Bed Bath and Beyond closing and other sadness

Sat Apr 29, 2023 8:06 pm

I've just learned that Bed Bath and Beyond is closing

Bed Bath & Beyond, Toys 'R' Us and RadioShack all shut down for the same reason
In the 1980s, a new type of specialty retail chain started to emerge: "category killers."

I'm sad. I have fond memories of shopping there with my mom. The bed sheets, pillow sheets, towels, and other items, including a heater are all purchased from Bed Bath and Beyond I plan to buy some more queen sized bed sheets and pillow sheets from them sometime in the near future.

I'm sad for all the businesses I have memories with.

As a kid I shopped at Toys R Us. My mom once came home from work she stopped by there and came home with an Optimus Prime Transformer toy.

I spent a lot of time at Radio Shack in the 80s playing with their Color Computer 3.

I convinced my mom to buy my first computer the Tandy 1000SX with CM-11 monitor, upgraded memory to 640k.

On Friday and Saturday nights I often visited local small business owned DVD rental stores and Block Buster and Hollywood video. Lots of teen kids were there as well.

I also sometimes visited video game arcades, which were also quite busy, but mostly filled with boys, the girls there were often with their boyfriends.

The Smash Burger and Captain D's close to where I live have closed, but they are still some in business but like an hour drive away.

Fuddruckers also closed down as have deep dish pizza places like Pizzeria Uno and Gordanos and Giovanas.

A Churches Chicken closed and it was the least expensive of the fried chicken.

2 Grocery stores closed close to where I lived, as have 2 Chinese restaurants.

The Microsoft Store in my local mall closed, and I used to play XBox games at their store, as did a lot of people. It also had VR which I got to experience.

Quiznos one of my favorite shops has closed as have Blimpie's.

The only "replacement" has been Pot Belly which while really good, is charging like $10 for just the sandwich and nearly $17 for roast beef, chips and a drink.

There is a new fast food Korean BIBIBOP Asian Grill restaurant similar to Panda Express. Neither Asian fast food style restaurants existed when I was growing up.

The closest mall once had a Jungle themed restaurant Rainforest Cafe which sadly closed and Godiva chocolate store.

When I was growing up there was Baker's Square which had delicious pies. It has since closed down.

There was a buffet called Ryans which was affordable for a buffet. It's gone. So is Fazzoli's, Boston Market, Sweet Tomatos, AppleBees, Bennigans. I used to get coupons in the mail for 1 burger, fries, and drink get 1 free for Bennigans which I always used

I used to do a lot of my studying at Borders Book store which has closed. I still have dreams in which I am inside a Borders book store. There was also Books a Million, Crown Books, and B Dalton which are all gone. A lot of small pet shops are also gone. My parents bought a piano from a specialized piano store and it is also gone.


All these businesses I have fond memories of are all closing, and replaced by nothing, at least nothing brick and mortar.

so I guess who is next? Which business I have fond memories of is on the chopping block. Barnes and Nobles is still around.

I don't think I like this world anymore. The abudant frogs, butterflies and fireflies as a kid are mostly gone, replaced by, in some states at least, the spotted lantern fly, stink bug and asian lady bug which enter my home.

A part of my childhood was roaming Toys R Us and Child's World looking at all the toys.