CVS and the Day I Failed My Driver's Test
Since we just finished off the contents of the memory card I've been posting from, for the next few weeks we'll be going through some of my phone pictures.
Old Giant Products
I really hope this stuff wasn't 6 years old when I found it. The Giant store brand was discontinued in 2011 if I remember correctly, and replaced with the Ahold "Fruit Bowl" logo, as seen on the left. Regardless, I took the risk and bought it for old time's sake. I didn't die after eating it.
Eastern Mountain Sports Closing
EMS had 100 stores when they filed for bankruptcy in 2017. It was a quick bankruptcy, but they took some heavy losses. Half the stores were closed by the time they got out, one of which happened to be their Exton location. As bad as the closures were, the numbers are so satisfying. It began closing in April and shut its doors by July. This has since become a Sephora. They started with 100, and came out with 50. Unfortunately there have been a few more since then, but the store's still around. Wikipedia says there are 15+ locations.
Some interesting trivia about this is that the chain was once owned by the Franklin Mint.
A&PVS, Paoli, PA
A&P opened this store in the 60's. When they got into trouble in the early 80's, this store closed alongside the rest of the Philly-area ones. It didn't reopen as a SuperFresh when the company got back on their feet, and instead became CVS in 1983, which would have been one of their very first stores in the region. It expanded to take up the entire A&P space in the 2000's, and was one of the first in the area to be remodeled to their current décor in 2017. Despite that, it still has the old sign.
The inside wasn't too exciting, but it was cool getting to see this décor in person for the first time.
This was also the first non-Target application I had seen the heart logo used in. I've heard mixed opinions on the logo, but I personally like it. It adds a little bit of character to what was an incredibly generic logo.
I'm not usually a CVS shopper so I could be wrong, but I don't remember seeing Checkout labeled at most of the stores I've been in. If it is something unusual, it probably has something to do with wanting to fill some wall space where the ceiling lowers towards the front. I think that was something typical of this style of A&P, but I think their ceilings would have been much higher.
Beverages were in the back here as opposed to their usual side wall. The building is wider and shallower than the average CVS, so this area would have made the most sense to put it.
Hint of Wawa Past
I noticed a little bit of green paint on the junction box at the Malvern Wawa. This is left over from their 90's décor, which has been extinct for years now. That remodel was probably the one this store opened with, seeing how it has all the trim and parapet walls. This store was gutted out and remodeled in late 2017, so this relic isn't around anymore.
Something Abandoned, KOP
So you're probably wondering from the title of this post about my first run through the driver's test. I was a little late to the game getting my license, and was finally ready to take the test a little while after I turned 18. PennDOT's test spaces fill up quickly, so the earliest you can schedule for is a few months ahead, and the one with the earliest time available was the Norristown DMV, which was by no means the closest one to me. Nevertheless, I scheduled for there. My car was running perfectly fine when I set out to take the test. Then, as I approached the first stop sign of the drive, which takes a little over half an hour, it started. A low grinding sound came out of the car as I pressed on the brake. I pulled over so we could see if anything was stuck in the wheels, but they looked fine. I continued driving, not thinking too much of it. As the journey went on, the sound got worse. We stopped again along the way to look at the wheels again, but they looked fine. The louder the sound got, the choppier braking felt. Flash forward a little while, and I'm at the DMV. The person testing me gets in, tells me to drive a little then brake a the stop sign. The car makes its worst sound yet.
"Son, you oughta get those looked at"
Surprisingly, he didn't fail me there. The next part of the test was parallel parking, during which is had to brake a lot. When I finished that, he told me I wasn't in the lines and had failed the test and to come back next month. For what it's worth, I looked at my parking job and my wheels were definitely in the lines with a little room to spare. Disappointed, I began to drive back. On Rt 202, I hit a red light. I hit the brakes, but it made the worst grinding sound imaginable. The car also didn't stop until I was pressing down on the pedal as hard as I could. For safety's sake, we decided to stop at the Pep Boys about a mile up the road to get the car looked at before we went any further. I was hoping it would be a quick fix. It wasn't. It took them 45 minutes to even diagnose what was wrong. (During that time, I stepped outside and got the abandoned pictures here; the rest of the ones in this post were from while it was being fixed). They said one of the brake pads had worn through completely, and they all should be replaced. My dad swore he just had them replaced less than a year ago, but somehow I doubt that. They said it would take a few hours to fix. We were basically stranded in King of Prussia, so we wandered around the town a bit. It was brutally hot that day, but I'd still take that over waiting in the store for that long.
Now that that's out of the way, I'll disappoint you all by saying I have no clue what this place was. It seemed like some sort of industrial or automotive yard with a small office building in front, which has been abandoned for as long as I can remember.
Part of the complex's expansive lot was blocked off. I'm guessing it was used for storing some sort of machinery.
There was a little abandoned electrical room on the property, too. I was going to go inside, but I was wearing shorts and didn't want to walk through those bushes.
A second blocked-off lot.
It looked like there was an old substation on the property as well. There were no bushes around this, but its door was closed and there weren't any windows to look through.
Taking a glance at this place on Streetview, it used to be bigger. The side fronting 202 was torn down sometime after whatever was here closed. I also notice they built a little peak over the door post-closure, making me think there were plans for this building that never came to fruition.
Around back, there was one door that wasn't boarded up, giving me a look inside. The ceiling's been removed, but the building itself hasn't been gutted out totally. The tile floor and mirror really don't seem like they'd belong in an office, but I don't imagine this was ever a store.
In the back of the store, they had an awesome little antique tool museum set up. I'm not sure if this is something every location has, but I really liked it.
Some of the tools and other woodworking paraphernalia on display.
I'm not sure if the sawdust is there just for display or if they're actually using the tools here for something. I could definitely picture this place having live demonstrations every once and a while.
Overview of the main sales floor. The store's generally oriented more to laborers and outdoorsmen but it was fun to look around. It was also nice to escape the heat for a little while too.
Bowling Alley/Theater/K&G, KOP
This building is hidden back behind the rest of the shopping center, so I had no clue it existed until I wandered back here. From what I could find, this opened as a bowling alley in the 50's, then became a theater which lasted up until the late 90's. Pepper's and K&G opened in the space in 2001, the latter closed sometime after 2010. The part containing the entrance became a locksmith shop, leaving the rest entrance-less.
Target Stairs, KOP
This shopping center was built on two different levels. When Target opened, they tore down the entire lower half and put their store there. Ironically, it's built above a parking lot, making it almost equal height to the rest of the center, which it doesn't have an entrance facing. As a result, you have to go down these sketchy stairs and up another set of stairs to get in the store.
McDonald's, KOP
This location was one of the later mansard-style stores. The design makes me want to say 2000's, but those clunky parking lot lights look a bit older. It was repainted beige from its original red-ad-white in 2015. There's a good chance there was another eatery on the site before that they rebuilt. As of 2019, it has yet to be remodeled.
Future Car Wash, KOP
There was an older car wash on the site originally, called the Valley Forge Car Wash. I'm guessing the owner bought a franchise for the new one, which required them to rebuild. The new one is part of a practically nameless chain simply called "Car Wash," which has a few surprisingly classy locations in the area.
Wawa/Pantry 1, KOP
This Wawa opened back in the 70's. They built a new store a block away in 2014, but surprisingly kept this open. I'm glad I got here when I did, since Pantry 1 bought the store only a couple months later.
Inside, I only got one good picture. The store was heavily remodeled in the 90's, and given a lighter remodel in the 2000's.
Hess/Speedway, KOP
Hess has been here for a while, the station itself was built around 1970. The store was rebuilt around 2001. Like with the rest of the chain, it converted to Speedway in 2015. Notice the clearance posting under the canopy is still Hess green.
And today's song is another one of my favorites. I've been listening it to it a lot lately, since I've liked it for years but only just learned the name. For the longest time I thought it was called "Somebody Like You"
EMS had 100 stores when they filed for bankruptcy in 2017. It was a quick bankruptcy, but they took some heavy losses. Half the stores were closed by the time they got out, one of which happened to be their Exton location. As bad as the closures were, the numbers are so satisfying. It began closing in April and shut its doors by July. This has since become a Sephora. They started with 100, and came out with 50. Unfortunately there have been a few more since then, but the store's still around. Wikipedia says there are 15+ locations.
Some interesting trivia about this is that the chain was once owned by the Franklin Mint.
This is part of a shopping center that opened in the 60's. Given the size of the building, I'd assume it was a junior anchor to the center originally, possibly a Woolworth or something along those lines.
A&P opened this store in the 60's. When they got into trouble in the early 80's, this store closed alongside the rest of the Philly-area ones. It didn't reopen as a SuperFresh when the company got back on their feet, and instead became CVS in 1983, which would have been one of their very first stores in the region. It expanded to take up the entire A&P space in the 2000's, and was one of the first in the area to be remodeled to their current décor in 2017. Despite that, it still has the old sign.
I noticed a little bit of green paint on the junction box at the Malvern Wawa. This is left over from their 90's décor, which has been extinct for years now. That remodel was probably the one this store opened with, seeing how it has all the trim and parapet walls. This store was gutted out and remodeled in late 2017, so this relic isn't around anymore.
So you're probably wondering from the title of this post about my first run through the driver's test. I was a little late to the game getting my license, and was finally ready to take the test a little while after I turned 18. PennDOT's test spaces fill up quickly, so the earliest you can schedule for is a few months ahead, and the one with the earliest time available was the Norristown DMV, which was by no means the closest one to me. Nevertheless, I scheduled for there. My car was running perfectly fine when I set out to take the test. Then, as I approached the first stop sign of the drive, which takes a little over half an hour, it started. A low grinding sound came out of the car as I pressed on the brake. I pulled over so we could see if anything was stuck in the wheels, but they looked fine. I continued driving, not thinking too much of it. As the journey went on, the sound got worse. We stopped again along the way to look at the wheels again, but they looked fine. The louder the sound got, the choppier braking felt. Flash forward a little while, and I'm at the DMV. The person testing me gets in, tells me to drive a little then brake a the stop sign. The car makes its worst sound yet.
"Son, you oughta get those looked at"
Surprisingly, he didn't fail me there. The next part of the test was parallel parking, during which is had to brake a lot. When I finished that, he told me I wasn't in the lines and had failed the test and to come back next month. For what it's worth, I looked at my parking job and my wheels were definitely in the lines with a little room to spare. Disappointed, I began to drive back. On Rt 202, I hit a red light. I hit the brakes, but it made the worst grinding sound imaginable. The car also didn't stop until I was pressing down on the pedal as hard as I could. For safety's sake, we decided to stop at the Pep Boys about a mile up the road to get the car looked at before we went any further. I was hoping it would be a quick fix. It wasn't. It took them 45 minutes to even diagnose what was wrong. (During that time, I stepped outside and got the abandoned pictures here; the rest of the ones in this post were from while it was being fixed). They said one of the brake pads had worn through completely, and they all should be replaced. My dad swore he just had them replaced less than a year ago, but somehow I doubt that. They said it would take a few hours to fix. We were basically stranded in King of Prussia, so we wandered around the town a bit. It was brutally hot that day, but I'd still take that over waiting in the store for that long.
Now that that's out of the way, I'll disappoint you all by saying I have no clue what this place was. It seemed like some sort of industrial or automotive yard with a small office building in front, which has been abandoned for as long as I can remember.
Staples closed tis store in 2015 after a relatively short 7-year run. In 2016, mail-order catalog store Duluth Trading Post opened up one of their first brick-and-mortar stores here. I want to say it was one of their first 10 but don't remember for certain. They've opened several more since then.
This building is hidden back behind the rest of the shopping center, so I had no clue it existed until I wandered back here. From what I could find, this opened as a bowling alley in the 50's, then became a theater which lasted up until the late 90's. Pepper's and K&G opened in the space in 2001, the latter closed sometime after 2010. The part containing the entrance became a locksmith shop, leaving the rest entrance-less.
This shopping center was built on two different levels. When Target opened, they tore down the entire lower half and put their store there. Ironically, it's built above a parking lot, making it almost equal height to the rest of the center, which it doesn't have an entrance facing. As a result, you have to go down these sketchy stairs and up another set of stairs to get in the store.
This location was one of the later mansard-style stores. The design makes me want to say 2000's, but those clunky parking lot lights look a bit older. It was repainted beige from its original red-ad-white in 2015. There's a good chance there was another eatery on the site before that they rebuilt. As of 2019, it has yet to be remodeled.
There was an older car wash on the site originally, called the Valley Forge Car Wash. I'm guessing the owner bought a franchise for the new one, which required them to rebuild. The new one is part of a practically nameless chain simply called "Car Wash," which has a few surprisingly classy locations in the area.
This Wawa opened back in the 70's. They built a new store a block away in 2014, but surprisingly kept this open. I'm glad I got here when I did, since Pantry 1 bought the store only a couple months later.
Hess has been here for a while, the station itself was built around 1970. The store was rebuilt around 2001. Like with the rest of the chain, it converted to Speedway in 2015. Notice the clearance posting under the canopy is still Hess green.
And today's song is another one of my favorites. I've been listening it to it a lot lately, since I've liked it for years but only just learned the name. For the longest time I thought it was called "Somebody Like You"
Glad to see I'm not the only one having difficulties with driving tests. I've failed the NJ road test twice in the past couple months; the first time was because of parallel parking (which shouldn't be on the test), the second time was because of my instincts combining with my nerves causing me not to stop at one of the stop signs. My next road test is next Thursday, hopefully I can pass this time and I can drive solo.
ReplyDeleteWeirdly, something similar happened to me-- on the way to my second road test, my 09 Subaru Forester began vibrating like crazy. As in it felt like a lawnmower or something. We got it diagnosed after, one of the axles and one of the wheel bearings are both bad and need replacement-- we've already had the brakes worked on among other repair jobs.
Yeah I didn't think parallel parking should be on the test. It's something I rarely have to do anyway and there's plenty of alternatives to parking on the street. Good luck on the test!
DeleteYeah, I passed it, though I still can't drive anywhere I want at the moment as my car still needs those repairs.
DeleteI agree with you regarding the CVS heart logo. And wow, that's certainly an attention-grabbing title! I was late to the driving game as well, so don't feel bad about that. But I'm sorry to hear all that happened on the day of the test :( Thankfully I didn't have any car issues when I took mine, but I probably still would have failed yours: there's no way I could parallel park, haha! I'm sure my driver's test was *technically* supposed to include that, but then it was "technically" supposed to include a lot of things XD (I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but literally all I did was take a right out of the DMV, travel a miniscule distance to a Dollar General, and turn back around - didn't even hit a stop sign!)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you agree. :)
DeleteThank you! Lol, I'm jealous of your test. After parallel parking, they had me drive around a block, then make a left turn back into the DMV's shopping center whose entrance was on a high-traffic road and didn't have a light.
You're welcome! And yikes! Yeah, that sounds tough, especially when you're in a situation like that that's bound to make you nervous too...
DeleteDon't let it to get to you. I've never driven let alone attempted to drive in my 27 years, probably won't in several more years or never at all.
ReplyDeleteGood tune, BTW. Makes me think about just how valuable the few true friends in my life are to me.
Driving was a little scary at first but after a while I started to enjoy it. The summer after I finally got my license I was able to get out and visit a lot of places.
DeleteThank you! I liked the message of the song too.
Catching up on your blog... great stuff! Weird that Giant still had those products out. Maybe its a mislabeling... I hope? I still have a lot of Giant and S&S branded products in my household; even a few Finast from the Edwards days. I recently discovered a few bottles of S&S Vegetable Oil in my shed (hence the photo at https://www.instagram.com/p/BoXY0cWh3Uw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link), god knows why it was in there.
ReplyDeleteThat driving test sucks... my mother didn't get her license until she was 30 (mainly due to her inability to parallel park, and the fact that she lived in NYC, taking the subway daily). What make/model do you have? My father used to have a Chrysler, and the brake pads would fail every year or so. However, I wouldn't completely put the blame on the car. It was also the shoddy brake pads he got at Monro Muffler.
Thank you! My Giant-brand collection is on the smaller end, I didn't realize they were phasing out the brand until it was too late. I'm still bringing stuff home whenever the opportunity presents itself.
DeleteI have an 08 Ford Focus. The brake pads haven't given us any trouble aside from this instance, so I'm assuming they just installed bad ones the last time.