Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

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Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

Post by HCal »

This is probably the best preserved Woolworth store in the country. It is currently in escrow. The new owners plan to remove the vendors (it currently operates as an antique mall) and use it as office space. They claim that they will keep the historic lunch counter, but we will see about that, as they will need to find someone else to operate it.
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Re: Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

Post by storewanderer »

That is neat. Too bad the building is getting redeveloped.

There is a closed Woolworth in Downtown Reno. It closed with the final stores in the chain in the late 90's. It had flooded and went through a major remodel/grand reopening right as the final stores in the chain started to close; in the remodel, the lunch counter was removed and replaced with a grab and go frozen yogurt or sandwich sort of operation. Multiple redevelopments have been proposed- nothing has ever actually happened. So it has sit there vacant ever since Woolworth ran it.
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Re: Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

Post by Super S »

Longview, WA has an old Woolworth which is now a pawn shop, which has retained some of the original features, and still says Woolworth in the concrete right outside the door. The lunch counter closed about a year before the store. Last time I was in there, the counter was still there but it was walled off, there were plans once for a local operator to take it over but that fell through a long time ago.
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Re: Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

Post by J-Man »

Why is this in the "Drugstore Chains" topic?
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Re: Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

Post by storewanderer »

J-Man wrote: August 20th, 2021, 7:06 am Why is this in the "Drugstore Chains" topic?
Didn't they have pharmacy in some locations? The ones in Reno did not but I thought some did?
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Re: Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

Never saw a Woolworth's with a pharmacy but didn't they either operate or have an interest in a chain called "The Rx Place?" I remember one in a plaza along Central Ave. in Colonie sometime in the late(r) 80's. I believe Big Lots is in that space now. (Help me out here Billy)

PS: Sorry to see this happen to this place. I remember watching a You Tube video on this place a long while back and was thinking this was definitely going to be a stop on my long dreamed of (but never planned) cross country drive.
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Re: Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

Post by BillyGr »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: August 21st, 2021, 9:36 am Never saw a Woolworth's with a pharmacy but didn't they either operate or have an interest in a chain called "The Rx Place?" I remember one in a plaza along Central Ave. in Colonie sometime in the late(r) 80's. I believe Big Lots is in that space now. (Help me out here Billy)

PS: Sorry to see this happen to this place. I remember watching a You Tube video on this place a long while back and was thinking this was definitely going to be a stop on my long dreamed of (but never planned) cross country drive.
I do remember the name Rx Place and I think you are right that is where it was in the Colonie area (this was back when Price Chopper was still in the front corner building - their 2nd spot after being next to the former Kmart next door that is now the CarMax site).

Wikipedia suggests that the chain PharMor bought the Rx Place name/chain from Woolworth's in the mid 1990's.
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Re: Woolworth building sold (Bakersfield, CA)

Post by HCal »

J-Man wrote: August 20th, 2021, 7:06 am Why is this in the "Drugstore Chains" topic?
I wasn't really sure where to put it, as I am too young to remember Woolworth. I typically associate old lunch counters with drug stores, so I thought it was the best fit, but it may have been more like a department store. There was no category for five-and-dimes :shock:
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