Tag Archives: Western Auto

From Woolworth to Western Auto — Where Are They All Now?

The impending closure of Bath Kmart makes me dream of stores gone by. Remember Grant’s? There used to be one on Liberty Street in Bath. Corning had Woolworth and J. J. Newberry. Bath and Addison had G.L.F. And don’t forget Loblaw’s!

Everybody has stores that bring back youth and childhood. I started working at a Western Auto in Rhode Island when I was 14, and stayed there for 10 years, then later added a few months in Virginia.

Many, many people have told me that their very first bike was a Western Flyer from Western Auto. Mine too!

In days gone by Western Auto was “your home town department store.” They had an associate store arrangement, where small business owners could keep their independent ownership, their existing specialty, and their own character, with Western Auto as an overlay. “My” store did its own buying for hardware, plumbing, paint and electrical. Through Western Auto we added firearms, sporting goods, appliances, furniture, housewares, toys, and, of course, automotives. Back in the mid-sixties, we were still stocking and selling Model T and Model A parts.

Stores loom huge in the experience of little kids… so big! so much stuff!… and the memories linger for a lifetime. They remember the roar and vibration of coffee grinding at the register in A&P, or buying a children’s encyclopedia, one volume a week, from Grand Union.

One shopping center in Bath’s West End is still called the Acme plaza locally, though uts Acme supermarket has been gone for a long, long time. Newer folks call it the Jamesway plaza, but that’s gone too.

G.L.F. eventually merged with Eastern States to form Agway. G.L.F. produced its own cereals, still fondly remembered.

And don’t forget the S&H Green Stamps – or Plaid Stamps at A&P! Licking the stamps, sticking them in books, and poring through the catalog was a passionate childhood pastime. Now that I think of it, we still have a couple of items around the house that we “bought” with Green Stamps.

Where, outside of memory, are the stores of yesteryear? Western Auto’s name was legally discontinued in 2006. A&P closed its last store four years back. Grand Union’s been swallowed by Tops. Loblaw’s withdrew back to Canada decades ago. W. T. Grant went broke in ’76, Woolworth became Foot Locker. Ames and Newberry died with the 20th century.

Acme is still around, just not around here, and the same is true for Ben Franklin. I guess that’s also the case for Red & White, whose faded signs could still be found around Keuka Lake not long ago. There used to be an I.G.A. grocery store in Mount Morris, but the closest now seems to be in Pennsylvania.

Business crunches on, of course. The corner shops gave way to A&P, Western Auto, and Grant. They gave way to the K-Marts, and those are giving way to the Walmarts. Something’s lost, and something’s gained, with each transition. But the end of Ames, for instance, 17 years ago, meant that many folks in the Adirondacks suddenly had to drive 50 miles to buy a spool of thread.

At any rate, it’s no use to be crotchety. But scout around in memory… or in your home, your shed, your garage… and see what “classic” names and trademarks you find. Have fun!

“America’s Wish Book: The Story of Sears, Roebuck”

A week or so back we posted a photo of a Western Auto store on our Steuben County Historical Society Facebook page, and that led to a LOT of comments with reminiscences… many of them from people remembering ther first Western Flyer bicycle!

*That particular store was on Liberty Street in Bath. But there were other Western Autos in Bath over time, plus more in Hornell and Addison, not to mention Wellsville, Elkland, and many others.

*I myself put in ten years at Western Auto, mostly in Rhode Island but incuding a few months in Virginia. As the name suggests, it was HUGE in auto parts, definitely including tires. Our store in Rhode Island, in a village about the size of Cohocton, sold thousands of tires every year. But “your home town department store” also sold paints, furniture, electronics, appliances, sporting goods, toys, housewares, and more. I estimated that I personally sold enough firearms and ammunition to outfit a regiment of infantry.

*Western Auto’s “associate store” arrangements let local owners use the name and buy the products while retaining their own ownership and control, thus vastly augmenting their own hardware, auto parts, or sporting goods store.

*This was only one of a number of chain stores of fond memories. Ames, Jamesway, and Woolworth’s are in memory still green. Slide back a little farther and you’ll find W. T. Grant’s… J. J. Newbery’s… Ben Franklin. Slide back even more and you’ll encounter such local chains as Cohn’s Clothing and Peck’s Hardware.

*Then of course there are supermarket chains (A&P, Acme, Grand Union) and drug store chains (Peterson’s, Eckerd, Rexall).

*The great granddaddy of them all, I suppose, is Sears, Roebuck. Sears grew up with the post office, especially once the Grange had bullied the government into creating Rural Free Delivery. Sears promoted by mail, took orders by mail, got paid by mail, and made deliveries by mail.

*This of course led to creation of the gigantic Sears catalog, which covered everything from the tiniest widget to an entire house. There’s a Sears house still occupied in Pleasant Valley. A house was once delivered to the Branchport area by trolley.

*Mothers were known to tear out the pages dedicated to “foundation garments” before releasing the catalog to the family’s young people. Last year’s catalog, like last year’s almanac, often wound up in the outhouse, where those out-of-date pages proved still to be of use.

*As folks relied more on cars and less on mail, Sears developed more brick-and-mortar presence, either as catalog centers or as full-blown stores. The catalog center in Bath is closing out just now.

*Which makes a sad if fitting backdrop for our next Steuben County Historical Society Winter Lecture, “America’s Wish Book: The Story of Sears, Roebuck,” by Pam Farr of Big Flats Historical Society. The free presentation will be at 4 PM Friday, April 6, at Centenary Methodist Church in Bath. We hope to see you there, and we hope you’ll bring your memories!