R · I · P
Service Merchandise
1934–2002
“Fill out the slip, wait for the conveyor.”
Stores
The catalog showroom where shopping was a two-step ritual: browse the sample on the display floor, write the item number on a little pencil slip, hand it in, then wait by the pickup area for your boxed purchase to trundle out on the conveyor belt. Jewelry counters, electronics, and toys at Christmas made it a destination. Squeezed by discounters and big-box stores, it was liquidated in 2002.
▸ The soundtrack of its lifetime
Did you go to Service Merchandise? What do you remember?
The drive, the dance, the heartbreak, the summer. Add a memory of Service Merchandise.
Community Memories
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⚰️ Also gone
R · I · P
Woolworth's
1879–1997
“The five-and-dime with the lunch counter.”
Stores
R · I · P
Circuit City
1949–2009
“The big-box electronics trip.”
Stores
R · I · P
RadioShack
1921–2015
“The store with a part for everything.”
Stores
R · I · P
Montgomery Ward
1872–2001
“The catalog and the department-store trip.”
Stores