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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
When I was a Junior in High School (88-89) I worked at TG&Y, in Duncan.
After a few months they closed the store. It was sad because like many of you, I spent a lot of my childhood earnings at TG&Y.
After closing we did a complete remodel, cutting the floor size in half and turned it into a "Bargain Time". It failed miserably.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
I did some electrical work at that store when I worked for T.G.&.Y..Originally Posted by BigBadBen
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
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I did some Counter relays in that Store as TG&Y and as Bargain Time....
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
Got really ticked off today....The after effects of Loritab had worn off and I was on a mission. Stopped at 7-11....Overheard a conversation of two young clerks wondering what was the name of the old Stores before Wal-Mart....Answer:....Family Dollar....another person:....Dollar General ...I said TG&Y:....Ta-da:....Naw...(the clerks said) I think it was McCrory's...Sheesh....
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
Grrrrrr
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
Something else most of our grandchildren will not experience. I can remember going into a TG&Y back in the mid-seventies and asking a salesperson if they had any tops you wrapped a string around and then threw onto the sidewalk or street. Took me to about a dozen and a half and then demonstrated that mine wasn't the last generation to be able to spin one. We spent the lad's break out on the parking lot having top battles. Another time in the 1982-83 time frame, the Oklahoma City Latino PTA was trying to raise funds for a scholarship or to buy supplies for their students. They decided to have a carnival much like that at Little Flower, and then went begging, literally, for prizes to be raffled or won playing games. Someone at TG&Y told one of them to gather some pickups and come to the warehouse. I was acting as a quasi-liaison between the PTA and the facility where the carnival was to be, and I witnessed them give the facility $500, pay other suppliers and have close to $3000 left for the project fund thanks to the generosity of TG&Y. I'd daresay not too many people experience a shopping experience like I had nor is there that kind of corporate generosity without a properly executed grant proposal nowadays. My hat has been off to your old organization for a long time, General. They done good
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
Was there ever a Woolworth's in okc?
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
I know there was once one in Grant Square, and I think a few others scattered around town.Was there ever a Woolworth's in okc?
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
On the southside we called them Woolsworths.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
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One in Grant square and one downtown...Only one's in OKC. There was a Kresge (later became K Mart) in Penn Square but TG&Y took the lease over. David Green (Hobby Lobby) was the manager that opened he store.....
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
Yep, that store at Penn Square had a lunch counter. Back to Woolworth's..I thought it strange, even when I was a kid, that H.L. Green, Woolworth's and Kress were all in a row downtown (Main & Robinson?). Because they all had the same kind of merchandise. Hal Owen was upstairs in one of them at the time.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
There was either a Woolworth's or Ben Franklin at one time in the strip center at NW 16th & Portland where Sheen Drug was located.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
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that was Allen's 5&10. They had a few stores around OKC. One in Capitol Hill (where Langston's was)...one in Stockyards, one on 16th and portland. No Ben Franklin's as there was an agreement with Butler Brother's that they wouldn't put a Ben Franklin in OKC Proper. there was a Ben Franklin in Guthrie (owned by Carl Meadors) and run by yours truly. Allen's were bought out by TG&Y other than in Packing Town as they (the owners) still wanted a job and company of their own. The Allen's were very good merchants but under financed to compete with the big operators...And, once again, Wal-Mart DID NOT put TG&Y out of business.....The biggest gamble that Sam thought he was making was putting a Store in Guthrie....He told me that. He respected TG&Y and especially Mr. Young. But, Wal-Mart is in business doing great and TG&Y is a memory in All of our lives.....
If I had the Nerve and a few more dollars I'd try it again.....I had 16 stores at one time but stumbled and couldn't catch up....
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
Don't forget the location that was on 25th in Capitol Hill. It was across the street to the west from Brown's, Pennys, and Langstons.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
That was S.H. Kress. 1896-1981. Their demise was the same as TG&Y. 1964, Genesco bought the company and started closing intercity stores in order to move them to shopping malls.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
Something ain't quite right, Gen. We moved to OKC in '54 and lived a few blocks from 16th and Portland for a year before moving to the good side of town. At that time there was an M&D Grocery at the south end of the strip and a Ben Franklin's next door north.It may have had a short life there but it WAS there. You were only 9 at the time and a year away from starting to work for TG&Y so we can say that it was "before your time."
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++Something ain't quite right, Gen. We moved to OKC in '54 and lived a few blocks from 16th and Portland for a year before moving to the good side of town. At that time there was an M&D Grocery at the south end of the strip and a Ben Franklin's next door north.
In the early 70's, I worked for Ben Franklin (for a little while) and there was an agreement with Butler Brothers that Ben Franklin would NOT come into OKC. They were probably there before the agreement because that was about the time that TG&Y sold to them. Then, Household finance bought them....Ben Franklin had basically the same distribution as TG&Y but, they were mainly Franchise holders that owned them. I'm sorry but, I didn't know.....Now I've got to go and asked some of the OLD TG&Y guys about that...But, I used to have a store in that Shopping Center (1996 ) and no one ever mentioned the fact of a Ben Franklin....That was a tough neighborhood......
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
You're right. It was Kress. I remember shopping in there when I was young with my mother. I didn't really think it was spelled Kresge but I thought they might have been connected.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
We both learned something. It had been closed and gone for a long time before I found out it was S.J. Kress.
I remember Kress better than TG&Y. I think that's because it was closer than TG&Y by a block and a half. I'm serious! Why walk the extra when you can get it closer? Besides, The Capitol Hill Bakery had to be passed without stopping and spending all my cash........
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
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Kresge was another company that you and I have grown to know as K-Mart. S.H. Kress was right there with Woolworth's and they were in almost EVERY Small town in America. I my opinion, Kress was a formidable foe to Woolworth. But, they kept their Old-Time merchandise philosophy when TG&Y, Wal-Mart, Ben Franklin etc. came along. There was one Kresge store in OKC and it was located in Penn Square Shopping Center (wasn't a mall then). They had the typical Fountain (lunch specials) and the downstairs basement area....TG&Y bought the lease in about 1966 and put in a family center. David Green (Hobby Lobby) was given the task of turning that store around and for some reason TG&Y was hoping the Lunch counter would take off for them....It didn't....TG&Y were variety store merchants not lunch specialist.....I worked at that store during the remodel and I laid out both the toy counters and Sporting Goods sections....
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
I have mentioned before that there is an S.H. Kress bldg. in downtown Asheville N.C. and is a very impressive bldg.. (Just trivia) If I can find a pic. I'll post it.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
Not to be picky, General, but Penn Square did call itself a mall from the beginning, even before it was enclosed. It was almost dead before they enclosed it. I can only think of one "outdoor" mall that continues to succeed and that is Utica Square in Tulsa.
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
My family frequented the stores in Southwestern Plaza (SW 59th & Western) and Reding Shopping Center (SW 44th & Western). The Southwestern store was known to us as the "little T. G. & Y"; the Reding store was the "big T. G. & Y"; and the 74th & Penn store was the "BIG T. G. & Y!"
In the mid-1970's, I needed some 3x5 index cards for a 6th grade assignment. My mother took me to the Reding store and waited in the car for me. I got a pack of index cards and went to the cash register. The cashier was a big woman named (I think) Mrs. Pollard or Mrs. Pollack. She knew me well - I had been in that store at least once a week for practically my entire life and she had worked there forever. The cards did not have a price sticker, and Mrs. Pollard asked me if I knew the price. I told her 33 cents. She immediately said, "I don't think that's right!" I responded with something clever like "Uh-huh!" She then said, "Are they 33 cents or are they 3 for $1? If they're 3 for $1 and you just buy one, I have to charge you 34 cents. If you bought two, the second one would be 33 cents, though. Do you want to get another one?" I told her I thought one pack would be plenty and that I would pay the extra 1 cent. When I returned to the car, my mom asked what had taken so long. I told her Mrs. Pollard and I had been arguing over a penny.
That one pack of index card lasted me through high school, college, and more than half are still left. They're in my kitchen junk drawer right now.
Does anyone have memories or stories about the Southwestern or Reding stores?
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
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First official Assistant manager's position was at the 59th st. Store. The manager (won't mention names) was a major jerk and a "Crook" and he required things from the young prettier girls that were not on the application. I stayed there until we got the store opened and on my 37th day straight I was less than five minutes late (7:30 a.m.) ...store opened at 9:00 a.m. and he started showing off in front of the girls....I unpolitely told him what to do, how to do it and so on. I left:... District manager came and found me and wanted to know what the idea was. Without snitching completely, he went to check the store....($500.00 short and the manage and office mgr. were in the back room.) you get the idea. they gave me a choice of stores to work at and I think he got a couple of years....The lady office mgr????...she got a divorce.....I went back to 74th st......I thin managed the store at 59th/Penn....lots of bantering between the three 59th st. stores (May Ave...Penn Ave...Western Ave...).. Oh yeah, the lady's name was Pollard and she was tough.....I worked at both of the Reding stores at one time or the other.....Did you know there had been another TG&Y there????
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Re: T.G.&Y. Stores:Gone but not forgotten
The drama that you described - it happened at the 59th & Western store? I spent a large part of my childhood in that little store and the Reding store. I knew the layout of every aisle. It was a big deal to go to the BIG TG&Y on 74th & Penn - so many toys and live pets! It seemed really far away. Later, when the building was a Burlington Coat Factory, whenever I shopped there I had intense deja vu - especially on the "ramp."
"Tough" is a good description of Mrs. Pollard. She lived on the same block as my aunt and uncle and she was tough at home, too. And, no, I didn't know that the Reding TG&Y had originally been in a different location. Do you know when it moved?
I am enjoying reading this thread - such good memories. I thought I was the only one who missed the old TG&Ys. I am reading the Southside OKC memories thread, too.
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