50 favorite retailers that no longer exist — and many were in NJ

Mother’s Day morning I saw my mom in Linden. When I was coming home I rounded the Clark traffic circle at Exit 135 and I looked across and saw where a Target sits. Now this may have been there for years. I honestly don’t know. If it’s been there a long time it’s the first time I really noticed it.

It made me nostalgic because it occupies the same space that decades ago had been a Bradlees. I had been taken to that Bradlees as a kid and I worked at that Bradlees as a teenager. One night, as a young punk, I blew a tire ripping donuts in that deserted parking lot.

The Bradlees chain went under in March of 2001. I looked at that Target wondering when its day would come.

Because doesn’t it always seem inevitable? And we’re seeing so much of it lately with the Christmas Tree Shop closures in other states and so many Bed Bath & Beyond closures in this state. So many stores that were touchstones of our lives have folded.

Depending on your age, you might remember your dad or granddad talking about Korvettes or Grants. They sound like relics now. But when you’re alive to see the next-to-last K-Mart in New Jersey close down in Avenel you can start to relate.

Here is a list of the top 50 retail chains that went extinct. Scroll through and see how many you remember. You’ll find a large number of them were right here in Jersey. Heck, even just Woodbridge Center mall alone was home to many of these on the list like Sam Goody’s, KB Toys and many others.

So read on and buckle up. This is going to feel like time travel.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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