Opened and Liquidated within less than 6 Months

Apparently the conversion of all Stage-branded stores to Gordmans didn't work out well did it? Well, we can start with a location that like many, got converted in February and is in the process of liquidating. Welcome to Johnstown, New York!

This former Peebles location is in the small "Johnstown Mall", which is essentially an overglorified hallway mall. Already we see the entire store is 10-40% off all merchandise.

Men's section is pretty spaced out, but not looking empty though.

As part of the liquidation process, new accounts can no longer be set up, and payments cannot be accepted in-store.

Seasonal already has empty fixtures.

Come back soon if the store hasn't fully liquidated yet!

Outside, we see the "CLOSING" banner is gone for some reason, compared to earlier in the month...

Date Taken: June 8, 2020. Notice the "CLOSING" banner above the doors and below the facade.

UPDATE: Store has finally closed. Here are some additional liquidation pictures from July 15, 2020.

Oops! The whole cupholder is missing, I wonder why?!

FLASHBACK: Dutchtown Ace Hardware of Palatine Bridge, NY

In this edition of FLASH BACK, we go back to July 15, 2017, in order to get the picture of this new ACE Hardware store.

The new building, located at 6133 New York 5, opened June 21, 2017 and is shaped like a barn to fit the rural theme of the area.

Store has simulated wooden beams and concrete flooring.

Front end, with carts and checkouts.

The shopping carts were transferred from the old store to the new store. Uniquely half of them don Super H Mart branding, a Korean-American supermarket chain. Both these and the Ace branded ones are United Steel & Wire model 310 with a date of 2-07.

Back at the old store in the Dutchtown Plaza, the Ace part of the logo was removed after vacating this space. The DUTCHTOWN and HARDWARE signs would be removed at a later date. It would take longer for the road sign to lose all references to this store altogether.

UPDATE: As of May 29, 2020 the store is under new management and now operates as Hatcher Hardware, while still remaining an authorized Ace affiliate.

FLASHBACK: Grand Opening - Dollar Tree 7027

In this flashback edition of the Retail Regents Blog, we go back to March 31, 2017, where we cover a grand opening on a cold, wet, sleety day in Gloversville, New York.

Since it was cold and wet during the conversion, they were unable to paint the exterior, hence why this building still has the Rite Aid paint trim color.

Since the original exterior entrance was repurposed for management offices, a new entrance was carved out the side. This might the reason a Dollar Tree logo was placed directly over the entrance instead of a second logo over the original Rite Aid facade.

Our first look in this store and we see Dollar Tree upgraded the lighting to LED and replaced the patterned tile with standard dropped ceiling tiles.

I'm not sure if this section was sold out by the time I arrived here or they didn't get any product in yet, but this is where the balloons would have been. Those offices were where the original Rite Aid entrance was.

Corridor to the restrooms and an emergency exit.

Standard restroom with a dull pressurized ZURN toilet.

Seasonal section to the right of the current entrance.

Blue Bunny Ice Cream cooler.

Dairy and Frozen Foods refrigerated coolers.

Final look at the front of the store.

Two months later...

Date Taken: May 3, 2017

Even though the trim was painted green, scars and wiring from the Rite Aid signs are still fully intact. This one would have read "Pharmacy" and "Department Within".

A green forklift is present behind the former pharmacy drive-thru.

Date Taken: May 9, 2017

A quarter view of the exterior showing the closed-off former Rite Aid entrance and new Dollar Tree entrance, and the logos representing each section. Still fails to hide the Rite Aid labelscars.

Absurdities in Layout and Décor: Hannaford of Watertown, NY

We take a break from the onslaught of Grand Union turned Tops stores to present something a little more... disturbing.

All photos taken on October 11, 2018.

This was branded under the Shop 'n Save name like all stores outside of Maine that were later re-branded as Hannaford in 1997.

Along the right-hand wall is the Fresh Fruits 'n Vegetables, with signage stylized like the Shop 'n Save nameplate. Was this décor here when this store was Shop 'n Save?!

The back wall of services.

Unlike the typical Hannaford layout, Cold Beer is here instead of a full-on Dairy section. Also Frozen Foods is in the front of the store due to the horizontal aisle layout.

Can't help but plug an Aisle 12. These signs are one of the few things Hannaford.