When I was a kid, every summer vacation meant a trip to New England beaches and stopping by stores and malls to pick up groceries, summer toys, new clothing and anything else along the way. As we crisscrossed Maine and New Hampshire over the years to visit attractions, beaches and museums, we ended up visiting most of the shopping centers from Skowhegan to Kittery, from Plymouth to Portsmouth and parts of Vermont.  Zayre, Bradlees, Kmart and many more were our usual stops.

In the mid 1990’s, we started to notice a change in that familiar landscape. The end of Zayre, then several Kmart and Ames locations started closing, and for Stuart’s and others chains, it was the end.

A bright newcomer

In 1992, we traveled to Florida for the first time and got to visit Target and Walmart for the first time too. Then, big grey buildings popped up along I-95 in Maine: Scarborough, Augusta, Waterville... Walmart was already in other New England states back then but northeastern regional chains suddenly faced fierce competition from these attractive bright new stores with low prices every day.

From 1996 to 2002, one by one, regional discount store chains went out of business, Rich’s, Caldor, Hills, Bradlees, Ames along with hundreds of shuttered Kmart stores. Former giants like Woolworth's also collapsed. Shopping centers anchored by these stores had to reinvent themselves and not only because of Walmart.

New powerhouses

With Walmart came the expansion of specialty big box retailers opening in large open-air shopping centers. Home Depot was the next big thing, followed by Staples, Michaels Crafts, Best Buy, Circuit City, Linens’n Things and others. Big box home improvement stores became the norm and mid-sized hardware store vanished: Builders Square, Grossman’s, Home Quarters (HQ), Hechingers and Wickes Lumber all closed down.

At the end of 2000, two bankruptcies occurred within days: after 128 years, Montgomery Ward announced it was closing and then it was Bradlees. These bankruptcies along with the 120 stores closed by Ames that year added up to a total of more than 500 store closings. Northern New England then welcomed Kohl’s, Lowe's and more Target stores. Meanwhile, several Walmart stores were transformed into Supercenters. The retail landscape was now totally different. Even large specialty chains that appeared to thrive in newer shopping centers have later folded: Circuit City, Linens'n Things, CompUSA, Sports Authority and others. 

A changed market with giants

In the 70's and the 80's, we had several discount chains like Hills, Venture, Ames, Woolworth, Bradlees, Grants, Zayre and the fading 5&10 stores. Today, the retail landscape is dominated by giants like Walmart, Target, Costco, Kohl's, Home Depot, Lowe's and the thriving dollar stores. Online shopping is now challenging all brick and mortar stores and malls across the world.

This website is simply a small overview of how the New England retail landscape changed over the past 50 years, with pictures, information, archives and more. There is information on more than 15 closed store chains, history and commentary on 150+ northern New England shopping centers, links, updates, comments, and more. After 11 years on the web on Geocities, the website is now on Google Sites and has been refreshed all over. Thank you for visiting and thanks to the more than 100,000+ visitors since April 2000.  

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