I haven’t been to find a proper rain stick since Natural Wonders went out of business. RIP.
1. Natural Wonders: 1986–2004
What you bought there: Pure Moods CDs, rain sticks, those eagles that balance on your finger, geodes, and other random rocks.
Who shopped there: Primarily 13-year-olds and women in their fifties.
Random fact: You can, thankfully, still buy their Natural Wonders CDs compilations on Amazon.
2. Discovery Channel Store: 1996–2007
What you bought there: Those mini-planetariums, glow-in-the-dark stars you put on your ceiling, and gross space food.
Who shopped there: Earthy middle-aged women and tweens.
Random fact: In 1996, Discovery bought the Nature Company store and turned them into Discovery Channel Stores. The store closed into 2007 because Discovery was losing $30 million a year.
3. Warner Bros. Studio Store: 1991–2001
What you bought there: Looney Tunes and D.C. swag that you thought made you cool.
Who shopped there: People who were too cool for the Disney Store.
Random fact: Time Warner closed all the stores down when the economy started to go bad in 2001.
4. KB Toys: 1922–2009
Tim Boyle / Getty Images
What you bought there: Gak, Skip-Its, action figures, and Barbies.
Who shopped there: Literally children and their sad parents who got dragged in.
Random fact: KB Toys started in the 1920s by the Kaufman Brothers (get it, KB) as a wholesale candy business. They changed from candy to toys in the 1940s because of shortages during the war.
5. Discovery Zone: 1989–1999
What you bought there: Junk with arcade tickets.
Who shopped there: Screaming 11-year-olds and their poor parents who had to watch out for them.
Random fact: Dee Zees were worldwide. At one time, they had locations in London, Madrid, and Paris. I pity the child who didn’t go to a birthday party here.
6. Club Libby Lu: 2000–2008
What you bought there: Tutus and glitter, I think.
Who shopped there: 7-year-olds who had birthday parties there. Everyone else in the mall just walked by quickly because of the large groups of 7-year-old girls.
Random fact: This isn’t a fact, this is how Club Libby Lu described their services:
“At the party, girls arrive at the Club. They are all greeted by a fairy and make a wish on her fairy dust. Each girl then creates her own secret Club name. Then their Libby Dus™ comes true. After dressing up and playing games, they visit our Goodie Shop and make their own Goodie Bags. Singing and Dancing, all the girls celebrate the guest of honor.” *SHIVERS*
7. Sam Goody: 1951–2006
What you bought there: Overpriced CDs and blank VHS tapes.
Who shopped there: People who didn’t care that their CDs were way, way overpriced.
Random fact: Sam Goody (the man whom the record store is named after) started selling records after someone came into his toy business asking for records.
8. Steve & Barry’s: 1985–2009
What you bought there: Eerily cheap sportswear.
Who shopped there: Ninth-graders.
Random fact: In 2007, Amanda Bynes had a fashion line called “Dear” available for sale only at Steve & Barry’s. Sarah Jessica Parker had a line called “Bitten” only available at S&B too.
9. Zany Brainy: 1991–2001
What you bought there: Boring learning games and shitty fake Legos.
Who shopped there: Overachievers.
Random fact: According to the WSJ: “Zany Brainy was part of a wave of hands-on, kid-friendly stores that focused on nonviolent educational toys such as bridge-building kits and ant farms.” Fun.
10. Noodle Kidoodle: 1931–2001
What you bought there: Boring learning games.
Who shopped there: Parents who wanted their kids to be overachievers.
Random fact: Zany Brainy was Noodle Kidoodle’s biggest competition. In 2000, Zanybought Noodle.
11. Waldenbooks: 1933–2011
What you bought there: Books and magazines, LOL duh.
Who shopped there: Old people, I think. And random kids who would read comics for free there, or look at nudie “art” books.
Random fact: In the 1980s it was the world’s largest bookseller. In the ’90s it would be overtaken by Barnes & Noble.
12. Delia’s
What you bought there: Halter tops, spaghetti strap tanks, and little T-shirts.
Who shopped there: “Every cool girl”… according to my co-worker Lauren.
Rando fact: Delia’s relaunched online this year.
13. Ruehl No.925: 2004–2010
What you bought there: Polos, tees, and hoodies — basically what you bought at Abercrombie & Fitch.
Who shopped there: Literally the same people who shopped at A&F and who were willing to pay even MORE for the clothes.
Random fact: It targeted older customers who still wanted to buy A&F clothing (but didn’t want to shop at A&F). The store was also owned by A&F.
14. Gadzooks: 1983–2005
What you bought there: Mainly your all-too-important back-to-school outfits and random “funny” T-shirts.
Who shopped there: Cool teens that were into fashion.
Random fact: The chain went bankrupt and was bought out by Forever 21 — whothen closed all the locations
15. Imaginarium: ?–1999 (when it was acquired by Toys ‘R’ Us)
Who shopped there: Kids whose parents were pretentious and against traditional toys.
Random fact: It started in Spain and there are still stores open in Europe.
16. Media Play: 1992–2006
What you bought there: CDs, cassettes, and probably your Discman.
Who shopped there: Teens and old people. Like, your grandparents who brought you there.
Random fact: Media Play opened in 1992 by the same company who owned Sam Goody and Suncoast Motion Picture Company stores. It was basically a big-box version of those places. It closed in early 2006 (probably) because of the internet.
17. Sharper Image: 1977–2008
What you bought there: Nothing. You just sat in the massage chairs. That’s why it went out of business.
Who shopped there: Rich people who didn’t know what to waste their money on and people who were obsessed with air purifiers.
Random fact: Sharper Image started really going downhill in 2003 when a Consumer Affairs report claimed their Ionic Air Breeze fans didn’t actually clean the air — they actually made the air worse.
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