Woolco was very late to Chicago. They opened in the mid-70's and were gone by 1980. There were only a handul of them, but Woolworth's were everywhere. They had great cutouts, just as Woolworth's did. Sadly, I got woefully few Q8 cutouts, since I bought most of them the first day they hit the street. With stores like Korvettes and Rose Records, Woolco/Woolworth's record department had little interest to me.
Early Woolco store:
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Later design, like all the Chicago stores:
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how'd they do cut out Q8's? did they cut an extra notch in the cart! :ugham: wocka wocka wocka!
They usually burned a little round hole through the "end" label. The hole went through to the plastic.
More wonderful pictures! Thanks, Linda.
I graduated from high school in '71 and, when I was a kid, our neighbors across the street had a red Rambler station wagon just like the one in that Fair picture.
Southdale was the first fully enclosed, multi-story, climate-controlled mall. That's what set it apart from other earlier "malls" which were generally called shopping centers before then. I sure thought it was huge when I first was in it in the early sixties. The Mall of America definitely dwarfs it.
Doug
Lionel, famous toy train maker had part of their main factory in Irvington. Just thought I'd throw that in there. I'm sure Ed already knew.
Doug
T shirt Schaak had made up for all their wonderful vendors, like me:
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I hope that's not your beard.
More wonderful pictures! Thanks, Linda.
I graduated from high school in '71 and, when I was a kid, our neighbors across the street had a red Rambler station wagon just like the one in that Fair picture.
Southdale was the first fully enclosed, multi-story, climate-controlled mall. That's what set it apart from other earlier "malls" which were generally called shopping centers before then. I sure thought it was huge when I first was in it in the early sixties. The Mall of America definitely dwarfs it.
Doug
We had a G C Murphy's and a McCrorys in addition to the Woolworths. Not bad for a town of 25,000 in West Virginia! I'm sure they all had record bins but I think Woolworths was the largest in our town. This would be about 1960-68 and I was buying Christy Minstrels and Letterman discs, as well as some classical as my high school had a music appreciation class. What ever happened to those??Woolworth's
They were bigger in the UK than the US, and they were HUGE in America!
Woolworth UK 60's music page: http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/1960s-newmusic.htm
Mission Hills, CA record dept. The Brookfield Square mall store west of Milwaukee had a similarly appointed department:
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Gallowtree location record dept, Leicester, UK:
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70's UK record dept:
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Most Woolworth's stores had a record department. Downtown, old shopping districts, strip centers and malls. They were everywhere around Chicago and its' suburbs.
Downtown Chicago Woolworth's, on State St., that great street:
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In the 80's, Woolworths began closing many locations around Chicago. There were tons of both full-price LP's and Pickwick titles being blown out for $1.
In my old neighborhood, we had 2 mega strip malls directly across from each other. One had Woolworth's, Penney's, Murphy's and Sears, all with record dept's. Across the street was McCrory's and Korvette City, which had both a record dept. and a hi-fi salon. Those were the days!
Kresge's, Grant's, Neisner's and Newberry's all had stores around Chicago, as well.
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