New Jersey stores that you would bring back

New Jersey-based "Toys R Us" is gone...and that got me thinking...what New Jersey stores do you miss?

I suggested that I miss (and would love to bring back) the "Two Guys" department store.

It went out of business in 1981. Bob, Brett, and Vince agreed.

Some of the others getting mentions:

Jamesway (based in Secaucus), and Bradlees...with Jason saying: "it's sad that my phone tried to spell correct them and now there's a red line under each name, but Wal-Mart or Walmart are already known to my phone's dictionary."

Welcome to 2018 New Jersey. Sad, indeed.

Remember Caldor, J.J. Newberry, and E.J. Korvettes?

Urban legend has the company named after the Korean War Veterans that founded it.

More recent "disappearances" getting mentions include Linens N Things and Trader Horn.

David brought it a little...closer to home: "Craig...what about the baseball helmet ice cream sundaes from Woolworth’s at the Somerville Circle, right after getting the worst quality sneakers from Grants next door?"

I DO remember the ice cream sundaes (along with the "papier mache" hot dogs, and other food examples at the lunch counter) at Woolworth's, Dave! Might I add that I was thinking about W.T. Grant's when originally posing the question. Grant's went bankrupt in 1976, by the way.

How do you like my family's W.T. Grant's vintage yardstick? Most of it, anyway...

Kathleen mentioned Valley Fair...which I vaguely remember. A little research shows that this department store was a subsidiary of Value City, with stores in Little Ferry, Irvington and Hillsdale.

Seeing as I mentioned the Records Department in Two Guy's...

Ray mentioned Circuit City, The Wiz, and Sam Goody's, among the long-lost stores doing business in New Jersey.

I was surprised not to get any mentions for "Great Eastern" on Route 22 in North Plainfield. Then again, I can only remember it as a kid...

Sadly, Great Eastern went out of business at some point in the mid 1970's. The Route 22 site sat vacant for years (I practiced driving and parallel parking in that vacant parking lot), before becoming a K-Mart. Now, the site is a Costco (the original building was knocked down to build the "warehouse").

Then, there's this from our own Jeff Deminski, from the D&D Afternoon Show:

Further research show's that, according to (late) founder Eugene Ferkauf, the name comes from the initials of the founders (Eugene and Joe) and a re-spelling of the naval term corvette (a nimble warship and WWII sub destroyer).