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Showing posts from August, 2019

Wilmington, Wayne, and Pottstown

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Welcome back, everybody! Today we're finally gonna finish off this Delaware trip and I'm super excited about it.  Eckerd/Rite Aid, Claymont, DE This store opened as an Eckerd in the late 60's, and was sold to Rite Aid in 2007. Not only was it one of the few former Eckerds to not have been remodeled by Rite Aid, but it still had their 80's neon decor up until the end. Unfortunately, they closed down in mid-2018, probably at the end of a lease. There are a couple other Rite Aid's a stone's throw away from here, both of which are far newer and larger than this one. Channel/Genuardi's/Safeway, Wilmington, DE A terrible picture to open with, but I didn't check these before leaving. Thankfully I'd been here before. Since my last visit, I learned that this was actually built as a Channel Home Center in 1986 prior to Genuardi's opening, which would explain the unusual entrances here. In late 2018, this store closed in favor of the ACME across th

The Mysterious Merchant's Square

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Hey everybody! I'm back from my hiatus, which in case you haven't heard, was because my last account ran out of storage space. I tried a few things to alleviate the damage but ultimately the only solution was to create an entirely new account. :P Anyways, here's  Wonderwall  the mostly dead Merchant's Square Shopping Center or Edgemoor, DE. It first opened in 1951 with Strawbridge's (pictured above) as the major anchor. In addition, it featured Acme, Woolworth, and JCPenney as minor anchors. In 1954, it was expanded adding Horn & Hardart, Eckerd, a second Acme (which coexisted with the 1951 one for several years), and several more inline stores. The center went into decline in the 80's after Strawbridge's relocated to the Concord Mall. The store sat vacant from 1983 until its demolition in 2009. It was followed by Eckerd and Acme the following year. Most of the center was empty by the end of the decade, and despite a couple renewal attempts, r