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yahabbibi t1_j21r24q wrote

Now I want Lechmere and Building 19, too!

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socialist_frzn_milk t1_j222uw9 wrote

BRING BACK SPAG’S

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Masshole1981 t1_j25ztpz wrote

SPAGS had no Bags! I remember having to say that to myself to remember to bring in one when I went. Kinda funny now.

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Prometheus357 t1_j21x3z6 wrote

Ollie’s is practically B19. Same dude and esthetic

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sir_mrej t1_j22ltog wrote

Same dude??

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Prometheus357 t1_j23fzwf wrote

Same

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BrendanBSharp t1_j23stx6 wrote

Similar mascot dude. Same art designer. Ollie’s now owns the Building 19 trademarks.

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Crayonbreaking t1_j25g7go wrote

That explains so much. They are so similar in so many ways. Now I know why I thought Ollie’s was just copying building 19. They are.

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BrendanBSharp t1_j263gef wrote

They coexisted for years (Ollie’s in Pennsylvania and Building 19 in Massachusetts) and must’ve gotten along good enough that it was ok to have the same freelance cartoonist doing the ads for both chains... their store locations never overlapped anyway. The cartoonist is Mat Brown; he’s from Scituate.

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sir_mrej t1_j25asz8 wrote

Oooh similar-looking mascot. I gotcha. I thought you meant they had the same founder. They did not. I was just confused, I'm good now

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cheerocc t1_j22bs8h wrote

Building 19 was awesome.

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wheres_ur_up_dog t1_j22rlzt wrote

I bought a fishing lure and then went to the candy room while my dad bought a rug and my mom got stockings. Building 19 was like a whole yard sale with weird cartoon ads ...that I used to look forward to seeing in the paper for reasons I can't explain. Guy looked like John from Garfield maybe?

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DMala t1_j23xrtl wrote

That’s funny, I remember enjoying the Building 19 ads, too. As I recall they had a sort of a Mad Magazine vibe.

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PWL9000 t1_j277afz wrote

There were also "hidden" (small print) jokes and riddles in the flyer.

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wheres_ur_up_dog t1_j27c9az wrote

If I were more code literate I would have responded with this gif... but, contrary to what all of the boomers I worked with, I am not in fact able to code anything on any website or program. In reality I am just another millennial who only had 2 years of "computer" class in the early 2000's. Which was just the worst math teacher (who was given the choice of teaching "computers" or being fired), or the librarian who just lost their free period, listlessly making a bunch of 7th graders play mario typing or letting us play zoombinis or kidpix. We ended up learning to type cuz of AIM and rudimentary code from Myspace, and are competent with most technology/programs because we were curious enough to figure them out rather than like those wrinkly douches shake their fists and refuse to learn. ... Yeah, I'm still bitter that an exec made a scene about how I couldn't overlay what he was describing in realtime onto a projection of the architect's drawings.

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BlindBeard t1_j23p5l6 wrote

I won't rest until I can walk into Benny's again and buy generic motor oil and pool chlorine and a winter jacket all within 20 steps of each other

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Kodiak01 t1_j23xq8d wrote

Then Caldor, Service Merchandise and Steigers.

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sightlab t1_j25iir8 wrote

I never fully understood Service Merchandise's sales model. Was it cheaper to have a showroom in the mall and a big stockroom elsewhere...in the mall?

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Kodiak01 t1_j25lemq wrote

Back then it was. The stockroom was not always in the building however, in some cases things were shipped direct to the customer. The Green Stamps redemption store was the same way.

My father actually belonged to a membership version of one of these clubs in the 90s. You would pay this huge membership fee, then go into a location that was nothing but hundreds of catalogs on the walls. You'd pick out what you wanted, filled out an order form, and it was shipped to you.

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