St (US 11, Valley Plaza; previously P&C and A&P)
Mattydale - US 11; later P&C until 1994 and is now Big Lots
New Hartford (CR 24, Kellogg Mall in Washington Mills and NY 5A) - now Hannaford
Utica (east side) - now Hannaford
Whitehall - Grand Union became Tops in 2001, then closed; now Dollar General
Oneida - NY 5; now Price Chopper
Geneva - NY 14A, Pyramid Plaza; later Cherribundi and RealEats, now vacant
Oswego - NY 104; now Price Chopper
Warrensburg, Bolton Landing et al (mainly Adirondack Park) - were GU at first, then Tops, then back to GU and Tops once again (see earlier GU post for more details)
Fulton - now Price Chopper; with Tops later in former Strupplers Big M/Shurfine down NY 48, now River View Pediatrics
Hamilton - NY 12A; was Grand Union, then Tops, then back to GU but is now Hacketts
Cleveland, OH area - were briefly in Cuyahoga County; Erie, PA have the closest ones to them now
Buffalo area - Tops' backyard; given the nature of the business, many have come and gone over the decades. The current count is over 140 yet they count almost 400 total as they include all past locations for tax purposes, as one of the smaller stores ultimately absorbed into Tops told me when they still existed (another blog called Buffalo Stories has some original Tops, HyTop Pharmacy and B-Kwik stores from the '60s and '70s).
North Syracuse - US 11 in village; later Salvation Army, now an estate agent
Henrietta - NY 252/Jefferson Road, now At Home (moved around the corner)

Lyons - NY 31, now vacant

Warrensburg - US 9, now Grand Union again

Sherrill - NY 5, now Grand Union

Rome - NY 46 & 49, now Grand Union, previously P&C for several years

Cortland (1) - NY 281 & 222, now Grand Union

Cortland (2) - NY 222, now vacant; closed by 1994 when new store opened around the corner

Watertown (Pamelia) - US 11, now Piggly Wiggly

Watertown (Seaway/south) - US 11, now Grand Union

Rutland - US 4 & 7, now Grand Union again

Cooperstown - NY 28, now Grand Union

Peru - US 9, now Grand Union again

Saranac Lake (1) - NY 3, now Grand Union yet again

Saranac Lake (2) - now closed

Owego - NY 17C, now Grand Union

Norwich - NY 990L, now Grand Union

Wilson Farms, B-Kwik and Sugarcreek Stores were a division of Tops until they spun off into a separate company and were sold to 7 Eleven (I discussed them before and some Wilson Farms became other things).  Tops returned to Syracuse in 2010 when they purchased the lions share of Penn Traffic after their third and final administration (bankruptcy!).

Arthur Treachers

Newer Washington, DC location.

I meant to put Arthur Treachers here earlier but it must have been the one that got away!  They were formerly in Liverpool (Bayberry and Galeville) and Syracuse (east side).  Monroe County have the closest ones to me right now but I wanna change all that:

Baldwinsville - former Jreck Subs (NY 31 & 370)

Liverpool (Bayberry) - former Arbys (up the street from old location that is now a takeaway)

Oswego - former Arbys (NY 104)

Fulton - former Jreck Subs (downtown)

Cortland - former Naples Italian Eatery (NY 13)

Auburn - former Tim Hortons (NY 5 and/or Genesee St)

Cicero - former Jimmy Johns (E Circle Dr) or Buffalo Wild Wings  (US 11)

Utica - former Tim Hortons (Genesee St)

Rome - TBD (NY 46 or 49)

Canastota - former Jreck Subs (NY 5 & 13)

Syracuse (east side) - former Jimmy Johns
New Hartford - same as above, Sangertown Square (NY 5 & 5A)
Wappinger Falls - former Sonic Drive-In (US 9)
Canandaigua - former Ponderosa, NY 5/US 20
New Hartford - former Dennys (NY 5)

For towns with more than one vacancy LJS can get the other.

Bus or bust

I'd bring them back for day trips downstate and to casinos and such!

The travel industry is certainly retail so it fits here.  There doesn't always seem to be enough buses to where I wanna go from my area.  The Chinatown bus going downstate only leaves at all hours from Galeville (part of Liverpool) just a mile from the bus and railway station.  The infamous Fung Wah went the way of Syracuse & Oswego Bus just last year.  If only I could just get founder Pei Lin Liang to revive the company and get back in good graces with Albany and Boston for an operating licence.  For casino runs that mainly attract pensioners I'd have him go to Gananoque, ONT and Niagara Falls, NY/ONT in the border community, both Mohegan Sun casinos, Sands in the Allentown-Bethlehem, PA area, Vernon Downs, Point Place (coming soon), and Yellow Brick Road in the Central Leatherstocking (he could go to the latter two casinos' Oneida First Nation sister flagship Turning Stone from communities that Birnie, Yankee Trails, Wade and others won't service).  In the summer months, I'd have runs to Sylvan and Verona Beaches on NY 13, Southwick Beach and Sacketts Harbour in the North Country, and Green Lakes in Fayetteville.  Meanwhile, I'd get Liang to go to NYC in broad daylight without eating into Greyhounds runs too much but they always get long queues and only occasionally do they provide an extra bus for people just going to Cortland and Binghamton which have less demand by comparison.  The bus could go down NY 13 to Ithaca and up NY 14 to Geneva as direct service from CNY is sparse or even non-existent. Not everyone can have access to a private vehicle or in the case of seniors can't handle the long drive on the road anymore so there's a market to tap into.  I'd have Fung Wah or somebody leave from in the city like they do in Albany so it's not out of the way.  I'd also make sure they avoid all the problems that have plagued this type of service.  This is why these things have to be regulated to protect people from getting hurt.  There should be value for money without cutting corners or cars off on the road.  They could even start over in Canada and provide bus service in Haldimand County, ONT to get people to Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara Falls (both) and Buffalo.  I see similar buses like Safeway Tours (no relation to the supermarket chain) in Niagara Falls US & Canada which are more for tourism purposes with primarily Asian customers each time I'm in town.
If Fung Wah could just change their focus a bit, they could maybe rebuild their tepid reputation.

RadioShack

Waterbury, CT store.  Not your fathers RadioShack!

Yes, RadioShack are alive and well but alas fewer and more far between by the day.  Mostly a Sprint dealer with some vestiges of the old guard.  Auburn, Herkimer and Rochester (now closed) have the closest ones to Syracuse nowadays when a generation or two ago, they were all over, even in Cazenovia (via a dealer however).  Since mobile phone shops are on almost every corner these days anyway, they may as well open these here (it may have to wait now as they have re-entered administration):

deWitt (NY 5) - Shoppingtown*

Cortland (NY 13) - Riverside Plaza

Clay (NY 31 & 481) - Great Northern Mall*
Liverpool (NY 31) - former Verizon Wireless

Syracuse (north side) - Destiny USA*

Westvale (NY 5) - former Verizon dealer or building with Family Dollar

Oswego - vacancy on NY 104

Fulton - former Eckerd on NY 481

New Hartford - Sangertown Square (NY 5A)

Oneida (NY 5) - former Tim Hortons (it's a small town and there's less red tape)

Fayetteville - former Epic (NY 5)

North Syracuse - Northern Lights (US 11)

Cicero - former Cicis Pizza

Syracuse (Eastwood/Lyncourt) - Shop City, former Blockbuster Video (* across the street)

Bridgeport - former Kinney Drugs (NY 31)

Chittenango - same if CVS aren't interested (NY 5 & 13)

*was here in the past