Words - Your closed Stores

[Member69643]

<p><strong>End of an Era</strong></p>

<p>Our major independent hobby store, "Box Kar Hobbies" closed its doors after more than 40 years in business in the Cedar Rapids metro area. I spent a lot of money there. The owner, Diane Kar, tried to sell the business but there were no serious offers. She's looking forward to a nice retirement.</p>

<p>Reminder to all - these brick and mortar stores only stay open when you buy from them, and not Amazon. How many stores around YOU do you wish were still open? Share a picture of the store, either closed or in its prime!</p><div></div>

[spanky]

<p>Here in Los Angeles there are many many businesses that have gone under. Downtown LA is littered with small stores that have "for lease" signs in front. Head west until you hit Beverly Hills and it's much the same thing.</p><div></div>

[SCL]

<p>Recession hit my small town hard...lots of stores closed, a few sold and were repurposed...but these auto row dealerships have been closed since 2008-9. Nothing planned to tear down...just sitting empty. much of the rest of the country had better rebound; my state's unemployment rate is highest in the nation</p><div></div>

[Sanford]

<p>No photos but we just lost two great computer stores in the Monterey area. Computer Works, perennial winner of the "best computer repair store" in the area and Mac Superstore, a superior choice to the Apple Store. Mac Superstore still has three other locations in Colorado and CA. We haven't had a full service camera store in some time. Backscatter, an underwater photography shop sells a few popular camera brands at NY prices. And book stores, nearest real one is in Santa Cruz.</p>

[Javier Gutierre]

<p><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z19DKs-Ck2E/T2qQGa1Dt_I/AAAAAAAACto/GE2jrTFv-xo/s1600/lx-5+color+(8).jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" /></p>

[Javier Gutierre]

<p><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mvNdbbsF5Q4/T2qQJHCYSPI/AAAAAAAACtw/p6t38Qx14P4/s1600/lx-5+color+(9).jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" /></p>

[david_henderson]

<p>This is a Co-op store from a seaside mining village in Northumberland, UK, near where I was born. The Co-op societies that ran the branches were owned in large measure by their member customers who received annual dividends (rebates) dependent on purchases. The Co-ops were reasonably dominant in the poorer, more industrial and socialist parts of the UK right up to say the 1960's, and provided a strong local service. Most of them were counter service. The co-op societies also ran daily doorstep milk deliveries, and the larger ones had funeral parlour facilities for working people. They were essentially the product of hard lives, and when post-war austerity turned into Carnaby Street, they began to look and feel wrong. </p>

<p>From the 60's they suffered badly , initially because of the declining fortunes of the communities they served and migration away to new towns & new housing estates. Also increased car ownership, a brighter society and the advance of cheaper, bigger, and more attractive supermarkets caused many closures, amalgamations and a huge loss in share of the grocery market. They still exist but there are far fewer of them and they are less distinct both in appearance and socialist heritage.</p>

<div></div>

[spanky]

<p>Even though it's already been done to death, I still would like to go to Detroit and photograph the ruins there. Here's another boarded up business and a ice cream vendor. He and I were the only ones on this block at the time, like a ghost town in the middle of downtown LA.</p><div></div>

[spanky]

<p> </p><div></div>

[wgpinc]

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3183955-md.jpg" alt="" /></center>

[ukhov]

<div></div>