Retail Forever

We've featured quite a few Tom's Convenience Stores here on Retail Forever over the past year, and before starting this post, I'll link them all here: Enola Etters Shrewsbury York (E. Market St) And now, continuing that series, we find ourselves at another of their former stores, which has quite a history. So, without further ado, let's get started on today's spotlight, store #11.  TOM'S #11 Opened:  2000 Address:   1954 Old Philadelphia Pike Photographed:  February 2022 / March 2022 Tom's #11 was the York-based chain's entry into Lancaster County. But to fully understand what happened here, we must go back to 1982, when Shipley-Humble, Inc opened a new type of gas station, the first of its type in Lancaster County. What made it so special, you may ask? What if I told you it sold two brands of gasoline. The new station would sell both Arco ...

WEIS #138 Opened:  1990s Address:   1400 Stony Battery Rd Photographed:  August 2021 Welcome back. Today is the one-year anniversary of the Willow Street Kmart closure :(. For this week and the next, we've got two Lancaster County Weis stores to take a look at, both of which are in West Hempfield Township. (This is the first one, Columbia is the second). Weis #138, the precursor for superstores like #17 on Fruitville Pike, opened in late 1995 or early 1996. At the time of its opening, Weis #138 featured no tower entrance like it does today. Instead, a large, nondescript, standalone store with a "sloping, green-topped roof covering the porch in its middle" (wording from archived copy of http://weisproject.com/store_detail.php?store=138 ). A Weis Gas-N-Go was later added. Original appearance of Weis #138 (Photo from The Weis Project) Weis Gas 'N Go

CVS #1675 Opened:  1991 Address:   1278 Millersville Pike Photographed:  October 2021 Now that we've finished our excursion into Baltimore County, Maryland, we're back up in Lancaster, up next, we're headed up to Harrisburg. CVS #1675, another store with roots as Rea & Derick, opened its doors on August 14, 1962 as said Rea & Derick. In 1991, with all the other Rea & Dericks, it was converted to CVS. Before exterior signage update (Photo by joshaustin610 on Flickr)

CVS #2371 Opened:  1999 Address:   2020 Columbia Ave Photographed:  November 2021 Welcome back to Lancaster! Before moving on to Kennett Square, I have one more (for the time being) Lancastrian CVS in my backlog. One of the few non-acquired, non-relocation CVS stores in the county, this store opened on March 21, 1999. It was remodeled in 2018/19, and was formerly a 24-hour store. (Google Maps Streetview) (Google Maps Streetview) An older photo from September I found on my phone

For our next holiday post, we've got another store you may recognize. Our original post on this store was in January 2021. Here's the link to our original post in case you're interested. https://retailforever.blogspot.com/2021/01/glimpse-weis-88-lancaster-east.html This store only has a small area dedicated to Christmas merchandise.

GIANT #6028 Opened:  1979 / 2019 Address:   235 N. Reservoir St Photographed:  July 2021 Giant #6028, located at 235 N. Reservoir Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania opened in July 1979 as the chain's first store in Lancaster County. The exterior was remodeled in the 1990s, making it more standard among other Giant stores, however, it was announced for closure (along with #6458 on Fruitville Pike) in March 2017, and it closed on May 17 of that same year. In February 2019, it was reopened as a pickup and delivery hub for Giant Direct, serving the greater Lancaster area Appearance of the original store, after the remodel in the mid-1990s. (Bing Maps Streetside) October 2019 - Current satellite view - Google Earth April 1992 - The store's original appearance - Google Earth 1969 - Before anything was built - Historic Aerials

For our second holiday post of the season, here's another store you may recognize from a previous installment, Rite Aid #3620. I'll also link the original post here in case you're interested.  https://retailforever.blogspot.com/2021/01/quick-look-rite-aid-3620-lancaster-pa.html This store has two seasonal aisles, each running parallel to the other. At the time of my visit, only one was in use for the Christmas merchandise, and the other was being used for excess Halloween merchandise, which was being sold at 90% off, as well as some other miscellaneous merchandise. From this angle, the photo shows the Christmas aisle leading to the store's west side (upon entering, at least) There wasn't too much here, so I hope they'll be getting some more. The lone Christmas aisle, as seen from the other end. 

The holiday season is here! To kick off the season, here's a store which, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you may remember. Bed Bath and Beyond #1331's Christmas display is up at the front, and is to the right upon entering the store. For those of you who would like to read our previous post, here is the link to access it.  https://retailforever.blogspot.com/2021/01/tour-bed-bath-beyond-1331-lancaster-pa.html The first aisle of the seasonal department contains several leftover Fall and Halloween items. The second seasonal aisle, facing the customer service desk The last aisle of the seasonal section, to the far right of the department upon entering. This long aisle runs perpendicular to the rest of the aisles in this section along the back of the seasonal department 

Rite Aid #729 was remodeled at some point between February and now (although, I'd probably lean towards more recently). For some pre-remodel photos and history, please head over to our previous post at  https://retailforever.blogspot.com/2021/02/glimpse-rite-aid-729-lancaster-pa.html . There's still some scarring from the old signage and the older window decals remain, leading me to believe that the remodel was very recent.

GIANT #6458 Opened:  2008 Closed: 2017 Address:   2074 Fruitville Pike Photographed:  June 2021 Giant #6458 originally opened in Spring 1993 as a Redner's Warehouse Market and as one of the original tenants at the Hawthorne Center shopping complex. Redner's closed on January 12, 2008; selling all fixtures to Giant, with Giant opening on May 7, 2008, after remodeling and rearranging the store. However (likely due to the larger Giant less than two miles away on Lititz Pike ), this store closed on May 18, 2017, less than 10 years after opening. It became a Hobby Lobby in 2018. After closure, before transformation into Hobby Lobby (Google Maps Streetview) Before closure (Coolcat4333 on Flickr) After closure, before signage was r...

RITE AID #4684 Opened:  1997 Address:   825 E. Chestnut St Photographed:  July 2021 Rite Aid #4684, located at 825 E. Chestnut Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania opened its doors on July 7, 1997, as the chain's second store in downtown Lancaster. The exterior was repainted from blue to brown in 2013, and again to gray in 2020/2021. Appearance of Rite Aid #4684 before the 2020/21 exterior remodel (Google Earth) Feb. 2013 Bing Streetside imagery, before the 2013 repainting. October 2019 - Google Earth May 2004 - Google Earth April 1992 - Google Earth