CALDOR Department Store

[sthjrzycub1]

My store stayed open until 2007 dam i miis caldor

[GodIHateYouKenny]

Grew up in New Canaan and used to go to both the Caldor and the Bradlees, which were like 1/4 mile apart from each other in Norwalk. Great memories...truly great memories...

[davelounder]

Kensington (Berlin), CT native here ... used to patronize the New Britain Caldor, as well as Newington and Southington sites. Nice stores, but they didn't seem to change with the times. Dave Lounder

[JayMBeeMe]

Oh BTW, I also remember going to this one once or twice in the 90s. We used to stop there and also at Lechmere and The Wiz on the Berlin T'pke lol......

[JayMBeeMe]

I am from CT too! New Haven to be exact. I used to go to the Caldor in Hamden and the one inside the CT Post Mall in Milford all the time. The one in Hamden is a Kohl's now and the one in Milford is a Target but both were also vacant for like 10 years prior lol...

[C0LL1N]

i am reliving my childhood now, wow that pinging noise sounds just like the sound that Caldor made

[KNS1996DFS]

Oh, is that what was there before Stew's?

[JMR112787]

@KNS1996DFS Yeah, it was empty for about a decade.

[Charmedone9805]

i wish they never went out now all u have is target witch is good but not as good as caldor a faiding kmart and wal mart idk how anyone could go there

[rycon246]

Where are Caldor stores ?

[JMR112787]

@rycon246 They were all across the Northeast, and closed in the late 1990's.

[YukoAsho]

@JMR112787 So that store stayed there, with no tenant, from 1999-2007? Damn, that's a long time to go with no one using it... That old sign must be creepy.

[deserteagle332]

loved that place

[Wheeljack35]

Wow that store stayed up till 2006?

Stew Leonards? Where do you live?

[JMR112787]

Stew Leonard's is located in Newington, Connecticut.

[Wheeljack35]

I'm from Norwalk ...

Both Caldors and Stew Leonards homebase :P

[lisamaria1972]

I miss the one in Yonkers

[NYz3R0dAY]

there's an abandoned caldor store at flushing near where i live. years after it's closedown, the signs are still up, and some graffitti written on the walls.

[luvsthose8230s]

i lived ten minutes form that store, in berlin ct. i remember my mom took my sister and i there, in the early 90s. we used to love the kids rides and games at the beginning of the store, and also remember the nathans food court.

[KazuyaKane]

the hot dogs were amazing! My mom buys them now because of caldor :)

[KazuyaKane]

I used to love this store when i was a little kid. My Mom would shop and my younger brother and I would go to the video game section and play the Super Nintendo's and would go to the sports aisle and play with all the Hockey stuff. The employees must've hated us! lol good times.

[JMR112787]

My three most memorable areas:

1. Fishing Supplies

2. "Cafe" Food Court

3. Carousel next to the giant red gumball machine below the "Welcome" signs.

Good times, indeed!

[GeekyGamers]

Reminds me when we used to go sledding down on that hill to the right of the building. Oh, sweet broken bones....

God, I guess I have no life either.

[JMR112787]

You definitely won't want to go sledding down that hill anymore. It's much more steep now. By the way, I'm going back "home" sometime between the 1st and 15th. We're finally getting out of here.. woot! =) Sam's Club just opened -- just thought I'd throw that out there, too.

[GeekyGamers]

Oh sweet, yea the Marine Corps. let me ago on the 4th so I was home for like two days. But, I was mostly with family, deploying to Afghan. But I may be home in a few weeks before I go. Saw the cool plaza. I just noticed, isn't that me in the blue NHS Orchestra hoody around 12 seconds lol.

We made some werd videos, or you filmed us doing weird thingsi. Oh, growing up.

[JMR112787]

Yeah that was definitely you in the blue sweater. Let me know when you come back... I'm usually off on or around the weekend.

[GeekyGamers]

Looks like the Corps is going to let this one go home for about twenty days before I ship out to Okinawa, Japan! I'll contact you around mid August before I get back! Still fishing season if I remember correctly. Though, the fall was always more relaxing, when it wasn't freezing cold

[JMR112787]

I should be living at my new (old) home by mid-August. We can finally go fishing in my back yard again!

[GeekyGamers]

I can't believe Caldor can bring up quite the discussion. Bored humans I suppose.

Now Target on the other hand, smells really bad. Every store I have ever gone in the first fifteen steps in the entrance smell like piss.

[KML0224]

Was this the Newington, CT location? It looks quite familiar. (Stew Leonard's sits on that spot now.)

[JMR112787]

Yeah, this store was located in Newington, CT. They've been adding to the plaza. There is a L.A. Fitness where Service Merchandise/Stickley Audi & Co used to be. A Sam's Club gas station was just built in the plaza. Also, Sam's Club is supposed to be opening across from L.A. Fitness. There's a lot going on in the area.

[whataburgerfan1]

Ames owns... or owned I should say.

[dorifto91]

Caldoor > kmart. kmart sucks.

[Wheeljack35]

I worked there and eventually became a dept mgr

I was there till the very last day

[deserteagle332]

that was the best store

[AllisonTheSNLGuru]

I used to shop at Caldor on Route 72 East in Manahawkin, NJ - Stafford Square Shopping Center. Loved it so much - we went there alot, as the closest mall was 30 minutes from my house (I lived 15 minutes south of Manahawkin), and this was a convenience. It had a Nathan's Hot Dog restaurant in it.

It is now a Lowe's, according to a few friends of mine who still live in the area. I moved away in 2006, but the store was still abandoned at that time.

[jcjh20]

Where do you live now? I have such fond memories of that Caldor in Manahawkin! I've lived in/near Manahawkin since I was 12 (1994) and probably shopped there even earlier. I remember the Nathan's hot dog place! I forgot about that. It is crazy to think that vacant building has been there for that long, because now it feels like Lowe's has always been there. Do you remember when that Caldor location went out of business?

[AllisonTheSNLGuru]

You're the same age as me.

I live in Atlantic County now, about 45 minutes south of Manahawkin. I think it went out of business in '96 or '97. I can remember still going there in '95/early '96.

[jcjh20]

Yeah probably was 1997.. I remember getting a game there that year for Playstation and now I remember I got a great deal on it. Probably because of the liquidation sale they were having.

I was just thinking recently how a lot of stores in Stafford Square are no longer there. That one book store, B&B Dept Store, White Castle where that Japanese restaurant is now, Waves music store and probably 1 or 2 others.

[AllisonTheSNLGuru]

There was a really good restaurant/liquor and packaged good store as well - what was it's name? It began with an "F" but I think its a pizza place called Francisco's now.

Shop Rite is still there. I remember the dance school was there - I didn't go there, but I remember that school opened a second location up in Little Egg Harbor (Where I grew up) when my old dance school closed. By that time I was dancing elsewhere.

There was a party store as well, and wasn't Fashion Bug there?

[jcjh20]

Oh yeah, the party store too, forgot about that. Fashion Bug is still there, Shop Rite too of course. I thought Francisco's was always there, but could have been something else years ago that I don't remember.. I also remember the huge empty vacant lot where Home Depot and Kohls now stands.

[AllisonTheSNLGuru]

Yeah, I figured Fashion Bug and Shop Rite were still there (and I remember B&B with the Car hanging from the ceiling!). I don't know if Francisco's was always there, but I just can't remember the name of that bar/packaged goods store.

And yes, I remember that vacant lot as well!

[jcjh20]

Yup! I remember the car hanging from the ceiling as well.. That's funny.

Totally forget about a bar/packaged goods store.. Guess that goes back farther than I could remember..

[martymefurst]

They had the lowest prices on records and tapes in town

[whattheheck1000]

when was this recorded

[JMR112787]

I want to say winter of 2005. It's been a while, and the original clip won't show an exact date... other than "2000" which is well before it was taken.

[shibez]

i remember when a grand opening of that store opened here in rochester, ny in 93 or 94..it was one of the coolest places to go for over a week lol

[hondolespaul]

I remember that Caldor grand opening as well on East Ridge Rd. It was in 1993.

[Moises1492]

I Miss Caldor i wish it opened again :(

[JMR112787]

me too :(

[CompGEED]

Aaahh... good 'ol Caldor. I worked in the Seasonal Dept at the Waterbury store from 1985 to 1988 or so. The stories I could tell...

[Blackwargreymon57]

Good times, Good times.

[enfieldpolice]

They were all great stores now we are stuck with Wal-Mart and Target

[SpongeStorm4000]

We are also stuck with Kmart, ShopKo, Pamida, and Meijer

If anyone here grew up in New England, and now lives in the Midwest, Mountain, or Pacific Northwest states, I'm sure you might find the ShopKo stores to be the next best thing.

Another piece of trivia: both Caldor and Venture were sister stores at one point in time.

[moldymac]

I miss caldor and bradlees. What I wouldnt do for a caldor shopping cart...

[Charmedone9805]

ah i took a part of the r off this caldor