It used to be...: August 2009 Archives

It's been a LONG time coming, but work has begun in earnest on the property along Route 74 in Dover Township across from McDonald's - which was long ago home to a Jay's supermarket, plus a bunch of other odds and ends since - that is slated to become a Royal Farms convenience store.

While driving by today, I got a couple of shots on my cell camera of the demolition of the old building there.

Take a look:

This is a view from the rear of the store, taken from along Grenway Road. You can see that a lot of the building has already been demolished.

This is the view from along Fox Run Road to the side. Action shot, of the heavy equipment knocking stuff down! Yes, don't laugh at my photo skills, that cell phone camera is pretty hard to use.

So anyway, does anyone remember the Jay's at this site? And even better, does anyone know what it was before it was Jay's?

WOW! I can't believe how many responses my post about Hess's last week drew.

I'd love to compile a thorough archive of "stores that used to be but aren't any more" in York County. I have posted about a few; if you're a newer reader to the blog, please check these out and let me know what you remember about these locations.

And for everyone - please comment and let me know what other stores you miss. I'll try to round up some info on them and post about them in the coming weeks!

Ghost stores:
- Hess's
- The North Mall (not a "store," exactly, but still.)
- J.M. Fields (at the North Mall, my sister and brother-in-law say)
- The York Mall (commenter Joe reminded me of that one) - I do remember that; wasn't there a free-standing Sears there?
- Best
- Hills
- ... and its neighbor Pathmark
- Gee Bee's
- Zaire's (which was at the same location as Hills, if I remember right??)
- I hear we had Mailman's, too, though I need some more guidance on where and when that might have been!
- Same with Two Guys - where was that?
- People's Drug (commenters Mark and Melanie mentioned all three of these last ones; do you guys have any locations?)
- From the Remember When topic on the Exchange, I learned about Bear's Department Store, which is what the picture above is of, and Stillman's Department store, as well as a place called Jack's store in York.

Ghost restaurants:
- Rax
- Rutter's (former employer of commenter friend Mark!)
- Ponderosa
- Spurg's Drive-In
- Gino's
- Bury's Hamburgers

Let's keep the list growing!

Here's a blast from the past: Does anyone remember Hess's, the department store that used to be at one end of the (then-new) West Manchester Mall? I believe it was at the end that they expanded out and built the Wal-Mart at, but I could be wrong - I was pretty little.

Anyway, I was looking that up today and didn't realize until now that the Hess's chain, when it went out of business, was bought out by several other retailers, and among them was The Bon-Ton. Our location wasn't included in that, of course; it just closed, but still. While I had been sitting around today thinking it's a shame that Hess's is gone, I'm now sort of happy to know that it lives on through another York County retailer.

Anyone else remember Hess's? I think if SOMEONE IN MY FAMILY is reading this blog, they might have some memories to share, say of working there for a good bit of my childhood??

Subtle, aren't I?