Why wouldn't we appreciate it? We're all here because these videos are great! And anyone who's watched the whole backlog can see that each new video is more polished than the last.
Timothy Daugherty totally agree, i watch every week, one of the very few channels that gives me that feeling when you get the notification. you know what i mean. you just gotta find out what happened. what about abandoned manufacturers? i could enjoy that.
Love your shorts. Got cancer pretty bad back in 2014 and since then I've been in a bed or on the couch about half the time. Your videos have been a constant source of entertainment. My wife especially likes anything Orlando--Universal or Disney--and I'm down for whatever. Thanks for what you do, Jake. A big HEYWHATSUPGUYS, Matthew
Where did you "got cancer pretty bad" from? I got mine, from Ed Ames, when he threw a Tomahawk, on "The Tonight Show." I guess i was sitting too close to the TV. Mom and Dad always told me "Sit too close to the TV and you will get the Prostate Cancer." To cut the tip of it all off; Johnny Carson abandoned The Tonight Show and i cannot return my Cancer, which i got, from watching sitting too close to the TV, whilst The Tonight Show, was on. I'm only givin' you the business. Take care.
The crazy DIY cat Meow that's what I thought too and with the spokeswoman he showed during that part of the video all I was thinking was "wow they take their brand seriously"
When I was a little kid I used to collect the carts in the Bradlees lot in Chelsea Massachusetts to get the quarter that was needed to unlock the cart from the rest of the other carts. People would be lazy and just leave the carts on the lot and I'd round them up and make a few bucks that I would spend at Burger King. Good times!
I went to a Media Play once and thought it was a great store. I was thrilled when one opened near me. Then came Best Buy and I didn't step in Media Play again. Last I saw, the location is a Golf Galaxy.
Borders used to have a huge presence here in Australia. There were like 3 stores in Melbourne, including the flagship one at Chadstone Shopping Centre. They slowly went out of the market, whilst smaller bookstore chains like Dymocks and Angus and Robertson thrive. It was simply their pricing, bundled with the fact that you'd just pop into the Gloria Jean's Coffee shop for a coffee and quick bite (whilst reading a book of course) which led to their downfall here. People simply treated such places as a glorified library. If you wanted that rare book, you can now find it online, otherwise you would just pop into such a place, sit down and read.
I remember shopping in my local Burlington, NJ Bradlees store almost every weekend with my late Grandmother throughout my childhood up to my late teens. Bought many items there. Had many experiences and fond memories shopping there. Especially with my Oma (Grandma) who’s went on to a better place....
I remember going to Bradlees every month with the family on Saturday afternoons, when you went in, it seemed magical. If the kids got bored you would give them a few quarters to ride the marry-go-round or get some candy, or even a video game just next to the exist. When I went to Bradlees in 2000 just as school was being let out for the summer, the store had already put up its back to school stuff, but the store was empty, no one was buying anything and you couldn’t find people to ask for help. When Bradlees closed it hurt the town allot as it employed allot of local people. Today it’s a local Home Depot.
My Bradlees had the quarter rides and arcade machines, too! I was the perfect age for them. My store closed in 1996 It was one of the original Bradlees and the first department store to close in my town. Today, it's a Carmax backlot. These days, most retail space is empty and up for lease in my town. I was a retail supervisor. :(
@@bettycooper3995 Isn't "Carmax" a Lip Balm? And isn't "backlot" New England ghetto slang, for "Blistered Lips"? Well be right back, with more New Heengland Haw. Sorry. "we'll"
I'm mexican and lived my whole life here. I don't really ever heard about most of those abandoned stores or malls you tell us about in this series, but there is something haunting and nostalgic in all of your documentaries that I cannot stop watching it. I just love your work, dude. (sorry if my grammar sucks btw).
Clarification: Yes, they brought the "Mrs. B" ads back in the '90s, but they actually originated in the 1970s (in both Bradlees' print and TV advertising), and were extremely popular for about ten years (from the early '70s through the early- to mid '80s), and are likely to be very well remembered, particularly by those who grew up in New England during this time. The Mrs B. character (a Bradlees buyer who searched for savings to pass onto her customers) was played by veteran character actress Cynthia Harris, both during the original 1970s-80s run, and during the early '90s revival.
Great memories here. I worked for Caldors (my 1st job!) and my future wife worked at Bradlees (her 1st job!) at the same time. GREAT memories from my two years at Caldor and sitting here thinking about what Walmart did to local (and regional local dept stores) still pisses me off to this day. And now that Walmart killed off all the locals, and raised their prices so that they are no longer the "discount" stores they pretended to be, people now realize what Walmart is.
10:26 This was an anchor store in the Dover Mall in Toms River, NJ. This portion was torn down a few years prior to the redevelopment of the property. By the time it was finally redeveloped in 2009, Staples had been the only remaining tenant. Once redevelopment was complete, they moved into a new building, and the final remnants of the Dover Mall were torn down.
Your videos are so informative and well-produced. Regarding this one, it's still hard to digest how little variety the remaining department stores. In my area we had Two Guys, Caldors, Jamesway, Ames, KMart and Bradlees -- each with their own selection of goods, each with a different feel to their stores. What remains is a Sears, a Macys, a Target, and an overabundance of Walmart stores. What is happening now with department stores falling by the wayside must have been what it was like to live in the time where department stores and supermarkets caused Mom & Pop businesses to go out of business. It's sad how hard progress is.
Love these series of Abandoned!! There are ton of retails that I would love to see... Montgomery Ward, Hechinger, GC Murphys, BEST, Service Merchandise, Evans, Woodward & Lorthrop, Peoples Drug Store, Woolworth, among others!!👏🏼😉.. Keep up these series!! These are very fascinating to me! Childhood memories..
Growing up in South Jersey, I remember Bradlees, Jamesway, Ames, Wilmington Dry Goods, Clover, Value City, Woolworth's, Crazy Eddie's, Super Fresh, etc. I worked at Super Fresh for 12 years, and worked at Jamesway til they closed. My ex-wife worked for Jamesway, Ames, and Woolworth's till each of them shut down!
Oh wow Bradlees! I had one of these in my hometown of Manchester CT and it was abandoned for years! The main sign was perfectly damaged and I really regret not taking photos before it was torn down. Oddly, the lot where it once stood is still vacant. If anyone is interested, a local indie comic "Truth Serum" featured this abandoned Bradlees as one of its locations.
@@therealladyk.hatake8400 Walmart did far more damage to places like Ames, Jamesway, Nichols, Hills, & Bradlees LONG before Amazon or any other retailer did. And Walmart still has more influence
I'm 66yrs old & from South Meriden, Conn. And do remember both of them, could not afford to shop there, we did Barker's & King's ! Thank you for this series it is providing a lesson in history repeating itself!
I loved when my Mom took me to Bradlees when I was a kid!! We didn't have one near us, but they did have them near where my Grandmother lived, so we sometimes went to Bradlees when we visited her. Fun to revisit those memories through this video.
I just found this series starting with the McBarge episode. These are fantastic. I love urban exploration as I've always been fascinated by abandoned places. Something about them is so melencholic and interesting. Places that had lives dedicated to them just forgotten to time.
I remember going to Bradlees with my dad up in Roselle/Linden, NJ. My grandparents still lived there, and my dad loved Bradlees, so we would stop in once in a while on our way up. I remember getting 2 packs of off brand hot wheels type cars and leaving them at my grandparents to play with on visits, as I was always bored there lol. Good memories. I think I still have the cars somewhere.
OMG! I worked at the shop-rite for a summer 2 years ago at 11:54! Its in Bordentown, NJ. Even before I worked there, I passed that building and had no clue what a Bradlees even was. Its still there today, but when I worked there, I heard rumors of a possible expansion. The Bradlees building will be either renovated or removed in order to make the shop-rite face the main road. I don't think anything happened yet.
My grandmother used to take me school shopping at the Bradlees on Route 22 in Union NJ back in the 90s. She was upset when they went out of business. She bought everything out of Bradlees. Also, There was a Toys R Us right next door and a Babies R Us next to that. I miss those days
At 12:43, you will see a window into what an original Bradlee's looked like circa late 70's, early 80's; This store is located in Foxboro, Massachusetts and I worked there as a teen in 1987; What's spooky is the store looks exactly the same, even decades after being abandoned!
Oh man, Bradlees and Caldor...brought back memories. I actually saw a picture of the Bradlees I used to go to as a child in this video! I was too young to know why these stores went out of business when they did. Thank you for this video!
Thank you so much for taking the time outta your day to reply it truly means a lot to me as a fan I was already cemented as a loyal fan but now even more so !!!!!!!!!!!!
Bright Sun Films pleaseeeee do Hastings department stores!! I kid you not the whole business just recently got out of business here in Texas and it was a very well known place for electronics and cds and movies! It's a great retail story
keep up the great work I'm always excited when there's a new one up. I can remember going to Bradley's as a kid I love that store my parents used to always let me get a new GI Joe action figure or a starting lineup figure.
I appreciate the attention to these old retail stores from my state that you're bringing. I recently began wondering what the hell happened to these companies, the companies that suddenly disappeared from my (then) six-year old sight.
I just came across this video after watching many of your videos and I grew up in Connecticut. My parents worked at Bradlees as teenagers and I remember shopping at them with my mother. I have some items that still don the Bradlees price tag and boy was this a throwback! Thanks for the great trip into nostalgia!
Geez, I miss Bradlees. The store in Keene NH was a part of my childhood. Even as a young adult, I remember going there. We also had Ames, which wasn't as nice, but was local and convenient. It's kind of sad that young people today will only know Walmart.
The map at 3:50 brings back memories. When I was a kid in the 80's, Jordan Marsh, Woolworth, Child World and Bradless were all in our local Mall. The Bradlees later became a Zayres, then Ames, then was just sealed off for a while, then became a Macy's after the mall was remodeled. Another great store to profile would be Benny's, a smaller sized family owned chain in the Northeast that recently shut down for good. They were great stores, much smaller than WalMart, but you always seemed to be able to find what you needed there. Since this just happened, I'd say most of, if not ALL, Benny's locations are unused (maybe too early to call them abandoned) buildings now .
The Abandoned series is the most interesting and original idea.Good job.Has anyone just watched all of them in one sitting? Such a good youtube channel
Wow, I'm gobsmacked! My father was a GM for Bradless, in HorseHeads, NY at Sangertown Square, New Hartford, NY at New Hartford Mall, and Danbury, CT. He accepted a regional position with the DC area expansion. He moved to Reston my senior year in HS. He had the Maryland stores and I worked in the Reston, VA Store. it was also during that time he met a trainee at one of his stores in MD. he went on to marry the woman in his training class and worked with bradless until their short time in the DC metro region was over, going to to work for Marshalls for a brief period, Ames for many years, and when Ames began to close in the mid atlantic, he got walmatized. and yes, i even met Mrs. B at the Reston Grand opening. the commercial filmed for the DC area openings was filmed at the Reston Store. Mrs. B., the limo, the searchlights, that was the store i worked in. i hated retail and quit before i graduated HS, going into restaurant work. wow, surreal
i live basically down the street & around the corner from the Hamilton NJ Bradlees Location i used to shop in there ALL the time as a little kid with my mom uncle & dad i remember them going out of business & me getting a whole bunch of little critter books as a kid for like a 25 cents a piece! & some other stuff & so Bradlees always holds a fuzzy place in my heart & years after they closed i used to always wonder what it would look like inside after all that time because the front was completely sealed off but thanks to your video i got to finally see inside it after all these years thank you for that! i've been to the Walmart that's in it's place it's okay nice for a Walmart i guess but it's just not the same as Bradlees also Bradlees was where i got to play the PlayStation-2 for the very first time! they had one on demo display with some Star-Wars Game inside the PS2! so Bradlees again is special to me!... Great Video!! Man keep up the amazing work man i absolutely love it! you rock! 👍👍❤😉✌
Love this series, dude! Do an episode about car manufacturers, like Pontiac, Hummer or AMC, maybe DeLorean Company (even tho it kinda 'came back to life')
From Fairfield but live in Bridgeport now. Used to go to Bradlees and Caldors in Fairfield all the time. Did not kno Stop and shop owned. Tho it makes since because most Bradlees were in the same plaza as Bradlees.
man i love these videos and i was surprised to see this one, so many Bradlee's stores were around when I was a kid and one day they were gone. Its crazy how quickly a brand can fall.
But Walmart is at risk just like the others,due to growth of online shopping and the megalodon known as Amazon.They've been lucky so far.But Amazon has been building huge warehouses on the skeletons of many dead malls in recent years.Only time will tell
Your videos make me happy thank you for making them and also the times you stuttered or messed up were charming don’t listen to negative people. It feels less like a PowerPoint and more real which makes me watch 🌸
My first job, when I was 16 years old in 1978, was at a new Bradlees store that was just opening in Concord, NH! It was taking over the space from a J.M Field's store that closed. I helped get the store organized for opening, and then was assigned as a staff member to the men's apparel section.
this brought back memories, I used to work for Bradlees in NY from 1991 to its closure. it was the first time I worked in retail and exoerienced the crazyness of black friday. By the end some stores were doing really badly, and took employees from good stores to try and improve them, to no avail. Last year in business it was very sad as people knew their job was gone. it was even worse for the employees from Caldor that came to work at Bradlees only to suffer it again a couple year later.
I think the reason your videos are so amazing and that people love them so much is that it all has to do with the allure of nostalgia.... People love being reminded of a brighter, easier, simpler time in their lives...yesteryear
I believe eithee they forgot to shut the power off or its a security method: to scare away looters/scrappers amd making them think its still used, there have been incidents were abandoned buildings had the power kept on so it could eventually burn down and the owner could claim ensurance money but this idea is unlikely
Please do more department stores, it is so so interesting! I mean I am from the UK and haven't heard of half of these stores but it is still so interesting! Keep up the good work
Thanks for doing an episode on Bradlees. I worked at one in Ct during High School and the first year of college. Was the youngest asst. mgr in the company. Great memories actually as I loved my job there!
My hunch is that stores like Bradley’s, Ames, K Mart, Sears, Woolworths, Toys R Us, etc probably put MANY mom and pop stores out of business over the years. So probably I should not feel too sorry for those stores when they got driven out of business themselves. In fact, I don’t much care. But now our American landscape is blighted with their left-over eyesores.
I used to live in Manchester, CT for about 7 years. There was this old plaza next to one that's currently thriving. At one point it was home to a Bradlees store. I'm not sure what the other stores were called since only the Bradlees left it's watermark long after the store shut down. The entire plaza has been cleared out now and is basically a place for the birds to find their meals and field mice to traverse.
I'd say when SHLD gets "deep down enough" for Jake & Co. to "take a stab" out of it there would be so much material to tell the story of Eddie Lampert (sp?) & Co. and the deep history (from the Sears and Roebuck pair in one case and Sebastian Kresge on the other) of both chains that they would need a 2-PARTER for each Sears and Kmart or a 3-PARTER for the whole of SHLD (reason is to keep each episode < 20 minutes long to keep it from being boring).... "Sears holdings the company has quite a lot to fall back on so they still got life in them." I would kinda agree that Kmart may fall first, but it seems both are destined (and SHLD as a whole) to fall even before this decade's end, exactly 2.5 years from when I'm typing this... PS: For some who "didn't get it"... SHLD (pronounced as "shield") is Sears Holdings stock symbol and a good shorthand for both chains...
Well Sears Canada did file for bankruptcy protection a couple of weeks ago and are restructuring (and closing something like 56 stores) so I'm guessing the american counterparts are pretty close to that as well.
@@NintendoDude888 no its not granted for just being able to rock up and get what you need brick and motar stores are fine. But I have very limited patience with people, the fact that some people seemingly have no idea what soap is or how to use it from that point of view amazon is fucking awesome i order it a day later its arrived mostly intact and i get a good deal because of the insane buying power of the amazon group.
Can I just say? Hearing "What'supguys? My name is J A K E" always makes me so happy. Like, it totally lifts my spirits after the mildly unnerving intro and just puts me in such a good mood,
I don't think there are any abandoned Caldor stores because Kohl's bought them all. Regardless, I'd like to see a documentary on it, too. Likewise with A&P. I don't know of any abandoned A&P stores since the ones near me are both different grocery stores now.
This brings back the memories that you sometimes begin to wonder if they were indeed true! When Bradless was around, I had never heard of Wal-Mart. Once I had, I assumed that it was some hillbilly store. Now, I almost NEED a Wal-mart.
Wow. I used to shop at that Shop Rite next to the decaying Bradlees in Hamilton. I always wondered what it was like inside. Interesting story and great clips.
I don't think people appreciate how good your writing is. AND how much research you guys have to do. You make these so insightful!
i agree i love these videos and he fact checks very accurate
Why wouldn't we appreciate it? We're all here because these videos are great! And anyone who's watched the whole backlog can see that each new video is more polished than the last.
da1newyorkg His videos have been golden since the Geugua lake
da1newyorkg he s awsome wish I had skills like that.
da1newyorkg what ever happened to the store fileanes they were replaced by jcpenney
The Abandoned series is one of the very best on TH-cam. Love your work man. Absolutely riveting stuff.
Thank you Tim!
Bright Sun Films I love your abandoned videos too.
your right!!!!!!!
Timothy Daugherty totally agree, i watch every week, one of the very few channels that gives me that feeling when you get the notification. you know what i mean. you just gotta find out what happened. what about abandoned manufacturers? i could enjoy that.
Timothy Daugherty I can't wait for his new video to come out, it's the 1 channel I have notifications that I check
It's hard to find unique content on TH-cam nowadays, which is what makes your channel so special. Keep it up.
+Tomas Alexander Thank you!
Bright Sun Films ,
Awesome job with your defunct store videos.
can you do a radio shack video
Spencer Weaver It isn't abandoned, what are you talking about
Spencer Weaver It isn't abandoned, what are you talking about
Every time my mom goes to Walmart she says, “ugh I miss Bradlees.....”
Lol I was 69th like
Collector Grant nice
Walmart is a worthless place
bradlees was garbage
We still have Ocean State Job Lot
Love your shorts. Got cancer pretty bad back in 2014 and since then I've been in a bed or on the couch about half the time. Your videos have been a constant source of entertainment. My wife especially likes anything Orlando--Universal or Disney--and I'm down for whatever. Thanks for what you do, Jake.
A big HEYWHATSUPGUYS,
Matthew
Thanks so much Matthew, best wishes for the future!
Where did you "got cancer pretty bad" from? I got mine, from Ed Ames, when he threw a Tomahawk, on "The Tonight Show." I guess i was sitting too close to the TV. Mom and Dad always told me "Sit too close to the TV and you will get the Prostate Cancer." To cut the tip of it all off; Johnny Carson abandoned The Tonight Show and i cannot return my Cancer, which i got, from watching sitting too close to the TV, whilst The Tonight Show, was on. I'm only givin' you the business. Take care.
I got cancer from toxic YT comments. science.
Matthew Wiley hope you’re doing better
Bright Sun Films hi
At first I thought The Dart Corporation was called the Dark Corporation :)
The crazy DIY cat Meow that's what I thought too and with the spokeswoman he showed during that part of the video all I was thinking was "wow they take their brand seriously"
Me Too
Me too plus there was a black woman on the screen hahaha
The crazy DIY cat Meow same
well if it was dark, it could be seen as evil, they wanted to do a hostile takeover
When I was a little kid I used to collect the carts in the Bradlees lot in Chelsea Massachusetts to get the quarter that was needed to unlock the cart from the rest of the other carts. People would be lazy and just leave the carts on the lot and I'd round them up and make a few bucks that I would spend at Burger King. Good times!
Rob02150 That was a great idea!
Rob02150 on crip!
Rob02150 I still do that! Lol. But at the mall with the kids carts
My dad used to live in Chelsea and he probably went to that Bradlee's!!
Please do Borders! That used to be one of my favorite book stores to shop.
DamianGarcia92 Media Play also
I went to a Media Play once and thought it was a great store. I was thrilled when one opened near me. Then came Best Buy and I didn't step in Media Play again. Last I saw, the location is a Golf Galaxy.
Borders used to have a huge presence here in Australia. There were like 3 stores in Melbourne, including the flagship one at Chadstone Shopping Centre. They slowly went out of the market, whilst smaller bookstore chains like Dymocks and Angus and Robertson thrive. It was simply their pricing, bundled with the fact that you'd just pop into the Gloria Jean's Coffee shop for a coffee and quick bite (whilst reading a book of course) which led to their downfall here.
People simply treated such places as a glorified library. If you wanted that rare book, you can now find it online, otherwise you would just pop into such a place, sit down and read.
I️ miss Borders so much.
I worked there for 2 years!
I remember shopping in my local Burlington, NJ Bradlees store almost every weekend with my late Grandmother throughout my childhood up to my late teens. Bought many items there. Had many experiences and fond memories shopping there. Especially with my Oma (Grandma) who’s went on to a better place....
I remember going to Bradlees every month with the family on Saturday afternoons, when you went in, it seemed magical. If the kids got bored you would give them a few quarters to ride the marry-go-round or get some candy, or even a video game just next to the exist.
When I went to Bradlees in 2000 just as school was being let out for the summer, the store had already put up its back to school stuff, but the store was empty, no one was buying anything and you couldn’t find people to ask for help. When Bradlees closed it hurt the town allot as it employed allot of local people. Today it’s a local Home Depot.
My Bradlees had the quarter rides and arcade machines, too! I was the perfect age for them. My store closed in 1996 It was one of the original Bradlees and the first department store to close in my town. Today, it's a Carmax backlot. These days, most retail space is empty and up for lease in my town. I was a retail supervisor. :(
@@bettycooper3995 Isn't "Carmax" a Lip Balm? And isn't "backlot" New England ghetto slang, for "Blistered Lips"? Well be right back, with more New Heengland Haw. Sorry. "we'll"
You must be stupid Carmax is used car lot. Look it up stupid
@@ihavefallenandicantreachmy2113 CarMax is a car rental company in the US.
@@ItzBIULD thank you.
Never even heard of a Bradlees until watching this.
they banned me from their store...then they died...let that be a lesson to everyone! apparently i am very influential
What did you do lol
Same, I never heard of them
But I'm from the South
24601 Melo Rosegarden same
Riz2336 northeast, grew up in Massachusetts. Brought back some memories about bradlees, Ames and caldor.
I'm mexican and lived my whole life here. I don't really ever heard about most of those abandoned stores or malls you tell us about in this series, but there is something haunting and nostalgic in all of your documentaries that I cannot stop watching it. I just love your work, dude. (sorry if my grammar sucks btw).
My grandmother worked at Bradlees when I was a kid. I did have fond memories of that store.
All I remember about this store is that my Grandmother threatened to "whoop my ass" if I didn't stop touching everything we walked by.
@ojiwejwioehdoi io3j2riodhweu yes
Yeah.
Yes grandma also said you better stop hiding in those clothes or I'll whoop yo azz too.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😆🤣
I remember shopping at Bradlees with my mother and grandmother all the time as a child. Thanks for the nostalgia!
I stopped everything I was doing when I saw that video in my sub box!
Nicobbq wasn't expecting you here, berry naisu
O shit Nico
oh shit, i've watched you before
Nicobbq Hi how are ya?
I though that only i did that tooooo LOL
Clarification: Yes, they brought the "Mrs. B" ads back in the '90s, but they actually originated in the 1970s (in both Bradlees' print and TV advertising), and were extremely popular for about ten years (from the early '70s through the early- to mid '80s), and are likely to be very well remembered, particularly by those who grew up in New England during this time. The Mrs B. character (a Bradlees buyer who searched for savings to pass onto her customers) was played by veteran character actress Cynthia Harris, both during the original 1970s-80s run, and during the early '90s revival.
"Shhhhhhh! Mrs. B is buying" was one of the lines in Bradlees commercials.
Great memories here. I worked for Caldors (my 1st job!) and my future wife worked at Bradlees (her 1st job!) at the same time. GREAT memories from my two years at Caldor and sitting here thinking about what Walmart did to local (and regional local dept stores) still pisses me off to this day. And now that Walmart killed off all the locals, and raised their prices so that they are no longer the "discount" stores they pretended to be, people now realize what Walmart is.
10:26 This was an anchor store in the Dover Mall in Toms River, NJ. This portion was torn down a few years prior to the redevelopment of the property. By the time it was finally redeveloped in 2009, Staples had been the only remaining tenant. Once redevelopment was complete, they moved into a new building, and the final remnants of the Dover Mall were torn down.
Yep. I worked in that store for years. Met my first wife working there. Good times. I miss the place.
This was my store ! Many memories here!
@@tula1433 When were you there? I was around 1986? (I think)
Location at 11:30 was the Foxboro, MA store. It was rebranded a few years back, it was turned into an Ocean State Job Lot (northeast discount store)
Your channel is soooo underrated and all the effort you put in these videos you need 10 million subs
Yay, I can finally exercise my love of bankrupt department stores!
Your videos are so informative and well-produced. Regarding this one, it's still hard to digest how little variety the remaining department stores. In my area we had Two Guys, Caldors, Jamesway, Ames, KMart and Bradlees -- each with their own selection of goods, each with a different feel to their stores. What remains is a Sears, a Macys, a Target, and an overabundance of Walmart stores. What is happening now with department stores falling by the wayside must have been what it was like to live in the time where department stores and supermarkets caused Mom & Pop businesses to go out of business. It's sad how hard progress is.
That Sears and Macy’s will be gone soon
@@hayzyhorses6899 MACY'S is going to go out of business soon?!!
Love these series of Abandoned!! There are ton of retails that I would love to see... Montgomery Ward, Hechinger, GC Murphys, BEST, Service Merchandise, Evans, Woodward & Lorthrop, Peoples Drug Store, Woolworth, among others!!👏🏼😉.. Keep up these series!! These are very fascinating to me! Childhood memories..
Growing up in South Jersey, I remember Bradlees, Jamesway, Ames, Wilmington Dry Goods, Clover, Value City, Woolworth's, Crazy Eddie's, Super Fresh, etc. I worked at Super Fresh for 12 years, and worked at Jamesway til they closed. My ex-wife worked for Jamesway, Ames, and Woolworth's till each of them shut down!
Oh wow Bradlees! I had one of these in my hometown of Manchester CT and it was abandoned for years! The main sign was perfectly damaged and I really regret not taking photos before it was torn down. Oddly, the lot where it once stood is still vacant. If anyone is interested, a local indie comic "Truth Serum" featured this abandoned Bradlees as one of its locations.
I'm also from manchester. Too bad they never did anything with the old parkade.
I think that used to be a Caldor even before--I'm from Manchester and my parents met while working at a Caldor in Old Saybrook.
saunz departier - No, Caldor was never in the Manchester Parkade, it was always at Burr Corner.
Glympse Media, Buckland Hills killed the Manchester Parkade. And funny how history repeats itself, as Evergreen Walk is killing Buckland Hills
Tbh I live in VA so I don’t really know about Bradlees
I am from CT and the way you said Hartford made me laugh too much.
Same
As a Stamfordite and I very much agree
He's Canadian.....
Same!!!!!
I liked how he side stepped mentioning Groton and instead said New London
When you realize Wal-Mart ruined alot of amazing department/discount stores.
I kept thinking more of Amazon. Man walmart had the time to come for everyone but can never have more than three registers open.
Hence, why I call Walmart "the killer of everything nice."
@@therealladyk.hatake8400 Walmart did far more damage to places like Ames, Jamesway, Nichols, Hills, & Bradlees LONG before Amazon or any other retailer did. And Walmart still has more influence
@@therealladyk.hatake8400 - Is Amazon in 2020 what the Sears catalog was in 1920?
@@295g295 Yeah pretty much
I'm 66yrs old & from South Meriden, Conn. And do remember both of them, could not afford to shop there, we did Barker's & King's ! Thank you for this series it is providing a lesson in history repeating itself!
I loved when my Mom took me to Bradlees when I was a kid!! We didn't have one near us, but they did have them near where my Grandmother lived, so we sometimes went to Bradlees when we visited her.
Fun to revisit those memories through this video.
COMING SOON: ABANDONED: KMART
Breydoninc Anderson - and Sears :(
Sears first. Kmart in the near future.
and FAO Schwartz.
SeaWorld Tyler don't you mean future sprint stores?
Breydoninc Anderson Don't forget Ross.
I live in Florida so I've never heard of Bradlees. But I still love this series. Looking forward to your next episode. Hope you can do Borders next.
Bright Sun Films is THE SHIT IN 2017 MAN. You should get a Emerald, Ruby, Gold, Diamond and more gem playbutton!
MovieFilmer pokemon?
I just found this series starting with the McBarge episode. These are fantastic. I love urban exploration as I've always been fascinated by abandoned places. Something about them is so melencholic and interesting. Places that had lives dedicated to them just forgotten to time.
I remember going to Bradlees with my dad up in Roselle/Linden, NJ. My grandparents still lived there, and my dad loved Bradlees, so we would stop in once in a while on our way up. I remember getting 2 packs of off brand hot wheels type cars and leaving them at my grandparents to play with on visits, as I was always bored there lol. Good memories. I think I still have the cars somewhere.
I collected the cars as a kid, too!
Quite exceptional, as is with each of your videos. Thank you so much for all that you do in making each one remarkable.
Hey, thank you so much for watching them!
OMG! I worked at the shop-rite for a summer 2 years ago at 11:54! Its in Bordentown, NJ. Even before I worked there, I passed that building and had no clue what a Bradlees even was. Its still there today, but when I worked there, I heard rumors of a possible expansion. The Bradlees building will be either renovated or removed in order to make the shop-rite face the main road. I don't think anything happened yet.
My grandmother used to take me school shopping at the Bradlees on Route 22 in Union NJ back in the 90s. She was upset when they went out of business. She bought everything out of Bradlees. Also, There was a Toys R Us right next door and a Babies R Us next to that. I miss those days
I grew up in union I was in that Bradlees.million times.morris ave technically
At 12:43, you will see a window into what an original Bradlee's looked like circa late 70's, early 80's; This store is located in Foxboro, Massachusetts and I worked there as a teen in 1987; What's spooky is the store looks exactly the same, even decades after being abandoned!
Do you know if it's still there?
@@Brainulator9 I'd imagine that it has become an Ocean State Job Lot by now... and yes it has.
Oh man, Bradlees and Caldor...brought back memories. I actually saw a picture of the Bradlees I used to go to as a child in this video! I was too young to know why these stores went out of business when they did. Thank you for this video!
Seriously love this whole series brother please don't stop making videos love them
+Joe Vinski thanks for watching Joe!
Thank you so much for taking the time outta your day to reply it truly means a lot to me as a fan I was already cemented as a loyal fan but now even more so !!!!!!!!!!!!
Do an episode on Starbucks in Australia.
Bright Sun Films pleaseeeee do Hastings department stores!! I kid you not the whole business just recently got out of business here in Texas and it was a very well known place for electronics and cds and movies! It's a great retail story
Starbucks still exists in Australia, I live 500m from one.
keep up the great work I'm always excited when there's a new one up. I can remember going to Bradley's as a kid I love that store my parents used to always let me get a new GI Joe action figure or a starting lineup figure.
I had to watch this because I enjoyed watching Bradlees' highly caffeinated going out of business commercial on TH-cam. :D
I appreciate the attention to these old retail stores from my state that you're bringing. I recently began wondering what the hell happened to these companies, the companies that suddenly disappeared from my (then) six-year old sight.
I just came across this video after watching many of your videos and I grew up in Connecticut. My parents worked at Bradlees as teenagers and I remember shopping at them with my mother. I have some items that still don the Bradlees price tag and boy was this a throwback! Thanks for the great trip into nostalgia!
am i the only one that herd "the dark group company" instead of "the dart group compony"
I heard it too.
Yes not alone!
Fox Mcdraw I was like, Evil Corp is real! Dark Corporation. lol
I thought it was about dark skinned people
That's not a very nice thing to say
I clicked this video so fast. I'm obsessed with this channel. Keep up the good work!
I love your ABANDONED series. I don't even live in the US but these places fascinate me. Their highs to their lows....
Geez, I miss Bradlees. The store in Keene NH was a part of my childhood. Even as a young adult, I remember going there. We also had Ames, which wasn't as nice, but was local and convenient. It's kind of sad that young people today will only know Walmart.
I worked at that store back in 2000
The map at 3:50 brings back memories. When I was a kid in the 80's, Jordan Marsh, Woolworth, Child World and Bradless were all in our local Mall. The Bradlees later became a Zayres, then Ames, then was just sealed off for a while, then became a Macy's after the mall was remodeled.
Another great store to profile would be Benny's, a smaller sized family owned chain in the Northeast that recently shut down for good. They were great stores, much smaller than WalMart, but you always seemed to be able to find what you needed there. Since this just happened, I'd say most of, if not ALL, Benny's locations are unused (maybe too early to call them abandoned) buildings now .
I don’t think people appreciate how good your writing is And how much research you guys have to do. You make these so insightful!
One of the best shows on TH-cam! keep up the amazing work!
+Andrew Blossoms Thank you!
Bright Sun Films yo do radio shack. I hella miss that place
"The dart group"..As a black lady pops up lol. I heard "The Dark Group" 😂😂
Eye Dupppz OMG SAME
I thought it was strange, until the text said "Dart Group" and I was like ohhhhhh... haha
I heard the same thing, it was a good laugh 😂
Eye Dupppz I thought the same thing.😂😂😂😂
Would it be funny if you heard light group? I don’t see the humor in either.
I love seeing the old pictures and footage from the 80's and 90's takes me back to when I was growing up
The Abandoned series is the most interesting and original idea.Good job.Has anyone just watched all of them in one sitting? Such a good youtube channel
thank you for the video, abandoned series is one of my favourite videos on TH-cam
+JASON.S Thank you!
I've just found your channel and it's great .Very informative .Do you also do walkthroughs.
This was a fantastic video man. I used to love going to Bradley’s back in the 90s with my mom to get n64 games
This series is one of my favorites on TH-cam. I've believe I binged all of them in the matter of two days.
Sad another one bites the dust ! Thank you for all the time it took you to research Bradlees Department Store and to create this wonderful video !
Wow, I'm gobsmacked! My father was a GM for Bradless, in HorseHeads, NY at Sangertown Square, New Hartford, NY at New Hartford Mall, and Danbury, CT. He accepted a regional position with the DC area expansion. He moved to Reston my senior year in HS. He had the Maryland stores and I worked in the Reston, VA Store. it was also during that time he met a trainee at one of his stores in MD. he went on to marry the woman in his training class and worked with bradless until their short time in the DC metro region was over, going to to work for Marshalls for a brief period, Ames for many years, and when Ames began to close in the mid atlantic, he got walmatized. and yes, i even met Mrs. B at the Reston Grand opening. the commercial filmed for the DC area openings was filmed at the Reston Store. Mrs. B., the limo, the searchlights, that was the store i worked in. i hated retail and quit before i graduated HS, going into restaurant work. wow, surreal
i live basically down the street & around the corner from the Hamilton NJ Bradlees Location i used to shop in there ALL the time as a little kid with my mom uncle & dad i remember them going out of business & me getting a whole bunch of little critter books as a kid for like a 25 cents a piece! & some other stuff & so Bradlees always holds a fuzzy place in my heart & years after they closed i used to always wonder what it would look like inside after all that time because the front was completely sealed off but thanks to your video i got to finally see inside it after all these years thank you for that! i've been to the Walmart that's in it's place it's okay nice for a Walmart i guess but it's just not the same as Bradlees also Bradlees was where i got to play the PlayStation-2 for the very first time! they had one on demo display with some Star-Wars Game inside the PS2! so Bradlees again is special to me!... Great Video!! Man keep up the amazing work man i absolutely love it! you rock! 👍👍❤😉✌
Love this series, dude!
Do an episode about car manufacturers, like Pontiac, Hummer or AMC, maybe DeLorean Company (even tho it kinda 'came back to life')
Douglas Rampazo I'd love that.
Douglas Rampazo +
I wish I can Time-Travel.... Not to alter the past... but to reexperience it.
I am from Bridgeport, CT I remember Bradlees. This video brought back memories.
From Fairfield but live in Bridgeport now. Used to go to Bradlees and Caldors in Fairfield all the time. Did not kno Stop and shop owned. Tho it makes since because most Bradlees were in the same plaza as Bradlees.
man i love these videos and i was surprised to see this one, so many Bradlee's stores were around when I was a kid and one day they were gone. Its crazy how quickly a brand can fall.
Out of all the department stores listed earlier: Ames, Kmart, Walmart, and Bradlees, the winner is...
Walmart. And it got rich.
But Walmart is at risk just like the others,due to growth of online shopping and the megalodon known as Amazon.They've been lucky so far.But Amazon has been building huge warehouses on the skeletons of many dead malls in recent years.Only time will tell
It’s fun hearing my name the whole video, especially since I’ve never heard of the company before
LETTTTSSSS GOOOOO NEW ABANDONED VIDEO!!
turn ur capslock off
@@jiogcyihsugyiocjfdoivhphvw6821 bruh
Your videos make me happy thank you for making them and also the times you stuttered or messed up were charming don’t listen to negative people. It feels less like a PowerPoint and more real which makes me watch 🌸
My first job, when I was 16 years old in 1978, was at a new Bradlees store that was just opening in Concord, NH! It was taking over the space from a J.M Field's store that closed. I helped get the store organized for opening, and then was assigned as a staff member to the men's apparel section.
ah I remember this store as a young child in the 90's
Me too, I remember the one in Union, NJ which is today it’s a Lowe’s and they demolished the Bradlees store
I remember when a Jamesway was converted to a Bradlees, now it’s a Hobby Lobby.
OMG the Bradlees used for the thumbnail is in Stratford, NJ!
Kelly Orellana I thought it was lol
Correct
I used to go there all the time. I worked at the Eric movie theater across the parking lot
@@faithdwilder I think the Jefferson Ward/Bradlees pics he used was from the location on route 70 in marlton.
Correct but the photo was taken a long time ago because the sun bleached what’s left of the sign
this brought back memories, I used to work for Bradlees in NY from 1991 to its closure. it was the first time I worked in retail and exoerienced the crazyness of black friday. By the end some stores were doing really badly, and took employees from good stores to try and improve them, to no avail. Last year in business it was very sad as people knew their job was gone. it was even worse for the employees from Caldor that came to work at Bradlees only to suffer it again a couple year later.
I think the reason your videos are so amazing and that people love them so much is that it all has to do with the allure of nostalgia.... People love being reminded of a brighter, easier, simpler time in their lives...yesteryear
if I can tell you're more original than most youtubers
Idk some yt guys open boxes. Some drop coolers on their head. Sum attempts to swallow cinnomion.
Why did they keep lights on at abandoned locations?
I believe eithee they forgot to shut the power off or its a security method: to scare away looters/scrappers amd making them think its still used, there have been incidents were abandoned buildings had the power kept on so it could eventually burn down and the owner could claim ensurance money but this idea is unlikely
@ojiwejwioehdoi io3j2riodhweu Insurance* pardon me
Can you do one on KB Toys?
TJR190 gosh that store was my childhood.
I would love to watch that!!!
i remember all the cool "speciality" toys like resident evil and crash bandicoot figures, couldnt find that kind of shit at Toys R Us
KB toys was the store to go to go and get Jurassic Park toys I remember it had shelfs of lost world and Jurassic Park 3 toys
YES YES YES
Please do more department stores, it is so so interesting! I mean I am from the UK and haven't heard of half of these stores but it is still so interesting! Keep up the good work
Thanks for doing an episode on Bradlees. I worked at one in Ct during High School and the first year of college. Was the youngest asst. mgr in the company. Great memories actually as I loved my job there!
Do borders books please please
Adali Molina or how about a combination of Walden's and Borders.
Adali Molina Don't forget liquidation world and big lots Canada.
I second this. I worked at Borders and damn do I miss that place. :(
I miss Borders so much my friend was a manager there and my brother even worked there at some point, they always had the best release parties.
I loved Borders and it's smell
personally I would love to see you do an episode about hills Department Store or Value City Department Store.
or Hearts Department Store
My hunch is that stores like Bradley’s, Ames, K Mart, Sears, Woolworths, Toys R Us, etc probably put MANY mom and pop stores out of business over the years. So probably I should not feel too sorry for those stores when they got driven out of business themselves. In fact, I don’t much care. But now our American landscape is blighted with their left-over eyesores.
Not really, those same places now have an Amazon distribution center. I see Amazon delivery trucks near my street every day
I haven’t thought of this place in 25 years! I grew up in New Jersey so we went there often.
I used to live in Manchester, CT for about 7 years. There was this old plaza next to one that's currently thriving. At one point it was home to a Bradlees store. I'm not sure what the other stores were called since only the Bradlees left it's watermark long after the store shut down. The entire plaza has been cleared out now and is basically a place for the birds to find their meals and field mice to traverse.
You're going to be able to do a Sears abandoned soon it looks like lol
Sbrideau nah Kmart actually. Sears holdings the company has quite a lot to fall back on so they still got life in them.
Sbrideau Also Radio Shack
I'd say when SHLD gets "deep down enough" for Jake & Co. to "take a stab" out of it there would be so much material to tell the story of Eddie Lampert (sp?) & Co. and the deep history (from the Sears and Roebuck pair in one case and Sebastian Kresge on the other) of both chains that they would need a 2-PARTER for each Sears and Kmart or a 3-PARTER for the whole of SHLD (reason is to keep each episode < 20 minutes long to keep it from being boring)....
"Sears holdings the company has quite a lot to fall back on so they still got life in them."
I would kinda agree that Kmart may fall first, but it seems both are destined (and SHLD as a whole) to fall even before this decade's end, exactly 2.5 years from when I'm typing this...
PS: For some who "didn't get it"... SHLD (pronounced as "shield") is Sears Holdings stock symbol and a good shorthand for both chains...
And Prob do Sears Auto center as well
Well Sears Canada did file for bankruptcy protection a couple of weeks ago and are restructuring (and closing something like 56 stores) so I'm guessing the american counterparts are pretty close to that as well.
YES! Was my reaction when I saw the notification! ☺
how abandoned Bright Suns Gaming?
hahaha
Bright Sun Films LOL
Bright Sun Films 9:09 when caldor closed its doors bradlees should've brought the stores so less competition?
FantomPhox LOLZ!
Savage.
I remember my Nana and I going to Bradlees in the 90s as a kid growing up in CT. Good times.
This is definitely the most underrated channel on TH-cam. Keep up the great work Jake 👍
The pre-Amazon era.
@@NintendoDude888 no its not granted for just being able to rock up and get what you need brick and motar stores are fine. But I have very limited patience with people, the fact that some people seemingly have no idea what soap is or how to use it from that point of view amazon is fucking awesome i order it a day later its arrived mostly intact and i get a good deal because of the insane buying power of the amazon group.
not true. bradlees was still around when amazon first came into existence
You should do an Abandoned episode on Zellers please.
Nightwingfan101 your wish was answered
Yea doe a Abandon Zellers video
Mlg Dancer & gamer check out his target Canada video-it's all back there,eh..?!?
The Zellers video is up!
jules t link?
Is it too early to be talking about Sports Authority? I know of three that have been abandoned.
see also Oshmans.
All the ones near us are now Edge fitness clubs
The Sports Authority next to Miami International Mall is now being used by a car dealership next door.
wiseflight031 The one in Metrocenter in Arizona is now a furniture store. Tho knowing Metro is prolly closed now lol.
I know of one in Estero, Florida and was turned into both a Total Wine and a Tuesday Morning.
Can I just say? Hearing "What'supguys? My name is J A K E" always makes me so happy. Like, it totally lifts my spirits after the mildly unnerving intro and just puts me in such a good mood,
I have not yet found a TH-camr who provides quality and great information that you give, keep it up👍🏻
sees abandoned, clicks immediately.
Now to cover Caldor, although I don't know any that are abandoned. However I do know there are abandoned A&P stores
I don't think there are any abandoned Caldor stores because Kohl's bought them all. Regardless, I'd like to see a documentary on it, too. Likewise with A&P. I don't know of any abandoned A&P stores since the ones near me are both different grocery stores now.
Betty Cooper the Swansea MA Caldor location was remodeled into a Walmart which was demolished when they went freestanding.
We had a Bradlee's by me in New York. The store is now a Burlington Coat Factory.
This brings back the memories that you sometimes begin to wonder if they were indeed true! When Bradless was around, I had never heard of Wal-Mart. Once I had, I assumed that it was some hillbilly store. Now, I almost NEED a Wal-mart.
Wow. I used to shop at that Shop Rite next to the decaying Bradlees in Hamilton. I always wondered what it was like inside. Interesting story and great clips.