Stores I Remember ...

Even though I'm still fairly young I think I can write about a few stores that do not exist anymore.

When I was real young, probably about four, I remember a store a couple blocks away from home (I lived in Livonia at the time) called G. & W. I can only recall visiting the store once, and all I remember is that I got a sheet of stickers from that store. A short time after that the store went out of business, and another business went in. (I don't remember what business it was. I think that one went out of business as well, and eventually a furniture store moved into that location.) Right next door to G. & W., there was a drug store called Arbor drugs. The store that is in there now (or was - I haven't been in that area in some time) is also a drug store but is called CVS. I think CVS bought out Arbor drugs. There was also a Video Jack in that same block, but again, I do not know if it is still there as I did not go by that block on Tuesday.

On another street block over, there used to be another small strip mall, and in that building there was a Blockbuster and other stores. One of the stores at several times was a pizza place. I think there were at least three pizza stores in that one spot, but I can only remember that one of the names, which was Imperial Pizza. Of course, those pizza places were not very successful, although I do not know why. At one point that spot became a cafe, but I think it went out of business as well. (All of this happened in the '90s.) Just this past Tuesday, I happened to go by that block, and I noticed that the Blockbuster was no longer there. In fact, it looked like most of the building had become vacant. I was a little bit surprised, but I think the economy has hit Livonia hard.

Kitty corner from the Blockbuster there used to be Farmer Jack, but the building for that store is also vacant. I don't recall if other stores had gone out of business too in that block; I just happened to notice that that grocery store was gone. Since I was driving by, I really did not get a good look.

Another store that I remember was Crowley's. There used to be a Crowley's in the Livonia Mall, but it went out of business by the time I was in high school. In fact, I do not know if Livonia Mall still has stores in it. When I was a little child I used to go there some times, but it always seemed fairly empty to me. It seems as though stores did not do very well in the mall. There was also a movie theater in that mall, and I used to go with my grandparents to the movies there since the tickets for a movie only cost about one or two dollars. Before my family moved from Livonia, I do recall that the theater had closed and then re-opened under a new management. I don't know if that theater is still open or not.

Again, I did not get to see a lot of Livonia this past Tuesday, but it appears to me that Livonia has been hurt badly by this economic downturn.