It's my birthday this week. I get a bit nostalgic around my birthday, so you will have to bear with me.
Today I want to talk about Caldor. There's a Facebook group I am a member of called "I was a Norwichtown Mall kid growing up," which is "exclusively" for anyone who knows what the Norwichtown Mall is. The profile photo for the group is a picture of an empty mall hallway, with closed up center-isle clothing stands. Anyone in the know would recognize it, instantly, as the Noriwchtown (Conn.) Mall.
Caldor was the anchor store at one end of the mall. (A supermarket is at the other end.) My mom would take me to Caldor quite a bit as a kid. It's one of those stores that sells bikes and windshield washer fluid next to "designer" clothing. It really was the precursor to the modern-day Walmart or Target. Then again, it's possible those stores existed back then, too, and they had just not made it to Connecticut. At the end of the day, Caldor wouldn't survive.
Caldor had a nifty song that played over and over again inside. It went something like "Caldor, your everyday discount store... we save you money... everyday low prices... Caldor, your everyday discount store."
Yes, it is scary that I remember that. It is interesting, however, that I have never ever seen another Caldor anywhere on the planet.
Sadly, Caldor is no longer there. But it's theme song lives on in the heads of many Norwichtown Mall kids.
2 comments:
Ross, I may not be from CT, but I am from the NH; Caldor lives on in my memories, too! Caldor, Bradlees, Ames... wow, they're all gone. My mom still refers to all to all "everyday discount stores" as "Caldor-mart". Too bad only the "-mart" is left today!
LOVED caldor!!!! Though ours was in Avon where Walmart now sits (BLAH). Down the street at the Farmington Valley Mall we had some other great stores which are now extinct, like Bradlees and D&L! ah memories.
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