What have you lost where you live? Which restaurants, stores, etc.?

Our Kmart is muddling through. Probably because it has a pharmacy. Pharmacies are sprouting like fruit flies up here. The Mom and Pop stores I feel very badly for. The kids must miss the indoor playground, esp. this time of year.

Thanks for BR, writersedge! I miss our Kmart . . . it was all too convenient. But I don't think there was a pharmacy in there. You're right, there are a lot of pharmacies sprouting on every corner it seems (why?). Well, it seems that for all the little stores that are closing up, the bigger and best stores are remaining as they take in their customers. We lost the indoor playground (and other businesses), but we do have others here - and they benefit from others' losses. Survival of the fittest, I guess!

I don't know if they're the fittest or if it's cheapest or where we live more convient to just go one place and buy everythign. Kmart and Sears are now the same company. I forget who bought out whom. You're welcome. Take care

Oh that's too bad. I hate it when you know the people and they don't do well. What kind of shop was Mr. Price?

It is like a clothing store. Underwear, swimsuits, shoes. I always bought our clotes there. Everything for everyone. Even childrens clothes. A great store.

It sounds like it was really nice. I feel like saying, "Sorry for your loss," because many Mom and Pop places are a real loss. Thanks for responding and take care.

You would think the discount bread store and Payless would flourish in this economy. Our KFC remodelled, tore down, came back as a combo KFC and Long John Silver's. Pizza Hut bought more land, built a new restaurant, then tore down the old to make a bigger parking lot. It was needed, but I had a lot of memories stored up in the old one.

I think the bread store's lease ended - I've noticed that these stores move with annoying regularity - I knew where it was once, then it moved and it was almost 15 years before I knew where it was - again. Now, its gone - again... The Payless, well, I don't think they've done real well in that store for a LONG time - I was always surprised they stayed open as long as they DID! But, again, everyone Payless I KNOW about has gone out of business, too much competition from Walmart.

Yeah, our discount bread store moved after it downsized, no more fresh bread, just bread that didn't sell in the stores. But that was at the very beginning of the recession or before it officially was called that. But it's such a big deal here that it took up half of a newspaper page, so we all knew where it went. Try calling your local newspaper, they may know where it went. The other thing is that when they move, they often keep the same phone number, so try finding out the phone listing and call that. They'll tell you where they are. Keep thinking, you'll figure out a way to find it. Call elderly, retired people on a fixed income that can't afford bread any other way, they know where it is. When we lost it one time and there was no article in the paper, a friend of ours new where it was. Payless shoes only has children's shoes now here. That's because we adults need to buy new shoes from them every 3 to 4 months, they wear out so fast, but kids that are growing fast, you're buying shoes that often for them anyway, esp. when they hit their growth spirts which happens a little differently in every family. Walmart may also be part of the problem, didn't think of that. I liked the fact that Payless had wide shoes and not very many stores have wide to fit my feet. KFC, ours was torn down and rebuilt to be a combo, too. Hope it's cleaner than the last one, we quit going because it was a pig's stye.

We also lost Jo Ann Fabrics, but it is farther down the road by the mall, yes I seen where they want to do away with the fabric department in Wal Mart, is it because no one sews anymore. I have not checked out the price of a piece of material in a long time. But I can imagine what it costs now. But that department has a lot of other items that I sometimes buy. Wal Mart has grown and I think along with it comes the loss of quality merchandise. I perfer to shop the smaller stores in our area, they seem to care if you come back and they seem to carry better quality of items. No I do not buy bakery items in Wal Mart unless it is a birthday cake and sometimes they suck. The meat department is too high for me also. Unless you buying hot dogs or the like. I find that their box items like macroni and that kind of stuff is cheaper, but that is all I buy in their food part of the store.

No, people sew where I live and many people are taking up sewing that have never sewn before. Sewing classes are really popular up here right now. The margin for profit isn't very high and it must be constantly staffed, that's why they want to get rid of it. Most employees (from what I can see), hate to measure and cut fabric. When they hire someone who loves to sew and doesn't mind cutting the fabric, that's great. But when that person goes on vacation, the other people who staff it are whining, complaining and moaning, because they have to cut fabric. They do a horrible job of cutting the fabric, too. Quilts are a really big thing here. We have three Mom and Pop quilt stores, so there are lots of quilters and that's the hardest sewing I know. We have 3 tailors up here that all they do is custom make clothes for weddings and they do a lot of sewing. Often they mail order bolts, but for small things, they go to cloth stores. Also, unlike dog food, cat food, people food, and some department when sales are constant, sewing tends to be seasonal. People do lots of cloth buying before Halloween, Christmas (think angels for the Christmas Pageant and presents), and Weddings that tend to be mostly in June with some in Sept. and a few in the winter. So in July when it's sooo hot, January when no one is buying much, etc, they don't really want to have that department.

Sounds like your area has been hit hard. Just because a parking lot is full, doesn't mean people are buying as much as they are looking. I look in a lot of stores now and can't afford to buy. Sorry the Dollar General had so much theft. That is a big loss. Walmart shut our JoAnn's Fabrics down and then keeps threatening to close the fabric part down, but people keep protesting.Yeah, I've bought junk at Walmart, mostly because someone else writes a list for me and often I have to bring it back. But I don't go there so much now because I'm on the outs with that person. Their bakery department is the worst.They always have free samples and it's awful. How can a person make a terrible tasting cookie? Donut holes are the only thing that tastes good that they've given out for samples. The Fruits and Vegetables aren't very fresh. I hate going there. I agree, quality over quantity.

Our Applebees is still going, but I don't know how. It has a big building with very few people in it every time I see it. Quiznos is just a small little place at the mall food court here and it is still going. Baja Fresh, we never had, so we can't very well loose it. What kind of food does it have? Was the boo because you liked it and you'll miss it or because you didn't like it anyway?

What a disappointment, to be off restrictions and they're closed! Sounds like it was a wonderful place to eat. Thank you very much for explaining what Baja Fresh was. Take care

I really love Baja Fresh. It's a fresh Mexican grill type place and I really used to love their grilled veggie burrito, among other things. I didn't go there for a few months because I wasn't allowed any dairy products in my diet. And when the diet restriction was over, I went there one day for lunch and it was closed.

Yeah, I miss Dairy Queen, too.

Me too!

Sounds like you're not getting hit very hard, but some places are. Interesting that the media system is gettig more hit than anything, but that's more taken over than hit except for the one day a week loss for a newspaper.

That would hurt my feelings, too. Someone is trying to start something like that up two towns over from me. I wish them luck. I would be surprised if that one made a go of it. But they get some Vermonters going through and maybe some Canadians, so maybe it will go.

We lost Woolworths so long ago, I think it's been decades since we had one. I didn't realize there were any left in the world anywhere. That's too bad about the small supermarkets, they tend to be handy and Mom and Pop kinds of stores. Sounds like lots of changes with appartment buildings.

A 1900s theater closed down? That is very sad. That happened in Plattsburgh and luckily, the historic preservation society has taken it over. They're redoing it to the way it was and then they'll reopen it. But there is still no parking. That was the problem. They kept selling off land around them so they could keep going and people built, now you can really only go to a show in the summer because you have to park a mile away, there are only 3 parking spaces in the front.

People don't understand that every dollar is a vote for who stays and who goes. Sorry to hear that the farms are turning into developments. We're getting that here, too, and I think it's awful. But with only one American dying every year to 4 being born every year, I guess we have to put those people somewhere. But 100 acre farms up here are turning into 100 or even 200 houses, it's just awful. Time to put the "No farms, No food," bumper sticker on the back end of your car. I did this summer. Take care and thanks.

You really need to read the entire discussion or at least all of the blue part for the double question title.