Retail Forever

For today's post, we have quite a few things to take a look at, including a unique former Tom's Convenience Store. To start, let's take a look at the history of Hess in Lancaster County, plus how CR's Friendly Markets fueled Hess' Central Pennsylvanian expansion. Part 1: Hess in Lancaster County Lancaster saw its first Hess service stations, at 5 Hartman Bridge Road and 1704 Columbia Avenue, in the 1960s. Grand Opening ad for the Columbia Ave location - Lancaster New Era - May 5, 1967 Just over two decades earlier, in 1942, Carlos R. Leffler, Inc was founded in Richland, PA as a fuel and propane distribution business. In 1981, the company opened its first convenience store, known as CR's Friendly Market, around Reading, PA. By the late 1990s, Hess operated three locations in Lancaster County, the aforementioned Hartman Bridge Road and Columbia Avenue locations as well as a station on Furnace Hills Road in Lititz (more on that later on).  By 1999, Leffler had gro...

Today, we'll be taking a look at the Eckerd pharmacies in Lancaster County, PA. Address City, State Fate 1627 S Market Street Elizabethtown, PA Closed in 2000. 1825 Columbia Avenue Lancaster, PA Converted to Rite Aid in 2007. 2600 N Willow Street Pike Willow Street, PA Converted to Rite Aid in 2007. -------------------- 1. 1627 S. Market Street, Elizabethtown Opened: 1993, with the rest of the center. Closed: 2000 Formerly Thrift Drug Now Dollar General The center also included a Kmart , which you can read more about over on Kmart Forever. Google Earth imagery -------------------- 2. 1825 Columbia Avenue, Lancaster Opened: 1970s? Closed: 2007 Became a Rite Aid in 2007, which closed in Early 2008. Now Tuesday Morning. -------------------- 3. 2600 N. Willow Street Pike, Willow Street Opened: 1991, with the rest of the center. Closed: 2007 Became Rite Aid #11034 in 2007 (when Rite Aid bought...