Hengerer's

A Hengerer-on: AI store with double fixed logo.

 W.M. Hengerer Co. were yet another in WNYs long line of lost luxury department store chains that couldn't catch up by the latter half of the 20th century. From cookery classes to restaurants, they were more than a store, ahead of their time and once claiming to be the biggest between downstate and Cook County (several tried to be in those days). Sibleys took over in 1987, only for them to go as well a couple years later. Wikipedia only mentions the downtown Hengerer's and one suburban store. The Department Store Museum managed to get the "Heng" of it (even they can't always find everything).

Buffalo (downtown) (1) - 259 Main St; original store; long gone (dates back to Victorian era)

Buffalo (downtown) (2) - 268 Main St; now The Salty Dog Barbershop and Crowley Web ad agency

Buffalo (downtown) (3) - 469 Main St; now laFayette Court

Amherst - NY 5 & Eggert Rd; now offices

Tonawanda - Pool Plaza, NY 324 & Delaware Rd; now Planet Fitness?

West Seneca - Seneca Mall (now The Shops at Seneca Mall), NY 240; likely Sibleys for a couple years before it moved to Cheektowaga for another brief stint (see earlier post); mall demolished

Clarence/Harris Hill - Eastern Hills Mall, NY 78; later Sibleys, Kaufmanns, Macys and Niagara Emporium; mall under redevelopment

L.L. Berger

AI store with real logo (couldn't fix another fake one)

 On a roll with WNY chains, and L.L. Berger are the latest. They were on the posh end, and had covered the area from the Edwardian era until the early '90s. Some things Wikipedia just can't do. Finally decided to launch a WNY tag because of the recent focus there.

Buffalo (downtown) (1) - 500 Main St; original store; now Buffalo Cigars

Buffalo (downtown) (2) - 514 Main St; now The Belasario

Cheektowaga (1) - Thruway Plaza (later Mall)

Cheektowaga (2) - Walden Galleria

Tonawanda - Sheridan Plaza, US 62

West Seneca - Seneca Mall (now The Shops at West Seneca), CR 137 & 91; old mall demolished

Amherst - Northtown Plaza, US 62 & NY 333; Station 12

Lockport - Lockport Mall, NY 78

Clarence - Transitowne Plaza, NY 5 & 78

Buffalo - 510 Elmwood Ave, now Mythos Restaurant

Hamburg - McKinley Mall, NY 179; later Kaufmanns Home Store and likely Macys outpost; now vacant

Jenss

Jenss through AI lens. Courtesy Meta Platforms, Inc.

 Back to WNY, going from Hens to Jenss! This started in Niagara County rather than Erie County. While the chain existed all the way to the start of the millennium, it would go the way of its local competitors. I just wish I got to know that area more in those days.

 

AI fantasy mall location. Even the bins are well made.

Amherst - Boulevard Mall, US 62; flagship; later Kaufmanns and Macys Mens Store; supposed to become Boulevard Place after JCPenney gives up eminent domain struggle (unlike their old rivals)

Harris Hill/Clarence - Eastern Hills Mall, NY 78; becoming a lifestyle center

Wheatfield - Summit Place Mall; now the Summit/NISE Center

Niagara Falls - NY 378

Tonawanda - Main & Niagara Sts; Jenss Twin Ton; previously Zuckmaier Bros.; long gone

Hens & Kelly

Well-done AI Hens & Kelly. Courtesy Meta Platforms, Inc.

 WNY have had a plethora of department store chains of their own, and Hens & Kelly were one of them. While this just laid an egg in my nest, they were only in Erie County for nine decades. They were one of the first stores in the region to offer S&H Green Stamps. Here's where they roosted (of course, this had nothing to do with chickens! This wasn't in St Olaf, mind!):

Buffalo (downtown) - 478 Main St; flagship; now Social Security

South Buffalo - NY 16; now Trocaire on Seneca

Lackawanna - Abbott Rd; L.B. Smith Plaza; previously Edwards; now Rent-A-Center?

Buffalo (1) - US 62 & NY 33; long since demolished

Clarence/Williamsville - Transitowne Plaza, NY 78 & 5; now Planet Fitness?

Hamburg - South Shore Plaza, US 20; now Walmart

Amherst - Northtown Plaza, US 62 & NY 324; now Station 12, the areas answer to District East

West Seneca - Southgate Plaza, NY 277

Cheektowaga - Como Mall, NY 277; now Appletree Business Park

East Aurora - Aurora Village Shopping Center, US 20A; now T.J. Maxx?

Wheatfield - Summit Park Mall; later Macys Closeout; now The Summit/NISE Center

Buffalo (2) - US 62, Langley Plaza; previously Edwards

Mid-Hudson Memories

Gnax the red fox; his species are Marists mascot

 From 1997 to 2000, I lived in Dutchess County while away at school. While I won't go into the personal aspects of that too much here, it had to be done. This year would be the 25th anniversary of when I graduated from there, but a Smiths reunion is more likely now than one with my former colleagues (one person from that time knows what I mean). I even wrote to one recently, but that ship has sailed. There is an annual do with those of every vintage up to that time, but I don't know.

    As for what to put here, I finally got to go to ShopRite after only knowing it from then-UPN 9 and WB 11 (more on them on our sister blog). Grand Union provided some familiarity, yet I only went to Price Chopper rarely since that was one of many chains in town that we had back home. I discovered Stop & Shop, which was then sister to Tops, the latter bought some of the others stores that overlapped with Hannaford after the Ahold Delhaize merger. I went to Walgreens for the first time since they did not return to CNY until 2006. There was a dollar store called Just-a-Buck, which we covered years earlier. Rhino Records, which spun off of the label after it was sold to Time Warner, had locations in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz close to college campuses. After Caldor left CNY after two years' time, I had just as long before the whole chain closed. I can't recall if I ever went to Adams Fairacre Farms, the premier local chain in the Hudson Valley.  There were Poughkeepsie Galleria (Destiny USAs sister mall), South Hills Mall and Hudson Valley Mall. My stablemates and I would shop in Ulster and Dutchess Counties and had the minibus. I would take the chartered coach or railway home to visit.
    There was an indie video store across US 9 from where I was and they would sometimes have what I wanted. Even a couple delis were close by. Discovered Chinese buffet down the road. Saw Revco get absorbed by CVS and the last leg of Fays as Eckerd opened. Went to IGA and for the last time A&P. Got ice creams at Dairy Queen (not near home then) or Holy Cow in Red Hook (better off there). Only heard of G. Fox in recent years, and Filenes had been back for some time once I got to the mall. The furry fox I used for this post is in the one for G. Fox and also represents the mascot for Marist College, one of the three private schools in town, and an alum turned staff member of that place worked nights where I lived to boot. It'd be too easy to put a photo of a business or even landscape of the river itself.

   Despite the area being a bedroom community, I only got to take the MetroNorth Hudson Line twice to New York City since it wasn't that simple in those days, and it's not an everyday thing for everyone there; some not going down river for months or even years at a time. I only went once before with my family and three times this century to date, twice to see Paul McCartney, but that's for "Another Day"!
    Mid-Hudson Memories was going to be the name used for a segment on a short-lived user feature on the site for the Poughkeepsie Journal site after a rare visit in 2010 to see Yes at Mid-Hudson Civic Center (on the music blog), but I had to get on to the life I had in that day, and the feature became dated and obscure anyway. I just know I was still running riot with retail when I was in town. It has come on even more since like anywhere, despite all the stagnation and stagflation across the country these days.
    Because of my limitations, I doubt I'll ever get a hundred miles of there again. Haven't even made it to the tri-state proper since 2009, several months before halfway north to Albany, which I'm lucky to even get to once a year as it is. Just as people from my hometown or local alums who live elsewhere now can't all make it over yet once any time of year because of the costs and/or current routines. Maybe someday, I'll make it back. If I do go to events in the NYC region, I could stop along the way once I have my driving licence and own car, although I'd have to sort out the city itself (you know how it is).

Wells & Coverly's

Wells & Coverly's Wells-made AI. Courtesy Meta Platforms, Inc.

    Wells & Coverly's were a mens department store dating back to the Victorian period which had been in downtown Syracuse since the Edwardian one, yet I only just learned that they were actually from Rensselaer County in the Capital District, despite my family's decades-long ties to that area (they may have known this). Near home, the painted sign remains as a reminder of when people dressed posh to go into town to shop (especially around the festive period). In and even more so outside Onondaga County, there is little information if the stores closed generations ago and/or I haven't been to those areas in some time, although Wells & Coverly still existed in my lifetime, details don't always get preserved by posterity or I'd really have to become the Lucy Worsley of retail (she finds everything)!

Syracuse (downtown) - S Salina St; now Sky Armory (top two floors) and Champs and Scholars (lower floor)

Syracuse (Fairmount) - W Genesee St, Fairmount Fair Mall; now several chains

deWitt - NY 5, Shoppingtown Mall; TBD (you know the rest)

Oswego (1) - W 1st St?

Oswego (2) - US (now NY) 104?

Troy (1) - 336-338 River St and 13-17 4th St (now US 4 South and North); flagship store; various

Troy (2) - 70-72 State St; TBD

Hoosick Falls - NY 22

Walkill - The Galleria at Crystal Run

Worcester, MA - Ware-Pratt

E.W. Edwards & Son

AI Edwards after some editing. Courtesy Meta.

 It's a new year and month, yet there's another department store chain that didn't stick around here for me to get to that was right in my backyard. E.W. Edwards & Son had but a few stores in CNY, and I've heard about them here and there. They would branch out to WNY, so now we're getting somewhere. The local stores would close in 1973, with the original downtown Syracuse flagship being demolished. The Monroe County stores were sold and the Edwards name survived until around 1982.

Syracuse (1) - S Salina & W Jefferson Sts; hard to pinpoint because of Deys, Sibleys, RKO Keith, Whelans, Kresge (kmart) and Loews State (Landmark Theatre) being competitors and/or neighbours

Syracuse (2) - S Salina & W Washington Sts, Clinton Square, Syracuse Mall; later the Atrium with Goldome (bank that closed in the early '90s) and state offices; now SUNY Oswego Metro Center with CH Insurance and skating rink entrance during the winter

deWitt - NY 5, Shoppingtown Mall; later JCPenney; now vacant (don't say the D word!)

Camillus - W Genesee St; Camillus Plaza/Mall; later JCPenney; now Walmart

Rochester - NY 96; Midtown Plaza?

Pittsford - NY 31, Pittsford Plaza

Greece - Ridgemont Plaza, US (now NY) 104

Buffalo (1) - Genesee & Pearl Sts; streets no longer meet as store existed a century ago; now Genesee Building (most likely)

Buffalo (2) - US 62, Langley Plaza; later Hens & Kelly

Lackawanna - Abbott Rd, L.B. Smith/Abbott Rd Plaza; later Hens & Kelly; now Rent-A-Center