Saturday, December 14, 2024

W.T. Grant Co. in CNY

Nedrow store with replica sign made with my phone

 Now for something entirely before my time, yet I've heard of from the over-60s and historical sources. W.T. Grant Co. were a department store chain that started in the Edwardian era outside Boston that was the next level after the five and dimes, but cheaper than local competitors Filenes and the Boston Store. Grants closed in 1976 after seventy years' time because of bankruptcy, mismanagement, and not keeping up with those times. They were common in Syracuse and around the country, mainly the eastern seaboard. Here's where they were here and one other spot, so I don't binge again, yet people may have taken the store for Grant-ed back then! (I have such cheesy puns!). Because of how long ago the company existed, I can't always put down what came after, even in my own neck of the woods.

North Syracuse - US 11; Northern Lights Plaza

Nedrow - US 11 & Southwood Dr; Green Hills Plaza; later kmart and flea market; now vacant (pictured)

Vails Gate - NY 32; later Caldor and kmart; now Goodwill (non-CNY)

Camillus - Camillus Plaza (now Camillus Commons)

deWitt - NY 5; Shoppingtown; original plaza demolished by 1975 when converted to mall before chains closure; store replaced by Woolworths in 1978; closed 1993 and replaced by Media Play, which itself closed in 2003 and was later Black Mamba and then vacant again; mall to be levelled for District East

Syracuse (downtown) - S Salina St; demolished in 1985 for the Galleries, which opened in 1988

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