Shoe Carnival

Hattiesburg, IA store

 I just discovered Shoe Carnival in a coupon book that covers national chains and local businesses alike. Some of the chains they have that we don't in my area yet were already covered here, so here's one that hasn't. This one's bigger than I thought, so now it's back to finding bigger spots. We always get stuff late around here!

Syracuse - former Against All Odds, Destiny USA

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

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

Cortland - former kmart, NY 281

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

Auburn - Fingerlakes Mall, NY 5 & US 20

Amherst - former Best Buy, NY 78

Henrietta - former avenue, NY 252

Canastota - former Family Dollar, NY 5 & 13 and CR 25

Watertown - former Sears or Christmas Tree Shops, Salmon Run Mall, NY 3

Baltimore City and County (Towson/Columbia) - former Shoe City locations where there is no overlap (where chain were based) 

Food Desert on Syracuse's South Side

The store months before it closed up.

 Please sign this petition and be part of the solution! Don't let this be another statistic. I suggested Grand Union, Big M, Lidl, IGA, Hannaford, Grocery Outlet or Save-A-Lot go in there. It was even an A&P and Acme decades ago. This is an all too familiar scene around the nation in rural small towns and inner city neighborhoods alike, particularly communities of color. One food desert is one too many.

UPDATE (7/10/25): Tops' competitor in Buffalo, Super Imperial Market, will open their first non-WNY location there in May 2026. It is a combination of Imperial Market and Super Price Choppers (no relation, but are also in Erie, PA). Turns out they carry Best Yet like their soon to be rival down the road, Green Hills Farms, even though it's one of the most common private labels in smaller and indie stores.

Spot Coffee

Rochester location on NY 96 over by NBC 10 WHEC (closed as of 2 March 2025)

 When I first discovered Spot Coffee in Monroe County last year (pictured), I assumed it was local. It's only recently that I learned it's a regional chain from Erie County sixty miles away from Rochester. They're even open as far east as Warren County! Since some of their competitors closed locations in between, Spot can find some new ones. (UPDATE: Spot in Rochester is now closed as of 2 March 2025, and has since become Eden Coffee and Co.).

Syracuse (east side) - former Red Lobster, NY 5

Various (Upstate NY only) - former Starbucks

Cicero - former Jimmy Johns, E Circle Dr & Horan Rd

North Syracuse - former Hofmann Hot Haus/Salt City Dogs, Northern Lights Plaza, US 11 & S Bay Rd

Canastota, former Family Dollar, NY 5 & 13 and CR 25

Fairmount - former Subway, W Genesee St

Syracuse (north side) - former Against All Odds, Destiny USA (food court already has Starbucks and is full up anyway)

Liverpool - former Catherines or Verizon Wireless; COR Plaza, NY 31

Auburn - former Tim Hortons, NY 5; Kubal Coffee, Genesee St, downtown; and/or Fingerlakes Mall, food court; NY 5 & US 20

Weedsport - former Tim Hortons, NY 31 & 34

New Hartford - Sangertown Square, NY 5 & 5A

Colonie - Colonie Center, NY 5 & Wolf Road

Camillus - former Firehouse Subs, W Genesee St (instead of Fairmount)

New Trailways counter at Regional Transportation Center in Syracuse

Adirondack Trailways bus in Ulster County, which is really near the Catskills.

 Trailways and Greyhound ended their partnership after 25 years time, and in New York State, the regional franchise in Hurley, just outside Kingston (I used to live not too far from there), will no longer pool with their competitor, so if your destination is only served by one of them, you can only book with that one or an app that has it.  At the Syracuse station, the split is made clear with a separate counter being built for Trailways where Dunkin' used to be (which indirectly moved around the corner to NY 370/Park St.).  This may confuse some people, as you'd be directed across the hall if one doesn't cover a certain route and time.  Having both companies available will make it easier for last-minute travellers, seniors, those with older or no mobile phones, the disabled, and those who live in well off-the-grid type communities (I sometimes see Amish families and occasionally Mennonites).  This could happen at Boehlert Union Station in Utica where there's a closed takeaway that could be converted, yet the Greyhound counter has been closed, leaving customers having to use the app or pay when they get to their stop if it's a bigger area (paying somehow, of course), and then in Rochester, there has been talk of merging bus operations with the Louise Slaughter Amtrak Station across the street as the Trailways station is old and small (even for there) and only meant to last so long.  You have to wait for Greyhound or Megabus downtown right now not far from where the station used to be at a mere stop as if it were a small town, which makes no sense in a larger city and when the elements take over.  Port Authority downstate must have something planned, while in Albany, CDTA have considered building a new hub for both theirs and intercity, which would include the two lines, along with Peter Pan and Yankee Trails.  Greyhound and FlixBus are now sister companies, yet have different management, and back in CNY, you get FlixBus a mile away from the station at Pilot, where you'd have to be dropped off by someone you know, a cab or rideshare.  I just wish I could get to Rochester and Ithaca in my time frame and price range having no access to a private vehicle going out of town (one can relate), and gas prices are making more people use buses and trains instead or car and planes.  However, bus and airline companies alike are having staffing issues at this time.  Just hope this works out for everybody.

UPDATE: Trailways' ticket counter moved down the hall to where the video games once were and they have formed a new alliance with Greyhound and FlixBus through a third party company in Jackson County, making it easier for riders, yet where to get the bus can keep changing, and worse, it can be out of doors, in a smaller building or the outskirts of town, even in larger areas, which is not good for vulnerable populations, yet Syracuse remains streets ahead of most cities with a one-stop shop for most bus lines (OurBus go to SU and the airport only) and Amtrak with a building to keep everyone safe, warm and dry that's not too hard to find or get to. As for what will go in the east end of the building, more as this develops, since I'll try to get on the road again despite changes in my own life.

Sears in CNY, Finger Lakes, North Country and Capital Region

Typical mall Sears in happier times. Forgot where exactly, however.

 Sears once ruled the retail landscape, but had also taken a downturn thanks to Walmart and amazon in that order. They had several locations in CNY and beyond that are all but gone. Few if any are left. Vacant unless otherwise indicated. The last three are the Capital Region since I grew up going there, and Grandma, may she rest in peace brought us there, and had the catalogue, as well along with the other place. I could throw in the rest of the state, but I don't want to get carried away, so I'll stick to these now.

Syracuse (south side) - US 11; closed in 1974; will become semiconductor workforce training hub through ON-RAMP state programme in the wake of neighbour JMA and Micron opening in Clay

Fayetteville - NY 5, Fayetteville Mall; 1974-95; replaced by P&C at Towne Center; now Tops

deWitt - NY 5, Shoppingtown Mall; 1995-2018; previously Deys; don't ask!

Cicero - Penn Can Mall (now Drivers Village); closed by 1988; later Steinbach and Burlington; now vacant

Clay - NY 31, Great Northern Mall, closed after thirty years; now Sky Zone Trampoline Park

Fairmount - Fairmount Fair, closed 1987; replaced by numerous retailers since such as Marshalls Homegoods and Old Navy

Auburn - NY 5 & US 20, Fingerlakes Mall

New Hartford - NY 5 & 5A, Sangertown Square, now Boscovs

Henrietta - NY 252, Marketplace Mall; now URMC office

Cortland (1) - NY 13, Riverside Plaza, Sears Hometown Outlet

Cortland (2) - NY 281; Cortlandville Mall

Cortland (3) - Downtown; US 11 and NY 41 & 222

Syracuse (north side) - Destiny USA, Sears Outlet (spun off from Sears proper); various

Westvale - NY 5, Westvale Plaza, Sears Hardware; now Thrifty Shopper

Liverpool - CR 57, Sears Hardware; now American Red Cross

Watertown (1) - NY 3, Salmon Run Mall

Watertown (2) - NY 12?, Downtown

Ithaca (Lansing) - NY 34, The Shops at Ithaca Mall, now Cayuga Health (along with former Bon-Ton)

Camillus - Camillus Mall, 1987-2001; now Lowes

Colonie - NY 5, Colonie Center; now Whole Foods (amazon-owned) and Floor & Décor

Albany - NY 32?, Downtown

Wilton - NY 50, Wilton Mall; now Saratoga Hospital office

Family Dollar in Eastwood

Not quite done yet.

 It has been confirmed that Family Dollar will move from Shop City to 3120 James St in Syracuse in what had been Loblaws, Peters IGA, Foodland, Carls Drugs, Fays, Eckerd and Rite Aid.  Nothing special really, with a bunch of them in the area. It could be that now that it's sister to Dollar Tree, it shouldn't be in the same plaza as Family Dollar, which has been looking to get out of strip malls and into their own buildings by buying vacancies of other chains, as has their competitor Dollar General have done in other parts of the region.  Family Dollar has renovated the building inside and out and even did landscaping.  Some may feel these stores are too easy to open, especially in food deserts, as low income residents rely on these places more than ever.  It will be more convenient for those without cars, including seniors and disabled, and in the elements.  Even Jordan got one a couple years ago in the former Big M/Tops, as it can be just as necessary in the rural community.  Back in town, at least somebody got in there since it's hard to get someone to buy or lease a commercial property, in the city or suburbs, anymore.

Once there's another empty spot in Shop City, we must decide what can go in there, but even the one on Old Liverpool Road is still available after Family Dollar moved across the street to that former Rite Aid and Eckerd, which was a successor to Fays, which had held Thrifty Shopper until that moved to CR 57.

kmart in CNY

Former Philadelphia County store, 2010

 Attention kmart Shoppers! There are only enough kmart stores left in the country to count on one hand (closest one now is in the Tri-State). Here are where they were in this area. Now vacant unless indicated.

Syracuse (downtown) - S.Salina & E. Jefferson Sts..; originally Kresge, later CVS and a beauty supply

Syracuse - Western Lights; later Herb Phillipsons; now Valu Home Center

Fulton - NY 481, River Glen Plaza

Auburn - NY 5, now Vineyard Church

deWitt - NY 5, now Dicks at Erie Canal Centre

Liverpool - CR 57, Seneca Mall; now U-Haul

Cortland - NY 13, Cortland Crossing, Munsons Corners, Cortlandville; now Marshalls

Syracuse/Nedrow - US 11 and Southland Dr., Green Hills Plaza; later a flea market; previously Grants

Geneva - NY 5 & US 20; TBD

New Hartford - NY 5A, now At Home

Mattydale - US 11

Herkimer - NY 5 & S Washington St.

Camillus - Camillus Plaza/Mall, closed by late '90s; now Lowes

Ithaca - NY 13, 34 & 96; now Five Below and Trader Joes