Hallmark Gold Crown Stores: Is The Gold Crown Going Down? | Retail Archaeology Mini Documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2017
- This episode is on the decline of Hallmark Gold Crown Stores across the country.
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Last I was at Target the other week, I heard someone ask a sales associate "where is the Hallmark aisle"
Just some anecdotal evidence
I think Hallmark's main problem seems to the stuff they are selling...80% of which I would classify as junk. Most people these days are trying to de-clutter their homes and offices and would have no need for any of this crap.
Good and very valid point you make there.
Jonnie Bangkok that, and most of those junk items they sell are obscenely overpriced.
Jonnie Bangkok yes!!! exactly!! it's cute and all...but so much clutter
One of my aunts always give some kind of Christmas ornaments, or various all year wall decorations, or some kind of knickknack as gifts. Most of the items I find tacky or don't have enough room on the tree for the ornaments.
yeah you can buy all that stuff at dollar tree
The downfall of Hallmark...Dollar Tree!
i could never justify paying a premium price for items like gift wrap, cards, etc knowing that they will just get ripped up and thrown away. I would rather go super cheap on the wrapping, and put the extra money towards a nicer gift.
That's how I get down. Dollar met all my gift wrapping needs this past Christmas. Half the people I gift don't even care if their stuff is wrapped.
LiveResistance Hallmark has good quality and a larger variety
You can literally buy the same giftwrap at Walmart or Dollar Tree without the insane mark-up Hallmark charges. For something that's only going to end up shredded up and tossed into the trash bin anyway, I'd rather not cough up a wad of cash if I don't need to.
LiveResistance no fucking kidding I would do that one too.
Good quality and variety for something that is torn up and thrown away as part of its design? Dollar store time.
Many Hallmark shops were independently owned. You could make a living owning one shop! I owned one and closed it about 10 years ago. The main problem was Hallmark themselves. They made it harder and harder to make a profit. To be a Gold Crown, they forced to buy those premium items that you saw in the video. But, they kept raising the numbers I had to buy. I lost money on those things. If they sell for 6.95 with a purchase, I paid 6.95 for each one plus shipping. I had to push that crap just to break even . I would rather had sold something that made money. What Hallmark wanted was for you open more stores. Very well, but I have seen some do that and get into a bigger hole.
Their return policy got tighter, while they demanded us to more liberalize ours (no questions asked). Everything I needed to return to Hallmark I had to call and ask if it is all right! I really believe they wanted stores like mine to go out of business.
I could tell you stories all day! Fuck Hallmark, I will never spend a dollar on their crap.
That seems to be a common theme with franchises. I used to manage an art supply store in a mall. The poor bastard who bought the franchise was blackmailed into opening another branch in another mall - or the company would open it and put him out of business. That franchise went belly up, and I assume the owner lost his shirt.
I am a Hallmark Franchisee from the North. I completely echo your sentiment FxxK Hallmark. I used to have 3 stores 20 years ago and now down to one and is barely keeping it afloat. However to me the main reason the gold crown stores are in trouble is really due to Hallmark itself, they keep proliferating similar products to the mass merchandiser and thus creating a me too scenario. There is really nothing special about Gold Crown anymore since 8-9 years ago. Cards sales are fine, but gifting is a complete disaster. For the folks who say Hallmark cards are too expensive, keep in mind that we do not compete with the dollar stores, so there is nothing wrong with it.
If Hallmark dies, who will make people nice on the inside?
Jim Beam makes people nice on the inside.
+HerpyDerpyDoo11
Sadly the only thing that is left is sarcasm like yours. Not much niceness.
HerpyDerpyDoo11 Jaeger usually does that for me. 😀
Brian The Explorer you need a mandatory psychiatric evaluation, immediately.
their narcissistic claim wasn't true to begin with. ha
I remember it was very exclusive and only rich upper class people shopped there. My landlord used to collect snoopy items and used to enclose them in glass vases. I'd stare at them at awe as my parents paid their rent and awkwardly wait for their receipt.
I live in Mexico and my "Godfather" (Yeah, like the film) married a rich woman and both made quite a fortune in the 90's...so they always traveled to the U.S in Christmas. My mom used to collect porcelain dolls and stuff like that and they used to brought things like that from Hallmark and it was quite expensive here back in the day...now, it's still is but not as in the 90's since Hallmark began to export cards, plushies and things like that to "Sanborns" a store that has gifts, magazines and what not.
They have overpriced knick-knacks that are now available everywhere else for much cheaper, and I don't like spending $4-5 on a card that someone's going to most likely throw away after reading. I buy most of my cards at Dollar Tree: 2 for $1 and if I'm feeling splurgey, I buy the $1 cards.
Hallmark should of merged with Yankee Candle 🕯. Boom boom!
It was 2013 when one of two Gold Crown stores in my town closed. The closure was very sudden. It was not announced, even to the employees. They showed up to work to find the place totally empty one day. It was such a shock to everybody that it made the local news. To this day, no one really knows what happened.
That Gold Crown store was particularly successful because they had a huge candy counter in the back. They had the best selection of ornaments, Ty plush, Precious Moments, Disney collectibles, and Village Candles in the area. They also had a Pandora jewelry counter.
The one Gold Crown store left in town is technically more of a newsstand that sells cards and gift wrapping. They also have candy, cigarettes, and beverages. It's also a very popular place. One thing I loved about this location was their selection of comic books when I was a kid. They don't have that section anymore, though, which is a shame because I still love comics.
Betty Cooper omg Betty cooper, I love you ❤️
How many greeting cards, figurines, & scented candles can you really sell in a day?
Gardener Earth Guy What are you talking about. Don't birthdays happen every day, all year round?
sd02231
to pay mall rent?
you can buy all that stuff at a dollar store.
sd02231
True, but how often do you buy cards to make it worth a trip to a specialized store for cards and stuff? A stop at the grocery store can land you a birthday card and you might be able to snag a gift card to a chain store or restaurant wile you're at it.
thriwren
I just do ecards with an amazon gift number.
Brian The Explorer
too funny!
Cheers!
looks like a cvs without a pharmacy
or healthcare,household,and grocery items...
Looks like a Walmart if they decided to use carpet
I always thought that was an "old people" store.
Maryland Jake no that's Sears and lubys
Maryland Jake it's a store for old women housewives and gay men.
I'm 23 and never married...
and I loved the store.
youre kind of right. i work for hallmark though inside a bog walmart store and people still buy cards. the common people or usual customer i see are older people but youd be surprised people still buy cards, i do think in a couple more years hallmark will close .. i think they need to make more 97 cents cards theyd be making more money than selling 8.99 cards that will be thrown out eventually. hallmark does have all these new lines of pricey cards now like signature cards which i find kind of pointless. expensive as hell.. the funny cards are ok. some even have adult humor...
Lmao
They need to drop their prices, offer postal services, and focus on more unusual holidays. I know it's very hard to find certain occasion cards at certain times of the year. Allow me to illustrate.
Just try finding a graduation card in the middle of March in a grocery store. Try to find a wedding or anniversary card in the middle of October or November at Target or Wal-Mart. Or try to find a Bosses day card or a Teacher appreciation card at odd times of the year. Only a Gold Crown store can provide such cards.
Agreed, plus they need to offer cards for more family members. It's getting hard to find cards for aunts and uncles for their birthdays as well as for Christmas. I have to buy a generic "happy birthday or (insert holiday here) friend" card and give that instead, and I used to be able to find those cards! Drives me nuts wondering why they stopped.
Nowadays there are websites that will custom print a single card for a rare occasion at about the same price of a mass print Hallmark card. We had a card made for our son's commissioning... (try to find that one) and ended up getting it from a site, with his name, his branch custom printed on it, gold foil... for just 8 dollars with postage.
That's actually a really good idea!
Hallmark is known as the store that your Grandma would stay in for like 15 minutes whenever she takes you to the mall and you'd be bored out of your mind. Good times!
They literally only sell junk. Christmas ornaments? Greeting cards? Beanie babies? All things young adults never buy.
Shit I am 35 and I would not have any reason to shop at a store like this. I cannot imagine how little appeal it must have to people even younger than me. Also, if I am going to spend a pretty penny on gift wrap, then I want something that looks cool and modern. Anything I "need" from a Hallmark store I would buy at Papyrus.
I hear ya. 34 here, and prior to my local Hallmark becoming a piece of shit "Gold Crown Store", it was a little local family owned Hallmark chain with just a couple stores, and they OFFERED MORE SERVICES BACK THEN, like a candy counter at the back where you could load up your own bag of assorted candies for a set price since they charged by the pound, and it was always a wide selection too. They also sold freshly baked cookies and other stuff. Then that family that owned the chain sold out to Gold Crown and it went to shitsville fast. Now, you couldn't even pay me to set foot in there.
millennials have tons of student loan debt and poor paying jobs so no excess cash to buy ridiculous things like these. dollar store here I come.
I don't even know how stores like these work out in the first place. Was this store even popular to begin with?
They made a moderate splash for a short time, then everyone forgot about them.
jriley1992 it was extremely popular. Every location in my area growing up always had plenty of shoppers all day everday. They had cool stuff you couldn't get anywhere else back in the day. Now we can just use Amazon to avoid lines, and send text message "ecards" for free. Or go to Target for cheaper prices on cute gift bags while knocking out way more simultaneously.
+jriley1992 I presume you were born in 1992, so you would be too young to remember the Beanie Baby craze. In the mid-90's, at the height of the Beanie Baby stupidity, Hallmark stores were the exclusive seller of BB's. Hallmark stores were always packed with people rushing in to buy BB's. I'm sure people bought other things while they were in there to buy the overpriced stuffed animals.
hamsterama Yes, I was born in 1992. So basically what you're saying is the Hallmark stores were only popular due to a pointless fad? And then afterwards the popularity dropped off? I still don't see how this store lasted other than Beanie Babies, because basically everything you can get here you can get somewhere else a lot cheaper. I don't know, the whole concept of this store seems pointless.
+jriley1992 Well, Hallmark stores had been around before the Beanie Baby craze in '96-'97, obviously. But their business really took off during the Beanie Baby fad. People were always running to Hallmark stores to buy BB's. That was in the days before most people had internet in their homes, and there was no Ebay or Amazon. so the only way to get more BB's was to regularly visit Hallmark stores. I agree, the concept of the stores seem pointless. You can find cards and gifts nowadays everywhere, including pharmacies and grocery stores.
They probably make 90% of their revenue during the holidays and coast the rest of the year.
A core component of Hallmark's business, the greeting cards, are just too expensive now. We're talking at least $3 a pop, with the quality really being no better than what I can get at Party City for $1. The company should close its retail stores, while keeping its TV network and licensing out its name. That's the only way I see them being viable.
Because everyone in the 90s thought buying the same shit you can buy from Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart for a bigger price made you look rich and classy. Then we all became poor in the 2000's and finally learned a lesson
So true. Many people put Kmart shit in Macy's gift boxes....
Gathering No Moss 😂😂😂😂😂
80s too
A gifted trinket represents love, thoughtfulness, captures a moment and can be enjoyed forever! A well chosen plush toy represent love and gives endless smiles and comfort to the recipient. Such items purchased under a super high quality brand like Hallmark were once worth their weight in gold. However, after decades of Hallmark undermining their own brand and franchisees; plus, shifting the manufacturing of their cards to China(!? wtf) the brand has lost most of its luster. So now Hallmark is nothing special: Made in China and sold at Walmart--It's so sad!
BadfingerFan Well put, thanks for watching 😀
I used to work at a Hallmark store! Believe it or not, it is definitely commonplace for Hallmark stores to debut Christmas decorations in June to prepare for their exclusive ornament collection debut in July of every year!
This is surprising to me. The Hallmarks in my area are very popular. Which, granted, we live in a rural area with the nearest mall being 60 miles from us, and being 20-30 miles between each Walmart, so most of the little specialty shops do well.
Hallmark first licensed to Mattel in early 1984. The companies who owned Rainbow Brite was Mattel (1984-1987), Up Up And Away (1996-1997), Toy Play (2003-2005), Playmate Toys (2009-2010), and currently just Hallmark (2015-Current).
I remember waiting for the little Hallmark Date Book...a square pocket size "month at a glance" book that also listed birthstones and anniversary milestones on the inside back cover I believe. And it was FREE!!
Free with every purchase over $25.
Hallmark acquired Binney & Smith many years ago. Now Crayola is a division of Hallmark. Crayola, the world's largest manufacturer of crayons and markers, seems to be the only thing keeping Hallmark alive besides Rainbow Brite, knick-knacks and greeting cards.
I looked it up. Hallmark does not own Mattel. They do own Crayola though.
I'm now 43, but way back when I was 19 & looking for literally any mall job, I remember applying there. I was told that they wanted someone 21 or older, & with a lot of experience. Really? For $4.25 an hour? Ridiculous!
I ended up getting hired at Sears Portrait Studio, then Afterthoughts, then Fredericks of Hollywood.
Hi Rebecca 👋 I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? you can text me your mail so i can message you. Thanks God bless you….
I worked at a Hallmark Gold Crown as my first job from 2010 til it closed in 2014. When I started I had an awesome manager. My last manager I had would literally harass me into promoting items, belittle me when I didn’t know where things were because I was NEVER given enough hours to make a living so I wasn’t there enough to know where things were and bully me into walking up to people who walked in to which they would reply “I don’t know why she asked you to come up to me I don’t need help.” I had more than one customer speak of their dislike of my manager. I would ask her where something was and she’d reply “No we don’t have it.” or “You should know we don’t have that.” Then the customer would look at me in horror and say “ Is that your manager?” I would be like “yep” with that omg look on my face. Nothing I ever did was good enough for her and she made my job there something to be desired. My last employee review she said that I was not committed to the company and talked about my other job. My other job treated me better and gave me a living wage and almost every person she sang praises for when she hired them quit or never showed up in a few weeks so not committed is bs if you ask me. I always did my best and customers loved me. She had un-realistic expectations by having us put away large amounts of stock and scold me when someone walked up to the register when I could not see them and complain because I didn’t get all the items stocked. It’s hard to see around displays with large stuffed animals and we had huge card racks. She emphasized the importance of watching for shoplifters etc and I did not have the time nor the visual ability coupled with her bad treatment to look for shoplifters. I was either hurrying to put stuff out or hurrying back to the register. Don’t even get me started on ornament season. Nothing I ever did during that time pleased her. I would work hard on stocking the ornament wall and she always had something negative to say about it. I learned to never ask her anything and to make things look good because if I acted like I needed her help or had a question for a customer she would try to make me feel incompetent. The mall was in a steady decline and that was beyond my control. All the stores that were in our section of the mall are closed today, so it wasn’t my fault. Every time I worked with her it was “push this” or “promote this.” People were trying to feed their kids, make their retirement income stretch, pay for health insurance & prescriptions. If I didn’t sell a $14.95 snow globe or a $20.00 dollar whatever it was,then she made sure to shame me over it. One time she falsely told a customer that a snow globe was a current year snow globe and the customer discovered it wasn’t a current year snow globe. I could say more but in closing, her saying “I’m not committed to the company “ Wrong! I was committed to the company months before she ever came, my other job helped me grow my career to make a living wage, and the company & store was not committed to me because it quit me and closed. I would love to have the opportunity to see her again and really tell it like it is because of the way I was treated. Don’t get me wrong , I loved the store but my last store manager made it awful to be there.
I used to like to go browsing in the Hallmark stores and occasionally buy something. Now that I am older I don't anymore. I don't want to accumulate stuff anymore.
Hi Nancy 👋 I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? you can text me your mail so i can message you. Thanks God bless you….
I don't think they will exist a decade from now.
Matthew Wells I bet $5 they won't last that long.
I haven't seen any Hallmark's closing but it is very true that there's almost no need for me to go in there. Need scented candles? Yankee Candle stores are everywhere. Need greeting cards? Grocery stores and drug stores have them. Need Beanie Babies? No, but I remember when they were pretty much Hallmark exclusive items
Great video, I am a Store Manager of a Hallmark corporate store and the traffic is barely there. Were lucky if we make a grand a day. SM 's are required to work 50 hours a week and are the only full timers in the store. Every store in my district is doing poorly. I am sure my location will be closing soon. The company isn't evolving and made for people with disposable income.
millennials have very little disposable income due to repaying massive amounts of student loan debt
I worked at a Hallmark in 2015 that closed a month after I was hired. During my time there it was apparent that something wasn't right behind the scenes because we weren't getting shipment in and neither were any of the other stores under that particular franchise.
One morning in December, two or so weeks before Christmas, I walk into work one morning for an opening shift and my manager calls me into the back to give me the news that our store would be closing for good at the end of the month.
Apparently the franchise owner had made some really bad financial decision in the past and it was catching up to him. So he thought he could recoup his losses by closing all of the Hallmark's under his franchise.
So yeah, two weeks before Christmas I found out that come the new year I would be out of a job. I felt really awful for my coworkers because they were these really sweet older women who had been working at that store since it opened (in the 80's I believe). My manager on the other hand felt super awful for me because I had only come on in November and she told me if she had known this was going to happen she would've never hired me.
8 years ago, in my neck of the woods, the current Hallmark Gold Crown was owned by a small family and offered better service than it does now. They even had a candy counter in the back where you could pick a 1-pound mixed bag of candy. Then the family sold it and the current owner turned it into a Gold Crown and the candy counter in back disappeared. The quality of the service and selection died. 90% of what they offer there I can walk into the Walmart down the street and pick up without the insane Hallmark price mark-ups. Plushies? Wally world, Amazon or Toys R Us. Books? Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Wallyworld. Picture frames? Amazon, Michael's, Kohl's, Wally World, or any number of craft supply stores. All for much cheaper prices.
HerpyDerpyDoo11 same here. A neighbor owned our and when he sold it the quality went to shit.
Sounds like what happened in my town four years ago with one of our Gold Crown stores. I miss the candy counter! There's nothing like it around here today.
I don't know if it's worth mentioning, but many of the Hallmark stores in the Northeast have been integrated into The Paper Store.
There is still a Hallmark Gold Crown store in Milford, NH in a strip mall. I only know this because my fiance likes the Star Trek ornaments for Christmas...
why am I so addicted to watching all of your videos!?
I loved those reindeer! My mom still has them and my daughter plays with them at Christmas. lol.
Hi Flora 👋 I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? you can text me your mail so i can message you. Thanks God bless you….
Our mall was neat as it had two Hallmark stores and two Waldenbooks. One upstairs and one downstairs.
As soon as I found out I could buy greeting cards at the dollar store it was over.
Uneasy lies the head that wears the "crown."
I loved hallmark stores simply because of their card selection. I’m picky when it comes to cards and feel that the selection at Target and Walmart was always limited. But now I don’t have a choice so oh well.
I saw a 15 card holiday 🎄🎁🎅🏼 Hallmark set. Publix 🛒. $14.95 .... uhhh no sale!
lmao. I would just go into Hallmarks because they usually had an Edison pay station, to pay off electricity/utility bills.
Hallmarks sell complete trash catered to senior citizens. A bunch of useless expensive ornaments, knick knacks, plushes, cards and premium wrapping. It's the type of shit that ends up cluttering peoples homes and end up in goodwill's after Christmas. These stores are also depressing as fuck lmao, they are like a dreaded trip to Grandmas house. The people who love these stores will 100% guarantee end up on an episode of Hoarders.
When I was around the age of 7 through 11, it was really special for me to go to Hallmark because stuffed toys named Webkinz (who were at their prime in my childhood) were exclusively sold there. I remember being so excited to go and my local store would have a good amount of people because of children wanting to see the stuffed toys while the parents would wait around and look at cards and even buy other items along with the toys and along with the elderly crowd that just came in as regulars. There was even a point where Webkinz and Hallmark teamed up together to have a "Webkinz Extravaganza" where kids could participate in little carnival games at the actual Hallmark store and it was so much fun, even a genius marketing tool because the prizes were pretty much all coupons for Webkinz purchases lol. But I'm pretty sure I won a webkinz for free in one of the games. I'll always remember those good Hallmark days. Well, I'm 18 now and all of those kids who played webkinz started to grow up and I slowly saw a decrease of webkinz being sold at the stores once I passed the interest down to my brother who is a lot more younger than me. One day, we stopped by at our local Hallmark where I used to buy a majority of my stuffed animals and they told us they no longer carry them. It just struck me as so sad that I could see my childhood fading right before my eyes. We eventually found Webkinz at Walmart for $1-$5 when they were being sold at Hallmark for wayyyy more previously, as you stated in the video regarding the cards, ornaments, other merchandise being found at Target, Walmart, ect.
Thank you for this video and letting me remember that part of me again. It's sad to see it's current state of the store but some great things just can't last forever but they sure leave beautiful impactful memories and I can live with that :)
i went to hallmark like three times when i was younger for the same reason
Paula Palvin When I was little my dad got me a dog for my birthday. My mom ended up not liking the dog so she gave it to new owners without telling me. I came home and I started crying and asking where my dog went and my mom lied and said we were just babysitting the dog lmao. I remember being so sad and sobbing until my mom asked if I wanna go to hallmark to get a new webkinz and I forgot all about that dog and ran out to the car. 😂😂
Paula Palvin lol webkinz you're so young. In my day, it was Beenie babies
Paula Palvin I'm glad this company is dying.I hated going to this stupid store as a kid.
same exact for me! I actually went there recently and found a hidden webkinz in the bunch. It made me sad that webkinz weren't as popular. I remeber going to the store and all the webkinz had there own rack. ahh:(
Hey man! Just want to let you know I really dig your channel!! So much fun seeing all the places you're documenting and hearing the histories of all these places. Thank you! :) As for Hallmark stores, the one in my hometown near Atlanta was located in a small shopping center next to a Chinese takeout. It was fun to go next door to browse while waiting for my General Tso's chicken. I think it closed up 8-10 years ago. Now when I go to Dollar Tree to buy greetings and holiday cards, they're all leftover Hallmark cards that were priced in the $2.49-$3.49 range.
Im a relatively new subscriber just wanted to let you know that I love what you are doing here amazing episodes. you sir are the man!
Don't ask for directions! It's New York!!
Hi Maggie 👋 I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? you can text me your mail so i can message you. Thanks God bless you….
There has always been a Hallmark store in every mall I’ve lived near, and not once have I ever gone into any of those stores 🤷🏻♀️
There were 2 near me; one in a mall and one beside a grocery store (grocery store 5 mins from home, mall 30 mins). The store beside the grocery shut down about a year and a half ago, but the mall location is still open. Would be a shame to see them both go, it's my go-to place for cards
My left ear loved this.
Great video, love it. My grandma loved these stores and would always drag us inside. She was the type of lady that would buy xmas stuff in June
I live in a large military area. In the past, if we wanted to get Holiday presents to our deployed families, we need to ship then way out in advance. I remember September and October were the 'Overseas' Christmas rush. Now a days, the post office seems to be able to get items to the deployed in a few days.
Maybe they should branch into scrapbooking and stationery and make special deals for back to school and stuff like that. o.o
The Gold Crown store in my town carries that sort of stuff. And it's a very successful store. People travel from several towns over, even though it's not a particularly large section. There's a Hobby Lobby a few miles down the road, but I refuse to set foot in their stores as a woman who needs the hormones in The Pill to be cancer free.
Working at a store at Christown in the early 2000's I used to always use the Hallmark Store in the mall, it had USPS as well. It was in the dead wing heading to clearance Dillard's off near the PetSmart (yes, that PetSmart had a mall entrance back in the day!) When the new JC Penny and Target went in (mid 2000s), the Hallmark store didn't re-locate, it just closed... and the JC Penny took over having a connection to the mall.
Side note: The PetSmart and Ross at Christown-Spectrum are still where the old Wards was located. Over the years they have done better at hiding that fact, but the signage by their back dock still was showing the fainted Wards logo. The PetSmart even had a service elevator shaft to the old second floor of the Montgomery Wards. Fun stuff. Until the most recent owner, the mall was still looking seriously 60's - I am almost sad that they have been updating it. The time warp it was in for the longest time was sorta awesome.
Hi LynchroSK👋 I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? you can text me your mail so i can message you. Thanks God bless you….
I miss the days when Hallmark was good. They used to be a great company to work with. Their total downfall was when they started selling out to pharmacies and discount store like CVS and Walmart.
These cards are getting too expensive. $10 for a piece of cardboard?
Great mini documentary! I didn't even know that Hallmark Gold Crown stores were in trouble. I visited the Superstition Springs location a few weeks ago and it was fairly busy.
nice clear camera work ,good narration and background music at the right level ,,really good episodes
My aunt has collected Hallmark ornaments for decades. She would always have the best Christmas trees. It would take her days to decorate it because she would have an ornament on every single branch. Every one of the ornaments was cute and alot of them played music or lit up. I loved going over to her house at Christmas and looking at that wonderful tree and I still do. She's always adding new ornaments but there are still some I remember from my childhood. I think she even still has Rodney and Rhonda Reindeer somewhere ☺
back in the 70s/80s, i remember there being a large kiosk at the mall selling hallmark cards. it was full of greeting cards, wrapping paper, ribbons, gifts. hallmark had more of a name back then. i don't think it's on most people's radar any more and foot traffic at the malls has been on the decline for years.
and calendars. Does anyone buy calendars anymore?
Dollar Tree has just as good of a card collection, balloons as well as gift bags, wrapping, scented candles, birthday and other party supplies, which is one reason Hallmark loses business. You can spent $10 and outfit an entire party at DT as opposed to spending over $50 at Hallmark for the same stuff.
Lol, your videos are so much more refined than your live streams.
Raf Tash A lot of time and effort go into my regular videos. I do the livestreams to have fun with and interact with my viewers so those are much more "off the cuff". Thanks for watching!
Retail Archaeology I think I've missed the last several live streams, I hope that you have time for another one soon. 😇
the hallmark that was in my mall closed maybe 2 or 3 years ago, i would like going in there to see the holiday stuff they would have but always hated how expensive they were. There was a Borders right next to it but that also closed when the company went bankrupt :\ That was probably the only book store we had in my city
We have Hallmark stores in England and they sell clutter stuff but it's mostly cards. I have three stores close to me and they're always SUPER busy. They're known as 'expensive card' shops but even then they're not that overpriced and there quality is good compared with some cheaper card stores. Can't seem them dyin out in Enland just yet.
Hi Ellen 👋 I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? you can text me your mail so i can message you. Thanks God bless you….
These Hallmark stores remind me of how some truck stops are set up. Souvenirs and other doo-dads surrounding the checkout island.
I think it's a formula for variety stores - have the shoppers get lost among the islands and displays and have totally unrelated things around each corner.
Rodney Raindeer toys are so damn cute!
Whooo hoooo!! 💗 the series
I've noticed that my nieces and nephews don't bother to send cards of any price, even Dollar Store cards, to me for any reason. I might get a text or if I'm really lucky, an actual phone call. To me, it's a sign of laziness and just not wanting to bother. I send them cards for birthdays and sometimes just for fun, but I guess I'm just old-fashioned.
I feel like Hallmark would only do good in like an airport. A store like this is obsolete, I can order any of that stuff online for cheaper and at my convenience.
I live in central Maryland and my local mall growing up had not one, but two Gold Crown stores on opposite sides of the building. I never understood that. It made so little sense, since it was a small-ish one story mall.
Oh my gosh, the reindeer commercial! I have those toys! Never knew they were from Hallmark, haha.
I remember seeing Webkinz here, special ones, they had a big shelf on the wall encased in glass full of the things, I loved it as a kid.
I must note that one of my last local ones is in a dying mall(near my current and former Rite Aid locations);and while being borrowed by a different Rite Aid location(down the road from both my current and defunct former home stores)briefly in spring 2018,I bought a few things at a 'Hallmark Creations' that lost its lease a few months back(according to an at least occasional customer).When I do shop at these Hallmark Gold Crown dealers,one non-greeting card item that I tend to get while there are decorative double decks of bridge playing cards(from companies like Caspari and Springbok)that few retailers offer anymore(most brick-and-mortar mass merchandisers sell poker decks from USPC,Cartamundi,or GPI).
There used to be a Hallmark store in my go-to mall, it had some Christmas stuff year round which I thought was kind of odd. It shut down recently though.
That Hallmark (the one right next to Bashas) is the one I used to go to on a pretty regular basis when I was a kid too. Like you mentioned however now that Hallmark cards can be found at Walmart & Target I usually pick up cards when I'm at one of those stores doing my regular grocery shopping as it's more convenient.
OMG! Those stuffed Christmas reindeer! My mom had one of each of them on the dashboard of her mid-80's GMC Jimmy for years!!
nearly every Birthday card you can buy here in Germany is from Hallmark. As a kid, I had that rainbow dolls, it was called "Regina Regenbogen". I guess they make their money.
Hi Diana 👋 I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? you can text me your mail so i can message you. Thanks God bless you….
Keep making these!
My left ear *loved* that ad at the beginning!
And my right ear is now a fan of Rodney Reindeer!
I've been putting that light house ornament 0:33 on my tree since Christmas 1997. It's one of my favorites, and everyone comments about it, too. Who here also has those lazy reindeer?
There used to be a Hallmark in the mall here. One time in high school my friend and I went in there because we played a game of trying to find the weirdest, cheesiest, tackiest cards. We were walking in front of an isle and on the other end was this toddler girl. It was a completely normal, quiet Hallmark experience until she looked me right in the eye and let out this massive wail. We were outta there so fast....
I always liked browsing the Hallmark stores and how quiet and tranquil they were, but I never bought anything from there because it was all so pricey and really, unnecessary stuff.
SOO MUCH TRAASSH. But seriously, it would be better if they just sold fancy stationary, something people would actually want and need.
fury Paper Source is always packed because they keep up with current tastes and trends.
I was just thinking that. Papyrus and Paper Source are where modern-day people shop for items that the Hallmark stores offer. Hallmark products are horribly old-fashioned and cheesy.
I like how you commented on the ceiling fans, our local mall's location has fans in it, and they even took em out for awhile and then put fans in again after it got hot in the store. Anyways, our Hallmark seems to be doing pretty well, it's been there since the 70s, and has been in our mall ever since. BTW, Hallmark usually premieres their Christmas ornaments in early June (Keepsake) so they probably just put them out. We had a strip mall location near me up until 2003-04 and then they closed it and are currently redeveloping the shopping center so that whole section got knocked down. The only remaining store in that shopping center that's original is the supermarket (built in 1979) but it changed names back in 2011, but is still the same inside. The rest of the shopping center is all new this year, and houses a liqour store, a Burger King, a Hawaiian restaurant, an Urgent Care Center, and a movie theatre. :)
There were 3 in my area, and two are gone and the third one is nothing but shelves and they have 1 shelf left. It's about closed. I did find one 4 cities away....
But It was really empty when I went there. God Bless thanks for the video!
Hi Faith 👋 I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? you can text me your mail so i can message you. Thanks God bless you….
I love hallmark, whenever I don't know what to get someone I walk in and browse and always find something nice.
I have not seen one of those stores in 10 years around here.
I've gone down at a Hallmark Gold Crown store.....baaaaaaazzzzzzingsaaaaaddddd!
After two of the three hallmarks closed in my area my local Hallmark is always busy. Also have you heard Hall's Department Store in Kansas City?
It's the Dollar stores that killed Hallmark. Hallmark as a brand is in trouble as well as the stores. To justify the extreme markup on their cards they've really put the push on treatments... glue on bows, glitter, metallic embossing etc. Turns out people want a card, not art objects for $7. A $1 card will do. Same with wrapping paper, gift bags etc. Hallmark can't compete. All the ancilliary knick knacks aren't helping in the least. You're probably going to find that the most profitable bit in the strip mall store is that Post Office.
God, I miss this place. I remember going to my local mall's store with my dad and sister every Christmas to pick out a tree ornament. It was definitely a tradition for years. Never knew those high-ass reindeer plushies we keep with our Christmas stuff came from Gold Crown too.
Every Gold Crown store I've stepped into has been in a strip mall. Once I was away from home for a month and I'd cracked the screen of my laptop: mailed the broken one home from a store postal substation (seemed the busiest part of the store). One in my hometown has outlasted all other card shops but I didn't check if it was still open when I visited in June.
the one at the mall near me closed at least 3 years ago! the only way I knew it closed was I went back and wasnt there (Had no reason but I needed a card above the basic walgreens selection)
to combine 2 of your videos... when i worked at Metrocenter in 97-98, Beanie Babies were THE THING and the Hallmark store in the mall was insane whenever they would get a new shipment or new ones were released. lines out the front and into the mall. it was craziness. looks like that store isn't there any more, either.
my mom still has the plush Rodney and Rhonda's and puts them out every Christmas.
the Hallmark in Ahwatukee (48th st & ray) closed down and moved in to a smaller store RIGHT NEXT DOOR. literally next door. you can still see the outline of the sign above the larger store, but the open one is right next to it. if you didn't know any better, you would think they originally hung the sign in the wrong spot and had to move it over.
The crazy thing about at Hallmark is that they try to lure customers to shop by selling Yankee Candle products and Vera Bradley bags. It's pretty sad.
I hardly ever go to malls, even though there are 2 or 3 active ones in my city, and a couple of moribund and one dead and converted to warehouse space, but I was thinking over the last couple of months that I don't think I've seen a Hallmark store in years, not that I was looking for one. One store I haven't seen in a mall in a long time that I used to love to browse is "Deck the Walls". I really miss that one.
I enjoyed buying cards, wrap and the hot chocolate they served during the Holiday Open House. The store in Perimeter Mall and the long-time store in Tucker, GA is closed.
The one at the strip mall I'm at having coffee right now is always busy. It is a lot smaller than the ones here.
The only store closing at this strip mall is the Kmart...
I had 2 hallmark stores around a few minutes from where I live a few years ago. That number is zero now. One was in a strip mall. The other was a stand-alone location I think.
I worked for Hallmark for 12 years, part-time, and then as a Hallmark merchandiser part-time. Low pay but best jobs ever:)
saw you on the Pat the nes punk video, just wanted to say hi :)
Hallmark owning Rainbow Brite doesn't surprise me. I think American Greetings owns (or, owned, at least) the Popples characters from back in the '80s.